Library Day in the Life Round 7 Day 3

Wednesday July 27th 2011
8:32am Arrived in work.
8:37am Turned on the computer, checked my emails etc.
8:45am Split up my Day in the Life blog into days as it was getting a bit long. I didn't realise I did so much in a day!
9:00am Carried on with the Excel document listing the Newspapers published in the Great War.
9:20am Finished Excel document for now. So far over 290,000 pages of Newspapers were published in Wales between 1914 and 1918.
9:24am A few more audit papers brought back. I might as well put these into the Excel document first before doing anything else.
9:30am Right now to finish with the North Wales Times.
10:30am Tea Time
10:50am North Wales Times.
11:40am Finished the North Wales Times. I've received the last of my audit forms so going to finish the Excel form and see where we stand numbers wise.
12:18pm I've just finished putting together a short report about the number of Newspaper pages we own from the war years. And it's very close to 400,000 not bad for 4 years during war time I shouldn't think.
12:20pm LUNCH
13:00pm Uploading some newspaper CSVs to WOMBAT ready to be scanned. WOMBAT being the libraries Workflow Software where the CSVs my team have created are followable by the scanners making the scanning easier for them.
15:30pm Tea time
15:50pm Back to WOMBAT
16:18pm Finished with WOMBAT for today.
16:20pm Give my staff some instructions for the next few days as I'm going to be away. (5 day weekend! Go me! :D)
16:25pm Home time! :D

Library Day in the Life: Round 7 Day 2

Tuesday 26th July 2011
8:15am Arrived at work
8:20am Computer on
8:25am Checked emails etc and found that I now had the right to Edit the Project page on PBWiki. So this blog has now been added to the project.
8:30am - 8:50am (ish) Not much work got done as a colleague came into the office to tell us about her engagement. To another colleague. The library is apparently a matchmaker extrodinaire if all the couples are anything to go by.
8:50am Thing 8 of cpd23. Not too bad as I already use Google Calendar sometimes.
9:04am Decided I'd have to leave Thing 9 of cpd23 until I'm at home as I need to download it. As a result I can't see it being very useful for work purposes. At least not at the National Library.
9:10am I met with my Line Manager to discuss a project that may be in the pipeline. As a result we need to audit the newspapers between 1914-1918 and find out (potentially) how many pages we have in the library.
9:20am I sent a member of staff off to Stack 3 to begin auditing the libraries newspapers between 1914 and 1918.
9:25am Rearranged a meeting to discuss IPR of journals for next week.
9:30am Started working on the Welsh Gazette.
10:00am Team Brief - Basically telling us about the changes that are happening due to money shortages and how staff members will be expected to turn their hands to many different tasks in the future instead of the one job. This went on for a while.
10:50am Tea time.
11:15am Tried to locate the journal Y Dysgedydd for the Reading Room there's a slip here for the year they want they must have not brought it back to us yet. Have tried phoning up the Reading Room to tell them but couldn't get an answer. I assume they'll phone back once they're less busy.
11:20am Back to the Welsh Gazette
11:30am Further discussion with the line manager about the audit. We have until Thursday to get it done.
11:40am Explained to two more members of staff what needed doing and sent them along to help. Hopefully we can get it done quickly.
11:45am Welsh Gazette
12:44pm Finished checking the CSVs for the Welsh Gazette, now to put it in order it's really not for some reason. :s At least I've deleted the surplus CSVs as I was going along.
12:51pm Whoo. Welsh Gazette in its proper order and ready to be uploaded to WOMBAT ready for scanning. I must remember to return the unneeded volumes to their proper homes out of the way.
12:55pm LUNCH
13:19pm Back in the office.
13:25pm Checking North Wales newspaper The North Wales Times for accuracy.
14:11pm There doesn't seem to be anything interesting in this newspaper so far, or at least nothing particularly eye-catching. How boring...
14:30pm Taking a quick break from The North Wales Times. My team are running out of Audit forms, so I ran (well strolled quickly) down to Repro to get some more. Hopefully 30 more should do the trick. They ARE double sided after all. If not I'll just have to make another trip to Repro.
14:42pm And on with the North Wales Times.
14:55pm It always amazes me how the newspapers went into mourning when someone important died. There are thick black bars between each column instead of the usual lines you see in the picture...
15:27pm Went to fetch a ring binder for my Audit forms. I'm going to begin an Excell document with the results in after tea. Then we'll have some kind of idea of how many newspapers we have in the library (or at least in Stack 3) published between 1914 and 1918.
15:30pm Tea Time
15:50pm Creating and filling in an Excell document.
5:00pm That's it I'm off home. So far there are over 80 weekly titles and 150,000 pages for the years 1914-1918. And the audit isn't even finished yet...

