How do you prioritize your responsibilities

Recently I’ve been reading and debating different ways of getting things done. Personally I’m a fan of the “one minute rule” which states that if it’s going to take you less than one minute, just do it. While this will sometimes distract me for a minute, I figure it’s just a minute and everyone ends up happy in the long run.

What sort of productivity rules do you use?

The students are back!

It’s nice to have the library filled with life again as the students return. I can’t tell you how many have asked if we have their textbooks (we don’t usually carry them). We’ve even rearranged a few things over the break. I’m teaching my first class next Friday, so let the semester begin.

Break To-Do List

I’m sharing my break to-do list with the world. At the end of break, we’ll see how much I accomplished:

• Change library main page to new design
• Update floor plans on website Done!
• Weed some TAUs
• Import print serials data into SerialsSolutions
• Get server running Apache set up
• More to come.

May your break be as productive as mine!

ASP code for library hours

Today I spent most of my day writing an ASP code from scratch that will display our hours based on the date. While this sounds simple, here are the steps I followed:

• Set a variable today as Date()
• Declare the base rule for the three days we have the same hours.
• Set exceptions by day of the week above that
• Set our closed for the holiday dates above the standard hours
• Set our finals hours above those

Since ASP executes in a logical “If..Elseif…Else..End if” statement, this works. However, I then realized one fact: we’re open past midnight at times. I don’t want the next days hours to start until 1:00am. A quick chat with our campus ASP person to figure out what to do and some creative errors (don’t we learn best by errors?) I was able to declare the following statement:

If Time() < “01:01 AM” then
today = DateAdd(“d”,-1,today)

Update:

Dim miltime
miltime = FormatDateTime(today,4)
If miltime < “01:01:00″ Then
today = DateAdd(“d”,-1,today)

This says that if it’s before 1:01am, then subtract one day from the date, effectively turning back time.

Easy enough, eh? Well, I decided I didn’t like the standard time display “Wednesday, December 19, 2007.” So, I used some more ASP to break it apart and display the Month, Day and a new variable called ord which stands for the ordinal number contraction (st, nd, rd, th). I threw that in an If..Then statement right after the time statement but before the hours designation. All in all, it worked out.

Bottom line: Email me if you want the code: libguy@libguy.info.

All is Quiet on the Desk Front

It’s the last weekend before Finals (they start Friday) and I’m on the desk during what I like to call the “procrastinator’s shift.” Luckily, the students don’t seem to need my help — we’re busy but things are relatively calm. I wonder though, is this the case at every library? PS – Dear Students, please dress more warmly. I don’t think it’s shorts weather if you need a hat to keep you warm outside.

Friday Musing: Nosey or Approachable?

When I’m at the reference desk, I usually look around the library every few minutes and observe and watch the students. My goal is for them to get the opinion that I’m not really paying attention to whatever task on which I’m currently working and that they can approach me.

Your thoughts? What do you do at the desk to make students come up to you?

Meeting the patrons where THEY are

I have a library instruction session this afternoon for a general college writing course (the course where all students who take it come to the library for an instruction session). I’m debating whether or not to give out my Facebook profile. Do I think they’ll use it? Maybe.

Y’all should check out this post on Beyond the Reference Desk. I agree with what Bridget says.

Why I became a librarian

Recently a co-worker asked me why I decided to become a librarian. I replied, “I became a librarian because I love helping people find information. It then dawned on me that maybe not everyone became I librarian for the same reason as I.

So I ask: Why do you love librarianship? Or, why do you want to become a librarian?

Pimping Bookcarts

Here in my library, we’ve decided to participate in “pimp my bookcart” as presented by Unshelved. Here are some of the great pictures:

Which one would YOU vote for?

Silent Study versus Quiet Study

Which term do you like better and why?