I intended to update again yesterday after work. But I have to admit that I’m not really used to working full time and I’d forgotten how tired a person can feel at the end of the day. I have to re-adjust to this 40 hours a week thing, because my list of after-work projects is getting a bit long and untended.
Yesterday kind of slipped away from me at work, too. But here’s a general blow-by-blow of the day:
8.00 am – I had to stop and get coffee on my way to work because my coffee grinder broke! So my morning was very disjointed: I usually have my first cup at 6.15, not 8.15. Got into the office around 8.15 and read emails and RSS feeds.
9.00 – Looked at the LibGuides demo we have set up to try to figure out how to embed an OPAC search engine. I eventually figured out that there already was one that just had to be configured for our own catalog. Easy peasy. I went up to talk to our reference librarian about it and he showed me something else he’d figured out using the new free Worldcat Local interface. So we’re still experimenting with options there.
9.30 – I spent way too long messing around with the new Worldcat Local stuff, trying to figure out how it all worked before calling the reference librarian and asking what he knew about it. Got some clarity on how Summit (our consortium catalog) and the Worldcat Local free interface are working out. Made a note to check out another of our consortium library’s which is using the paid Worldcat Local interface.
10.30ish – Talked to my supervisor about updating permissions in our ILS, and about how new projects are going to be managed in the department. There is still a lot to sort out regarding my job responsibilities, and we haven’t been able to really meet about it because the Director has been out of the office since I started two weeks ago. But I think we’ll be able to start working out some of those details next week.
11.30 – Made flight arrangements to head down to Emeryville for a three-day training with our ILS vendor. And to visit friends and family! Yay!
11.45 – I decided to just jump into this Serials Solutions project and began the process of deleting all of our old Serials Solutions records in preparation for uploading a new set. This takes FOREVER. Went across the street to get a salad at the one dining hall that’s open over the summer and was very pleasantly surprised by my salad options. Wayyy better than the Simmons salad bar.
12.30 – Continued to wait for records to delete while I read more III training manuals.
2.30 – All the records were finally deleted, so I could start loading new records. I basically just loaded new records in batches of 1000 until it was time to leave.
Not a very exciting day, but I feel much more confident about getting my hands dirty in the ILS after I started actually working with records. Today should be a little more interesting. Maybe.