It Feels Like I'm On Vacation

Last Saturday was my last lecture of the semester in Info Org. There are still 2 classes to go, but for those 2 classes the students, not I, will be giving oral presentations. I get to sit back, listen to them, and take notes.

Today is Thursday. For the last few months Thursdays have been devoted to preparing for Saturday's class. I've already revised the sheet I use for evaluating the presentations and now I just want to relax and do all of the things I don't get to do enough of during the semester - like reading and listening to music.

There are a lot of other things I don't get to do enough of during the semester like housecleaning. Even in my "It Feels Like I'm on Vacation" mode, I'm still trying to be productive (plus I can still listen to music). I ran the dishwasher, emptied the garbage into the compost pile, and did a load of laundry. I'm trying to work up some enthusiasm for vacuuming and dusting the master bath and bedroom. On this sunny day it's obvious that those are tasks that should have been done a long time ago.

But I'll have the next several Thursdays without class prep to vacuum and dust, so maybe today I'll just enjoy the vacation.

An Unexpected Consequence

A couple of weeks ago, I gave my LIS415 students a homework assignment that involved searching the Library of Congress catalog. The completed assignment was due the following week. A couple of days later, I began receiving frantic emails from students that they could not get into the catalog. The government had shut down and so had the Library of Congress!

I gave the students an alternate site to search. I wanted them to look at MARC bibliographic records and they could do that at almost any library's catalog, but I also want them to use as many different catalogs as possible to see the differences among them.

Then I began to worry about an upcoming workshop that I'll be giving for the Massachusetts Library System on free sites for Technical Services Librarians. Of course, many of the sites I want to talk about involve the Library of Congress as there is a wealth of information for catalogers there. I began to wonder how much would be available and whether or not it was worth even giving this workshop.

Lo and Behold! Today, as I began reviewing my material for the workshop, I discovered that LC's catalog is up and running! And so is their Authority File site. That won't mean much, if anything, to a non-cataloger, but let me tell you it is a site I use ALL THE TIME when I'm working.

Is the government no longer shut down? I know there have been negotiations going on, but I haven't listened to the news today.

Whatever happened, I'm glad I can get to the sites I need. I just hope it's not some sort of mistake. I hope the sites stay up. Next Saturday I'll be covering authorized forms of names with the students in LIS415 and I'll need LC's Authority File.

The new school year

I have a great class this semester. It is the largest one I've ever had, but that's not what's great about it.

The students are bright, vocal, observant, and ask thoughtful questions. I would call them "engaged" except that is becoming an overused and trite word and I try to avoid such words.

Another factor making this a great semester is that I'm feeling much more confident and comfortable with the material. Even though I've used the information I'm teaching for many years, I just went about my work; I didn't think about it in this way until I began teaching LIS415.

Now as I listen to the radio, read a book, and - yes - even catalog, I'm constantly encountering different examples that are "just perfect" to include in an upcoming class.

Teaching a graduate level course was a whole new experience for me. The road was occasionally bumpy, but it's smooth for now and (to use another trite phrase) I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor.

A New Phase

It's been a very busy summer, proven by the fact I haven't posted for 2 months. Today is September 2, the Labor Day holiday and I'm preparing for class on Saturday.

As of last week, I've "retired" from 2 of my part-time jobs. Now that school is back in session and I'm working more hours at MassCat as well as leading the senior exercise class 3 times each week (up from 2), I no longer have the time to work at Springfield City Library or Donohue Group. I'll miss the camaraderie at those places, but I'll savor the shorter commutes. I'll still be presenting the occasional continuing education workshop just in case I get the urge to do some traveling.

Another reason I'm able to work less is that I'm now old enough to collect Social Security payments with no deduction for other earned income. Of course I have mixed feelings about this. I love what feels like "free" money, but isn't Social Security for old people? Fortunately, I'm healthy and active enough to enjoy the new bounty.

A good reason to continue those exercise classes.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Tomorrow is July 1 - the new fiscal year.

On June 30, three years ago, I was laid off from my job at CMRLS. It was sad and scary, but I tried to look at the situation not as an end, but as a beginning. I've been a librarian my entire adult life. My first full time job was as a library assistant. I was 20 years old.

While I've made some attempts at career changes (traveling sales representative for a publishing company; fitness instructor; administrative assistant for a small consulting firm), all three times I ended up back in the library field. Since I had (and still have) a few productive years left, I figured the layoff would be a good opportunity to finally make that leap.