Thing 8: Google Calendar

I like this thing as I'm already using it. Sporadically anyhow. I did use it much more often with people from the digitsation project but then the library started using the Thunderbird calendar across the institution (which is also accessible from any computer) which I find quite useful. Unfortunately not everyone thinks the same and not everyone uses it. But the main people I work with do making finding out if somebody is free, arranging meetings and so on much easier.

I have added the cpd23 things to my Google Calendar and am considering updating my Google Calendar as well so that most stuff is on it. Though thinking about it as the library uses Thunderbird there probably isn't much point in doing this at the moment. Though I'll keep it going in the background for when I need it.

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Rwy'n hoffi'r peth hyngan fy mod i yn barod yn ei ddefnyddio. Yn achlysurol da beth. Roedden i'n ei ddefnyddio yn llawer mwy aml o fewn y prosiect, yna fe wnaeth y llyfrgell ddechrau ddefnyddio calendar Thunderbird ar draws y sefydliad, a gan fy mod yn gallu cyraedd i mewn iddo o unrhyw gyfrifiadur mae'n fwy defnyddiol i fi ar y funud. Yn anffodus nid oes pawb yn y sefydliad yn teimlo'r un peth a nid ydynt yn ei ddefnyddio. Wrth lwc mae'r pobl dwi'n gweithio gyda fwyaf yn sy'n gwneud ffeindio allan os mae rhywun yn rhydd neu trefnu cyfarfod llawer yn haws.

Dwi wedi dodi'r pethau cpd23 ar i Google Calendars ac yn meddwl efallai diweddaru Google Calendar a'i ddefnyddio mwy. Er wedi meddwl gan fod y llyfrgell yn defnyddio Thunderbird does yna ddim llawer o bwynt gwneud hyn nawr. Er fydda i yn cadw'r Google Calendar yn y cefndir just rhagofn iddo ddod yn ddefnyddiol rhywbryd.

Library Day in the Life: Round 7 Day 1

Job: Senior Officer of Newspapers and Periodicals (Digitisation Project) at the National Library of Wales

I've heard about the "Library Day in the Life" Project before and after seeing it advertised around the internet recently decided to take part this year.  I'm only going to be doing it for three days as I'm away at the end of the week and don't really think that it would be relevant to keep people up to date with my travels around Longleat Safari Park although if people are really interested for some strange reason I might. I'm not sure how interesting it will be for people but hey.

Monday 25th July 2011
8:25am Arrived at work and clocked in
8:30am Took the lift (yes I know lazy) to the fifth floor where the digitsation suite is situated.
8:35am Computer on, checking emails, sorting out what days I need off. (Thursday, Friday and Monday if you're interested)
8:40am Spoke to my line manager
8:50am Started checking "Cyfaill y Werin" Newspaper metadata for accuracy.
9:40am Went to catch up with the Project Manager
9:50am Started checking Welsh Gazette Newspapers for accuracy. There are more of these so it'll take longer (a lot longer)
10:30am Tea Time
10:50am Back to the Welsh Gazette
11:35am Distracted by an advert for free land out in Canada. I have a tendency to want to read what I see in these newspapers some of them are really interesting...  Although this time it's only an advertisement!

Welsh Gazette: March 30th 1905 Edition

 11:43am Again distracted this time by an article about the beginnings of the National Library of Wales in the March 30th 1905 edition of the Welsh Gazette. There's a good illustration as well!
12:01pm Well there's something funny going on with the Welsh Gazette the years don't seem to be in the proper order. The CSV for 1906 for example is coming before the one for 1905. As the CSVs themselves seem to be correct think I'll carry on going through them and then rearrange them as they should be.
12:06pm Helped my opposite number on the scanning team (I'm on the metadata team) find a certain title in the database; Athraw (Llanidloes) there seem to be an awful lot of Athraw periodicals, the editors don't seem to have been very imaginative, many titles are repeated numerous times throughout the 1800s.
12:13pm Approved a request by one of my staff members to take the afternoon off using HR21 our Electronic Holidays form.
12:25pm - 12:50pm LUNCH
12:51pm Onwards with the Welsh Gazette
2:00pm - 3:30pm Scanning QA this involves a programme called WOMBAT (which is the libraries internal workflow system) and a program called scan scan which shows the image. I check various images (which the workflow programme picks for me) for accuracy. This isn't in a typical day for me. But as the metadata team have built up quite a buffer I am getting some experience on the scanning side of the team as the person who's usually responsible for doing the QA is off sick. Hopefully there won't be any problems.
3:36pm Tea time
3:50pm Back to the QA
4:10pm While doing the QA of The Public Library Journal, which was the Quarterly magazine of the Cardiff and Penarth Free Public Libraries and the Cardiff Museum. I came across this old proverb "Ni bydd doeth ni ddarlleno" on the title page. I've heard it before it means "He who does not read will not be wise" and just thought it was something that would be interesting to some people. I'd forgotten about it but now that I remember I may use it for my blog...
4:20pm Had a slight problem with the QA process so waiting for the person in charge of the scanning side of things to come and tell me what to do. Think I'll get back to my own problems with the Welsh Gazette in the meantime...

