tech in the life

wednesday, thursday and today have gone by in a similar rhythm: the wake up with coffee and cell phone, waiting to see if work is going to call. it’s tricky to schedule a life around work which may or may not happen, and keeping tabs on myself this week with the library day in the life project has made me keenly aware that three days off work can go by without me getting to plan for it.

there is a big blurry edge where my work seeps into my days. because i’m on-call, i don’t get “off-desk time” — paid time at work to prep for my storytimes, do my emailing, and catch up on whatever other projects i would be working on. instead i go to the coffee shop with my laptop (today i spent some time working on the ltaig mentorship project), or i head out to the thrift store (wednesday i found an excellent five-monkeys puppet glove and a stuffed toy alligator. i swear this is relevant), or i stay in and work (thursday i worked on the the brown bear felt story i’m piecing together, and wednesday i caught up on reading my library-related feeds). i spend a lot of time organising myself around the paid hours of my jobs.

i’ve been poking around the library-day-in-the-life blogs, and thought i’d add some of my faves: Roxanne Missingham works at a parliamentary library, Macaronic has just started working as a youth services librarian, the Eclectic Librarian does a nice succinct post on academic librarianship, Meredith Farkas writes an interesting and very readable week as academic librarian (and mum), and Lori Reed posts a movin’ and shakin’ day as learning and development coordinator (and mum). Also, the Library Scenester’s post on the ‘why’ of libday4 really resonated with me; Nick Ruest’s drawing made me smile; and Constance Wiebrands sparked my interest in Patricia Highsmith. so thanks!

it’s been interesting to read through what other library workers do in their workdays, but i haven’t seen much of my own days reflected in these posts. and i’m left with just one question: where are all the techs?

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