Fast forward to today. The career change has not happened; I'm still a librarian, and a happy one at that. While it would be nice to have the security of one full-time job with benefits, I can't complain. I have several jobs that I like. My hours are flexible; I can often work at home, although I usually work on site; there's lots of variety even though the jobs are strongly related; I'm learning a lot and meeting some really interesting people.

I am looking forward to looking back on this post on June 30, 2014 to see what has or has not changed. Stay tuned.

Timesheets and Invoices

In order to get paid for all of my various and sundry jobs, I need to submit timesheets and invoices.

Springfield City Library gets a weekly timesheet and I'm paid weekly.

The Massachusetts Library System gets a timesheet every two weeks and I'm paid the following Thursday.

I submit a timesheet weekly to the Donohue Group, but I receive a check every 2 weeks.

There's no timesheet for Simmons College. I sign a contract at the beginning of the academic year and they trust me enough to deposit money every month in my checking account.

When I give a Continuing Education workshop, I need to submit an invoice in order to be paid.

Even jobs for which I don't get paid need timesheets. RSVP, the coordinator of the Senior exercise class, wants to know how many hours I spend leading the class. The Hatfield Senior Center also wants to know those hours, so they can include them in their annual report to the town.

I'm hardly the only one volunteering at the Hatfield Senior Center. There's an assistant who is paid for a few hours each week, but works many more hours which are included in the volunteer report. Then there are the people who help serve meals, deliver meals, distribute monthly "brown bags" (supplementary food for income-eligible seniors), and far more activities than I even know about.

For those people who volunteer a certain number of hours during the year, RSVP holds a grand volunteer appreciation lunch held at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. I've been to many recognition lunches and dinners, and I can say that this one is the BEST. The food is excellent and there are a ton of door prizes as well as fun and interesting people to talk with.

The Hatfield Senior Center also has its own recognition event with food and gifts. Among other things, I received a screwdriver - but not just any screwdriver. This one has a handle that looks like a small, rectangular box that opens, revealing several magnetic screwdriver heads. Each one fits into either end of the handle. It's cute and it works really well. I've used it several times. It's now my favorite tool.

So who needs to get paid dollars for everything?

It Seems Like So Much More - Redux

Working all of these different jobs means that I receive a lot of different checks, or get money deposited in my checking account. It feels as if money is pouring in. Unfortunately, each check or deposit is not a large amount as it represents somewhere between 8 and 20 hours of work.

The Mass. Library System pays every two weeks. So does the Donohue Group. Their pay day falls on different weeks so there is a deposit one week from MLS and a check the following week from DGI.

The Springfield City Library pays weekly. That's another deposit.

Simmons College pays on the first of the month, although only during the academic year when I'm teaching. My last deposit happened May 1 and I won't get another until October 1.

And then there are the continuing education workshops I give for MLS, the Connecticut State Library and occasionally another organization. Those are checks that arrive a couple of weeks after the workshop.

While the total of all these checks/deposits does not add up to the full time position I had at CMRLS, they represent a steady income on which I can depend and that makes my life (and paying bills) a lot easier.

In or Out?

I love this time of year. The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer. I'm feeling energetic and motivated to do all the things I've been putting off all winter.

The problem is, the change of seasons means there are even more things to do! I've brought my warm weather clothes out of the spare closet and am putting the cold weather clothes away for a few months. I wear hats. I needed to unpack my summer hats and pack up the winter ones.

I'm more aware of the fingerprints on the refrigerator door and the smudges on the windows. I want to clean the house and have it be all sparkling. I want to give my office a thorough cleaning and reorganization.

But other duties call as well. This is the time of year that flowers and shrubs are growing. With them grow the weeds and other things I'd rather not have in my yard. If I let things go too long, I'll never be able to catch up. I always plant some annuals so that I can enjoy their color all summer long, and I can't wait much longer to do that.

Then there are the herbs. I love using fresh herbs when I cook. I buy a few small pots and transplant them into much larger pots that I keep on the screened-in porch off of the kitchen. It's so handy.

But which do I do first? Can I finish everything I want to do? It's best to work outside when the sun is shining and it's not too cold, but that's also when I want to vacuum and scrub.

I was able to get a lot accomplished this weekend. I crossed several things off of my to-do list, so there are fewer items vying for my attention.

I'll just have to do the best I can. After all, I want to do all of these things so that I can relax and enjoy the results (pretty flowers, a clean house). Driving myself crazy for not doing them kind of defeats the purpose. I need to continually remind myself:

1. Don't sweat the small stuff.
2. It's all small stuff.

Last Day of Class

Today is the last day of class for LIS415. It's been a great semester. The students were both interested and interesting. There were lots of questions and lots of discussion. Part of the requirement for the course is to post to a discussion board on various topics that we covered during the semester. There were some very thoughtful and insightful posts. They were a pleasure to read.

