This ‘A Day in the Life’ post shares what a typical working day might look like for Heythrop Library’s Librarian. Although no two days are the same, the following timetable offers a glimpse into how I organise my work, in addition to handling reader enquiries (in person, emails, phone calls) throughout the day.
9:30-10:00
I arrive late (thanks to my usual train being delayed)! In preparation to a discussion how to develop our web presence with Alex (from the web team of the Jesuits in Britain), I log into a draft version of a new web page, and publish it. Checking emails – what? None today. Impossible, or lucky me.
10:00-11:00
When I’m planning to do a lot of specific things, like today, I try to get my “five-a-day” out of the way! That refers to an ambition to catalogue 5 books a day. At time of writing this I was trying to clear the backlog of books which have been transferred from the library at the St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre. Today’s 5 books to catalogue are broadly in the area of philosophy.
11:00-11:15
Comfort break.
11:15-12:00
We have over 35 experts who advise us across a broad spectrum of areas within theology and philosophy. We occasionally prepare and send lists of potential books we could buy to a number of these experts. Today, it was 10 books, published in the last 12 months, in the area of ecclesiology and systematic theology.
I also got an email from a colleague who is looking at capturing all the Library’s contractual obligations, oh and he also would like to borrow a book, so asks whether we have a copy in the reading room.
12:00-12:30
Re-reading a draft version of the Heythrop Library Committee’s minutes (yours truly has the pleasure of writing the minutes, for the 3 meetings per year). Nothing flash, nothing exciting, but there are some things which just need to be captured, and done.
12:30-13:00
Lunch.
13:00-13:40
I had meant to start responding to an email, but covering the lunch break, and 3 people later, I’m now investigating a mis-shelved book, which I stumbled across when I was shelving other books. Phew! The book was neither marked as “missing”, nor still issued to a Library borrower. I will reshelve it in a minute.
13:40-14:00
I get back to an email enquiry about membership, which also reminds me to write a message to all third-year students of the Ignatian Spirituality Course, as they finish their studies in our building this year. Luckily, I can primarily signpost to our FAQ about membership options, see https://heythroplibrary.co.uk/faq/faq-for-potential-members/
14:00-14:45
In theory the draft budget should be quite solidly non-drafty, but there are a couple of things I have been worrying about since the draft budget was presented to the Library Committee, which also fulfills an auditing function. Committee members querying some of what the Library Team and I do, is usually good – it means I have to articulate why we are doing something in a certain way. Back to the drafty draft though: I’m spending the next 30-40 minutes, as quality time, with a spreadsheet, formulas, and a calculator – just to double check. The fun never ends, I know!
14:45-15:00
I was just asked to check the shelf for a book which neither the colleague nor the library user could find. Sadly, I cannot find it either, we’ll make it missing for the time being. Hopefully, we will have time over the summer to complete a shelf-check of the whole reading room collection: 8,000+ books. Not every part of the Library is as tidy as the one shown below:
15:00-16:45
We are having an online meeting with Alex, who works for the Jesuits in Britain Communications Team, to discuss an idea the Library team has had for web development, to allow us to present the Library’s collections, services and our work better. As often, the meeting is followed by a “post-op” meeting: we have a plan! Again, more work, but that’s preferable to not knowing what we need to do.
15:50-16:00
Comfort break
16:00-17:00
As the end of the LJC teaching term draws nearer, I run a report of our current Library users, to identify those whose membership has just, or will soon, expire. I would like to email them to flag up the end of their membership, that they will need to return our books, before they might never come back. Some might opt to return our books, some might be interested in taking up paid-for membership (£100 for 12 months full membership, or £50 just for borrowing from the reading room only).
17:00-17:10
Tidying the office’s desk; or rather trying to tidy the desk – if you could see it, I’m sure that you would not be able to tell the difference, after I have tidied. I usually explain the “organized chaos” on my desk as being due to several projects being at varying stages of progress. To be honest though: some are longer term projects, which I do not seem to be able to finish, for various reasons: workload and higher priorities of other tasks being the two main ones.
17:10-17:30
Having looked at library user’s accounts expiring soon, made me remember that I should chase one or two of the ‘historic overdue books’. These are books which have been overdue since the closure of Heythrop College in 2018! If you are reading this, and you have still got a book you took out during the Heythrop College Library days, please return it. No fines and whines.
Time to go home for today!
CG
What are your thoughts about the above?