Make progress on meaningful work

Hats.  So many hats.  It’s difficult to get things done with so many hats.  They are hard to manage individually and in concert with one another.  Every colleague that I’ve spoken to recently keeps saying how busy they are and that it seems like we are busier this semester than last.  And it’s the same thing I heard the semester before that, and the semester before that.  Honestly, I can’t pinpoint the last semester where this wasn’t a reoccurring phrase.

It’s quite apropos then that I keep picking up on words, phrases, articles, and news stories that deal with productivity.  Why productivity? Because even though I may be busy, I don’t feel like I’m making progress on meaningful work  - library work, that is.

And thus, as a librarian and information hoarder, I decided to (surprise!) research what I could do about this problem.

First, I needed a vocabulary.  There’s apparently many words that I can use in talking about productivity.  Some words are good, some not so much:

• Busy work: The work that seems to fill your day, and then you walk away feeling like you didn’t accomplish anything.
• Meaningful work:  Opposite of busy work.  Work that impacts our lives, makes a difference, and gives an employee purpose.
• White noise: Although great for sleeping in its typical definition, for our purpose it refers to superfluous information or duties that interrupt or otherwise distract a person from their important projects or primary goal.  White noise loves me.
• Mutual purpose:  Great word – one I picked up from “Crucial Conversations.“  If you don’t share it, how does an organization move forward?
• Multitasking: I can’t do it. Really.  Just ask the advisee who comes in and asks me a stream of questions while I flip through the university’s catalog.  They understand when I say “huh?” for the fifth time. Therefore, this word may remain in others’ vocab, but not mine.

While I could spend days learning jargon, but that seems counterproductive, so let’s move on.

Next, I need information.  How do others like me do it?

• Productivity for Librarians: Yes, a book.  Did you expect something else from a librarian?  I will not buy said book, however; I will ILL it because I know how to stretch the proverbial dollar.
• A Day in the Life:  Am I the only one who feels like I’m running in a million different directions simultaneously?  Apparently not.  And it doesn’t seem to matter if you go rogue and free-lance.

Whew! I feel better, but also a little more exhausted.  For me there’s a danger in looking at everyone else’s productivity – I start yearning to start new interesting projects like the ones I just read about.  Perhaps I should stop here.  I’ve already added 10 items to my to-do list, which seems counter productive.

Ok.  Last, I need to implement change.  Tools, please.

• Don’t break the chain
• Project management, please : Asana, Basecamp, Trello, oh my!  SCRUM – interesting, but really?  Couldn’t someone come up with a better name?
• Outlook management? Not possible.  2913 items in my Inbox, and outside of dumping the whole thing, I can’t imagine taking days to organize it.
• GTD – Getting Things Done – Is it really possible?  Let’s see if I can get one step closer by stopping here…

Now that I’ve blogged about being more productive, perhaps I should try these out.  I’ll get back to you in a few months and let you know how it all worked out.

A week in the life

Monday:  I try to periodically check my email over the weekend so that I am not flooded when I return on Monday, enabled by my new smart phone.  After spending adequate time with my email (until 10:30?), I turn my attention an email from a student asking for feedback on a major assignment due later in the week. Librarians teach, every day, but this semester I am the “professor-of-record” for a senior level interdisciplinary class.  I spend several hours reviewing it and send an email to the group with feedback.  Today is also a reference duty day, so I spend a couple of hours (1-3) out directing library traffic and answering questions.   I took that time to catch up on some blogs, like Librarian in Black and Librarian by Day (where the idea for this post originated).

Tuesday:  On Tuesdays I teach class shortly after I arrive (@9:25).  My course this spring is global issues (IDST 4340), which is seminar style and typically includes “Tool Time”, my chance to introduce different digital tools to  students.  Today’s class included discussion on the textbook readings (human trafficking, wealth inequality, etc.), movies that relate to the readings (Quantum of Solace, Taken, Blood Diamond), and some news I picked up listening to NPR on my drive to work.  I inevitably find something that relates to what we are reading in class on NPR – it’s a little uncanny. After class I met with a visitor for our nursing program’s accreditation team, giving  her a quick tour of the library and discussed nursing-specific resources.  We also had a great conversation about digital literacy skills.  In the afternoon I received a visit from a student inquiring about library school (!) and records management programs.  More students came by to sign a degree plan, and one other student from my global issues class visited to discuss a major assignment due later this week.  Tonight was my late night, so I sat at reference until 6 PM, when our night supervisor returned from his dinner.  Tuesday is always my long, busy day.

Wednesday:  Email, email, email.  I checked Facebook to break up the initial monotony of the day – there is some exciting stuff happening with our German language classes on campus.  A request for info about art in one of the library’s closets yielded no luck.  Today really centered around databases.  I received a follow-up call from a vendor who was happy to extend a database trial I secured, and I sent out reminder emails to interested parties so that they don’t forget to play in them.  After lunch another vendor called to discuss a nursing database that would be useful for our students.  I put in my tech Sysaid request to get the ball rolling and begin the slew of obligatory hoops that are required when doing these trials.  I worked on grading my students’ online journals (a.k.a. blogs) and did a little research regarding IPEDS cohorts and their libraries.  My day was finished off in the classroom (7 PM), doing an information literacy session for a senior level class.

Thursday:  Class at the beginning of the day.  The students did not have a reading assignment since their proposals were due today.  We spent the class time discussing the previous set of articles.  It was difficult getting their interests piqued today – I have a feeling they were sleep deprived.  More tech hoops for the database trial – technology has become such an key element in libraries, but understanding between these two worlds is a difficult bridge to build.  Assisted at the reference desk for a decent chunk of my afternoon.

Friday:  Today I opted to work from home – my students turned in their major assignment yesterday, so I anticipate spending the day grading, and there’s no need to commute to the library.  I spent most of the morning doing just that, as well as researching a question regarding an advisee.  Unfortunately my productivity and half my work day disappeared when I had to take care of my sick child.  I hoped I would be able to make up the lost time tomorrow.

Saturday:  Saturday duty is shared among the library staff, and today I will be spending the day managing the building solo.  I arrived at 11:30 to find the library full of graduate students who occasionally get to use the library for classes.  I settled in at the circulation desk to what I hoped would be a quiet day so that I could grade papers.  I fielded a few tech questions, including ones regarding our teleconferencing equipment, and distributed print outs, including the inevitable flurry of activity once I announce the library’s inevitable closure for the day.  What a week!