4:40pm Had my question on the QA answered. Apparently it does throw up funny questions on occasion.
4:50pm Logged off the QA computer. Yes it has a special computer for some reason. 
5:00pm Logging off my own computer and heading home.

Thing 7: Face-to-face networks and Professional Organisations

Well of all the organisations listed the only one I'm actually a paying member of is CILIP and so far I haven't found it particularly useful. This may be due to my nature as a lurker but is probably more to do with the fact that CILIP doesn't really talk about National Libraries much in its magazines. I have attended one or two courses. A Moving into Management course back in November and a Chartership course earlier this year. Neither of which I found particularly handy for networking. I thought they were good courses though. Even if the Management one was a lot on the steep side (and that was with the CILIP discount).

I've found that being a librarian in Wales has been more helpful for networking. First I attended the Gregynog Colloquium back in June (it already feels like a ridiculously long time ago) where I was forced to socialise as there was no one from my organisation there. And while I didn't come away with piles of contacts I at least knew who some people were. Hence when the cpd23 meetup took place earlier this week in Cardiff I knew some of the people there. Not well admittedly but I knew who they were and had spoken to them before.

I've found that cpd23 is probably the best of these for networking so far, but more probably this is because I'm finally getting used to these situations (at least I hope). It was great fun to meet people in real life instead of on the internet and find out who they were for real. 

As for joining other professional organisations I've been Umming and Aahing over IFLA and SLA for a while now, and I still can't decide what to do. I quite like my salary and already spend more than I'd like on CILIP (especially as I don't find it that useful) so what to do, what to do...

I've also been looking at the more "unofficial" professional organisations. I quite like the look of the Library Society of the World website but can't figure out how to join... And am already a member of LISNPN.

Anyhow the main thing is I met real people on Wednesday (after driving for nearly 3 hours) had a lovely time in a Yurt in Cardiff. And then headed back to Aberystwyth (where I subsequently slept like the proverbial dead). And if the chance comes up again I'll do it all again, though I may find somewhere to sleep instead of driving both ways in one afternoon next time. I was very tired when I got up for work next day. I enjoyed the opportunity to talk to people outside the National Library of Wales as we seem to be very isolated in some ways not being an Academic or a Public library and to be honest I feel as if I'm missing out on what's going on, and am definitely missing out on the chance to network as I'd like. CPD23 is giving me that chance and I'm grateful.

Thing 6 - Online Networks

1. LinkedIn

I joined LinkedIn a while ago, more out of curiosity than anything else. I haven't used it that much and find it difficult to use. So far I have seven connections and these are all people who already know who I am, so not sure how useful that is. Feel free to add me as a connection. I'm sure having more than seven would be handy.

I've added myself to various groups where I lurk in the background and keep an eye on things. It's quite interesting to see the various conversations going on but in general I'm a lurker. Of the seven groups that I've joined (is there something about LinkedIn and the number seven?) two of them are universities (Swansea and Loughborough) where I was a student, and the rest are library related. CILIP, IFLA, SLA (though I only joined that after reading Thing 6), Sue Hill Recruitment and of course the cpd23 group. I like the fact that LinkedIn send me emails every now and again informing me of the conversations going on with the various groups. This allows me to only log in when something catches my eye. As I said I'm a lurker, although as this blog and my attempts on Twitter prove at least I'm trying to become more active. But there's a long way to go  yet I think. I also need to add information to my LinkedIn page. I have however recently added a picture so at least people have some idea what I look like.

2. Facebook

Facebook I know well and have used for years, however this is where my real life friends convene and I have no intention of changing that. While I do tend to look at library related things and like them on Facebook, and may I say I think the National Library of Wales should be on that list of possible pages to like (I'm not biased, honest!) it's a purely personal social networking opportunity for me. 

