Library Day in the Life.
Taken March 2008, the day before my interview at Millersville University. The building I now work in every day is behind me to the left.
Library Day in the Life is a project where library workers from all types of libraries document a day or week of their work life. It was started by Bobbi Newman, and you can check out her original blog post on the event and the official wiki for more information. The fourth round is being held this week (January 25-29).
Some people choose to blog, some use Twitter, some record video or take pictures. This will be my first year participating and it just happens to fall on the first full week of classes at Millersville University where I work as an academic librarian. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to post about, and have not yet decided exactly how many days I might end up discussing. Guess we’ll see!
I think this is a great project because it provides a brief glimpse into the depth and breadth of what librarians do. Just last week at a friend’s birthday party, I swear I must have been asked at least 5-6 times, “So, what does a librarian do?” This is one of many opportunities we can take to share our stories. I can see implications for:
- Library school students looking for direction. If you’re a library school student, browse through the list of past or current participants. Find a position you think you might be interested in once your graduate. See if you can imagine yourself as a consultant, a emerging technologies specialist, a children’s librarian, a youth services librarian, or a reference and access services librarian. Obviously not every day is super exciting, and the description of one day is certainly not enough research to base your career on, but you might find something inspiring to think about as you consider your upcoming job search.
- Library school students who want to share their experiences. I could easily imagine a spin-off of a Library Student Day in the Life. It would be very interesting (particularly to learn about the experiences of online and in-person LIS students) for people who have been out of school for a while to see how things work these days, what students are learning, the generational impact of technology on life and education, etc. If anyone knows of a group who has done this, leave a comment! Hmm… perhaps this is something for the Young Librarian Series…
- Administrators, students, patrons, friends, family, the media and board members who wonder what librarians do in the age of Google. This is an opportunity to share both the exciting and mundane parts of your work life. Many members of the public have no clue what librarians do (probably because many of us still haven’t nailed down elevator speeches for ourselves and our institutions). This is bad for funding, bad for our professional image, and bad for the progress and reform librarianship needs to undergo. How can we expect support without basic understanding? Informing is a key first step, and sharing your impact as a librarian could go a long way.
Some suggestions:
- Add your name to the wiki
- Include your job title & type of library in your blog post or video to help readers
- Use the hashtags #libday4 (Twitter) and librarydayinthelife (blogs)
- If you don’t have a blog/Twitter/etc, you can just create a new page in the wiki and post your day there
- After your first post, edit your wiki entry to change your blog link to a link to your tagged posts (link directly to your day in the life post(s), not to your blog in general)
- Add your Flickr photos or videos to the Group on Flickr
Oooo cool – I look forward to reading all about a day in the life!
Jason Dean
January 25, 2010 at 10:14 AM
I think this is an excellent project and will follow with interest.
As we’re a publisher specialising in library science and professional career development we would have lots of titles to help you further your career, learn more about emerging technologies and creating effective learning spaces.
Jonathan
January 25, 2010 at 11:15 AM
[...] Scenester has written a great blog post explaining the project and how it could be used by different user groups to give an insight into what we actually do as [...]
Joeyanne Libraryanne » Library day in the life round 4 – Monday
January 25, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Thank you for sharing the information about the project and highlighting how useful it is for some many different groups of people!
Bobbi Newman
January 25, 2010 at 8:21 PM
Thanks Jason & Jonathan. Bobbi – thank you for thinking of this great project in the first place!
Erin
January 25, 2010 at 8:33 PM
[...] Great post from erin dorney at library scenester on why students, librarians, administrators should be paying attention to the Library Day in the Life Project, I couldn’t have said it better. [...]
Library Day in the Life Week in Review #libday4 | Librarian by Day
February 2, 2010 at 10:35 AM
Hi Erin–I’m belatedly thanking you for the link to my youth services day. I love Bobbi’s project and I think you did a great job highlighting why!
Melissa
February 7, 2010 at 2:06 AM
No problem, Melissa
Thanks for the great example
Erin
February 7, 2010 at 12:55 PM
[...] If you are wondering why you should participate Meredith Farkas offers an excellent explanation of why she did. The Project has turned into a great resource for students, instructors, staff and patrons. [...]
Round 5 of Library Day in the Life! | Librarian by Day
July 15, 2010 at 7:20 AM
[...] If you are wondering why you should participate Meredith Farkas offers an excellent explanation of why she did. The Project has turned into a great resource for students, instructors, staff and patrons. [...]
Missing 30 posts in 30 days? Why not try “Librarian Day (Week) in the Life” ? | Libraries Interact
July 23, 2010 at 8:57 AM
[...] I don’t have a 9-5 type of schedule. However, I was inspired (as I often am) by this post by Library Scenester from Library Day in the Life / Round 4, especially with her suggestions about what library school [...]
Lauren in Libraryland » Post Topic » Library Day in the Life – The Ultimate Reference Source for LIS Students
July 28, 2010 at 9:55 AM
[...] The busiest day of the year was January 25th with 688 views. The most popular post that day was Library Day in the Life. [...]
Blog – 2010 in review « Library Scenester
January 12, 2011 at 5:55 PM
[...] If you are wondering why you should participate Meredith Farkas offers an excellent explanation of why she did. The Project has turned into a great resource for students, instructors, staff and patrons. [...]
Library Day in the Life Round 6 Begins January 24th 2011 | Librarian by Day
January 15, 2011 at 9:21 AM
[...] Why should you participate? Meredith Farkas offers an excellent explanation of why she did. The Project has turned into a great resource for students, instructors, staff and patrons. [...]
Library Day in the Life Round 7 Will Run July 25th through the 31st #libday7 | Librarian by Day
July 6, 2011 at 8:59 AM
[...] Why should you participate? Meredith Farkas offers an excellent explanation of why she did. The Project has turned into a great resource for students, instructors, staff and patrons. [...]
Sign Up For Library Day in the Life Round 8! #libday8 | Librarian by Day
January 16, 2012 at 9:33 AM