Data Obsessed

A few days…week…ago, I promised a post explaining why I haven’t been posting, which is a tad on the meta side.  Well, its remained fairly busy, though some of the workload has tapered off slightly, so I’m just getting to it now.

We’re in what I call proposal season at MPOW.  It can happen at any time and its characterized by a rather insane number of research requests in varying degrees of difficulty and oddness as the project managers attempt to craft winning proposals for potential projects.  This year, it started right after Christmas and is just tapering off now.  There were a few weeks that were exceptionally nuts with it to the point where nothing else got done - no database work, no cataloging, no circulation duties, no serials.  My impression is that this was a busier than usual season, but that impression could be skewed by several factors:

• We’re replacing two of our research databases, which has been my responsibility - including liasing with various database companies, evaluating the products, setting up trials, and finally getting approvals.  Just wrapped that up today.
• I’ve been negotiating with a company to convert a database that didn’t get transferred from our old catalog/database to the new one.  This should finally be under control, allowing me to move forward on some other projects.
• I mentioned last fall that a presence on the intranet would be advisable, and that’s finally moving forward - with the caveat that the library needs to provide the html pages.  Meaning we need to design it.  Meaning me.
• The part-timer who managed the techie stuff on our catalog/database was laid off last summer, and I’m still learning how to do all that by the seat of my pants
• I have a project to move our confidential files from file drawers to locking bookshelves that I’m trying to move forward and that involves rearranging the physical library
• I went to a conference in Reno in the middle of all this.
• I took over as webmaster/networking chair of the Petroleum and Energy Resources Division of the SLA, and while the site is presentable, the code is rather a mess
• I’m also the President-Elect of the Hudson Valley chapter of the SLA, and I’ve started planning our annual meeting in November.

I’ve got friends who sometimes wish they were a solo, and it does have advantages, namely that you ARE in charge.  But it’s got disadvantages, too; you don’t get a support staff to delagate too, for instance, and juggling supporting the research needs of all your clientele and keeping the library up and running can be quite the trick.
And you’re still in charge.

Filed under: Librarianship, Work
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Filed under: Technology, Blogging
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