Even though the semester is ending, my schedule is getting more hectic as workshop season is in full swing. The hot topic? RDA. I've developed an introduction to the new cataloging code which I've presented twice and have 2 more presentations scheduled and also a session on the Dewey Decimal System.

I'm seeing more and more bibliographic records created using RDA and I know that I cannot put off using it much longer. One of my summer projects will be to go through all of the training materials for RDA on the Library of Congress web site to that I can tackle the new code in style.

Something else I'm hoping to tackle during the summer are all of those dust bunnies that have been lounging in the corners of every room in my house. They've been getting bolder an moving into places I can easily see. I've been too busy working to worry about them, but my priorities will be changing soon and those bunnies are about to face their demise.

The Money Group

It's not polite to talk about money. But for 18 years, that's what 3 other women and I have been doing - and talking about many other things, too, since money permeates every aspect of our lives.

In 1995, I attended a one-day conference at Smith College called Women & Money. There was a plenary session which included an exercise where we decided how we would spend $2 million. It's not that easy to do when you've never had anywhere near that much to spend. Then we broke out into different workshops which addressed money from a variety of perspectives from the very practical (like planning for retirement) to the more psychological (like writing about our feelings about money) to the more esoteric (like moving to the thought of money).

During the lunch break, different women shared what had occured in different workshops and everyone agreed that we wanted more of this sort of thing.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from a woman who lived in Greenfield (I was living in Greenfield at the time) that had also been sent to other women living in the area who had attended this same conference. The letter suggested we could meeting periodically and continue the discussions started at Smith College. After a few meetings, 4 of us agreed to meet monthy over a potluck supper and talk about money.

Those monthy meetings continued for over 2 years. During that time all of our lives changed dramatically and two of the women moved far away (one to Maine and the other to California). We continued our discussion via a Round Robin letter where one person writes a letter and sends it to the second person. Person #2 also writes and sends both letters to #3, who adds her letter and sends them to #4 who adds a letter to send back to Person #1. That person writes a new letter, removes her old letter and back around the 4 letters go.

In the meantime, we continued to meet once in a while when our California member returned to the east coast. The last time all 4 of us were together was about 12 years ago - until last week when we all met in York, Maine for an afternoon of catching up, walking, eating lunch, and talking about money: How financially secure we do or do not feel, how we are planning for the future, how our attitudes toward money have changed, and just about everything else we could think of.

It was a refreshing day, despite the long drive and I thank the women in my Money Group for being available to discuss so many important things that are not otherwise polite.

It Feels Like So Much More

I work 6 days a week - or at least parts of those 6 days. Sometimes it feels as if I get up, go to work, go home and go to bed, get up, go to work, ...

When I total the hours that I work each week, though, it's not 40 or even 35.

There are other factors, however, that make it seem as if I'm working all the time. One is that many of the work days are not "full" as in 7.5 or 8 hours. The remaining hours get absorbed by unmemorable things like food shopping or running other errands.

Also, prep time for the Information Organization class is several hours and then I arrive on campus early so that I can do some photocopy and get set up before the students arrive. I spend time on "background professional stuff" like reading AUTOCAT posts so that I can keep up with what's going on in the cataloging world.

And there are the senior exercise classes. Only 2 hours each week, but again I arrive early to set up the room and stay until it's put back together again. Even with exercisers always helping, I feel that it's my responsibility to make sure it's done well.

Other activities to remember include serving as Chair of the Hatfield Library Board of Trustees (monthly meetings) and serving on the Board of the Friends of UMass Amherst Libraries (meetings twice a year). Both of those offices involve more than just attending the meetings. As Trustee Chair, I spend some time preparing the agenda and making sure it is posted according to Massachusetts Open Meeting Laws.

All-in-all, it looks as if I easily work (including volunteer work) a full work week.

So that's where all the time goes!

What's in a Name?

This week in LIS415 we're tackling Authority Control - specifically Name Authority Control.

The topic is rather auspicious since the Pope stepped down on Thursday and there has been a flurry of email messages on the AUTOCAT discussion list about what's going to happen to the Pope's authority record at the Library of Congress.

Overall the class is going very well. This is the most vocal group of students I have had to date. They ask lots of thoughtful questions and have lots of thoughtful comments.

When I teach this section on Authority Control, I often think about names in general and how they ebb and flow. I sometimes compare the names of the people in the senior exercise class in Hatfield where everyone is older than 55 (and most are older than 65) with the names of the people in LIS415 where most are under 35. In the former, there are two Carols and two Virginias along with a Helen, an Edith, a Frances, an Irene, a Sandy and a Bernice. There are no Susans or Lindas although they were very popular names for the time period.

In the latter there's a Jenn, a Jackie, a Beth and a Leah. This semester there are no Saras or Sarahs, but there often are. Interestingly there's an Amanda in both Senior Exercise and LIS415. Also in LIS415 is an Emma which is another old-fashioned name making a comeback.

So now it's time for me to get ready to travel to So. Hadley and demonstrate LC's Name Authority File to my eager students. I'll leave the final disposition of Benedict XVI's authority record to LC.

Winter Wonderland

This morning I woke up to about 2 inches of light fluffy snow on the ground, trees, everything. It looks lovely. I will not have a problem driving in it because there's just not that much and I have an all-wheel-drive vehicle.

Last Saturday, I awoke to about 2 feet of snow. Luckily, I had given my Library Science students an online tutorial to complete along with some readings and gave them the take-home assignment that was scheduled for that day according to the syllabus. I couldn't see making them (most of whom travel from Connecticut) drive to So. Hadley just to hear me talk about MARC.

But today is different. There's just not that much snow (even though I'm sure some people will have problems driving) and I'm not going to do the electronic thing two weeks in a row.

I have a appointment to get my hair cut this morning. My day begins.

Juggling

Mostly I really like my life right now: I'm busy doing interesting things, I'm meeting new people, I'm doing useful things, my body is getting exercise, and my brain is getting a LOT of exercise trying to keep my schedule straight.

I have 4 part-time jobs that pay money and 2 volunteer positions. Here's what my week looks like so far:

Monday was a state holiday so Springfield City Library was closed. However, DGI was not, so I drove to Windsor, CT and worked there for the day. Monday at DGI is "soup day" when two people bring in soup and two bring bread and we have lunch together. Usually I'm not in that office at lunch time and don't get to share the soup and bread. Since this was one of the few times I'd be there all day, I volunteered to make one of the soups. The meal was tasty and fun.

Tuesday I went to MassCat and hunted for bib records that the members could not find. Then I merged duplicates. I only work there for 5 hours so I had some time at the end of the day to visit my insurance agent who is reviewing the various policies to see what needs changing.

Today is Wednesday and I need to stop by the library to sign warrants and deliver them to Town Hall so that bills can be paid. This is one of my responsibilities as Chair of the Library Trustees. Then it's on to lead the Senior Exercise Class - my other volunteer position and then on to MassCat.

Tomorrow, Thursday, I'll spend the morning at Springfield City Library cataloging music CDs and then the afternoon at DGI cataloging e-books.

A symptom of my juggling life is that I wrote the above post a week and a half ago and I'm now just getting to finish it.

So now it's Saturday. Yesterday I led the exercise class, went grocery shopping and then home to prep for today's class on Information Organization. That's my typical Friday (it may or may not include grocery shopping). However, yesterday afternoon, my husband (it still seems awkward to call him that) went to visit our financial advisor to begin planning for April 15 - tax day - and beyond.

In a few hours I'll be heading out to Simmons-west to teach budding librarians about organizing information resources. Today's topic is metadata.

Sunday is the day my husband and I spend quality time together. I have a nice breakfast planned - Mediterranean Baked Eggs. I hope to get some housecleaning done, too.

And next week? What's that phrase? Rinse, repeat.

Bah, Humbug

I'm not a religious person. I hate the crass commercialism of any holiday. I don't have children and therefore don't (and never did) have to perpetuate the story of Santa Claus. I especially don't like trying to live a normal life - shop for food, have my hair cut, run other mundane errands - only to face incredible amounts of traffic on the city streets.

What I really hate most about Christmas - that season of "peace on earth and goodwill toward men" - is how frazzled and short tempered so many people become. While trying to navigate all that traffic, many drivers cut in front of other cars, lean on their horns, and generally become obnoxious.

However, there are a few things I like about the holiday season. I love the lights. I love driving down the street and seeing trees lit up. And one of the few concessions I make - that many others have abandoned - is writing personal notes in Christmas cards and sending them to people I seldom see. I don't want to lose touch with people I worked closely with 20 or 30 years ago. Many of them have moved far away but I still think of them. Facebook and other online connections are not the same as sitting down with a cheerful card and telling a friend (briefly) what I've been doing for the last year and wishing her or him well.

Now that we have entered the new year and the manic celebrations are over I can get back to my mundane routines and shop for food without fighting frantic crowds.

But I will miss the lights.