3. LISNPN

I'm fairly new to LISNPN and while I have introduced myself on there and put up a picture I have once again been lurking in the background. I have a feeling this could be one of the more important Social Networking opportunities for librarians given the chance and while I have yet to take part in a conversation I have logged in several times and looked at the forums, and think some of the conversations going on are incredibly interesting and quite informative. Again add me as a friend as I have none. :(

4. CILIP Communities

I'm brand new to CILIP Communities I only joined today and I've briefly set up a Profile page and had a quick look around. I have yet to figure out how to navigate around properly and what parts will be most helpful but I'm sure given time I will get to grips with it and become a successful lurker, if not a successful participant in the forums etc.

I haven't bothered looking at the LANNetwork as my current role involves no teaching, although I'll keep it in mind for future roles just in case. As for Google+ and whether there's any room for it in the already stuffed Social Networking world well only time can tell. I haven't had an invite and therefore haven't joined as it isn't yet open to the public. From what I've read about it, it could well be not a Personal social networking site such as Facebook (at least in my view) nor a Professional one like CILIP Communities or LISNPN but could in fact be a 'profersonal' social networking site. I think given the chance I'll probably join out of sheer curiosity more than anything else and then I'll let you know what I think.

Thing 5 - Reflective Practice

OK. So I've been avoiding Thing 5 all week. Reflective practice isn't my strong point. Description yes but reflection not so much. Hopefully this blog and following cpd23 will help change this as I would like to start working towards my chartership soon.

So, what has cpd23 taught me so far?

Well, as you can see I'm blogging with some regularity, mostly about cpd23 to be fair but hopefully over time other stuff will become a part of this as well. I'm enjoying the opportunity to put something down and have somebody comment on it. And I like lurking around other people's blogs, it's educational. Sometimes I comment but mostly I lurk.

Of all the various things that I've learnt from cpd23 the most useful perhaps has been Twitter. Don't get me wrong I already knew how to use Twitter, I just didn'r really see the point of it that much. And now I'm using it not every five minutes like some but most days, not every day as to be honest I've more or less decided Twitter is going to be mostly professional with the odd bit of personal thrown in for good measure. However most days. :-) 

Between Twitter and my blog I've started networking which I'm quite pleased about. One of the drawbacks about working in the National Library is that while it is a prestigious and highly incredible place to work, we are to all intents and purposes unique we don't fit in as either Academic or Public Librarians. And this makes it much more difficult to network. This is problematic for me as I'm working on a project and once that project comes to an end (or runs out of funding whichever comes first) I'll be wanting another job. I'm hoping this way I can draw a little bit of attention to myself (hopefully good attention) which will help me find a job. As so far all my job hunting has been unsuccessful. And while I'd like to reflect on what's wrong with my application forms I can't. Mostly the feedback I've had has consisted of the words "it was a good application but there were a lot of good candidates" this really isn't helpful. Having said that most people have ignored my pleas for feedback so I'm a bit stuck.

The other good thing about networking is that it gives me the chance to make some new library friends. Both in Wales and in other parts of the UK and you never know maybe even the world. I'm looking forward to meeting some of these people on Wednesday in Cardiff. I'm just hoping my Tom Tom will get me to the place ok. Not that I think I could miss Cardiff itself very easily but I don't know it that well and may end up nowhere near milgi's which would be a pity as it's a 2 and a half hour drive apparently :-S

Anyhow I think Thing 5 may be very confusing for anyone reading it as it is definitely a bit meandering. Oh well, I tried. Maybe it'll get better with time? *Fingers Crossed*

Love your Library? Give it a cwtch!

As I was saying the other day, the National Library of Wales is currently celebrating the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone. And as a part of that, today the staff and the public will be giving it a cwtch (this is better than a hug for the misinformed non Welsh people who've never heard of a cwtch before), to show our appreciation for this guardian of Welsh knowledge and history. Therefore this afternoon we shall all troop outside showing our colours (we'll be wearing Red) and give the National Library a cwtch. For more details click here.
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Fel yr oeddwn i'n dweud y diwrnod arall, mae Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru yn dathlu canmlwyddiant gosod y Garreg Sylfaen. Fel rhan o hyn fydd staff a darllenwyr y llyfrgell yn rhoi cwtch i'r llyfrgell, i ddangos ein gwerthfawrogiad o warcheidwad gwybodaeth a hanes Cymru. O ganlyniad fe fyddwn ni gyd yn cerdded tu allan yn dangos ein lliwiau (fe fyddwn yn gwisgo coch) ac yn rhoi cwtch i'r llyfrgell. Am fwy o wybodaeth gwasgwch fan hyn.

Teisen Penblwydd - Birthday Cake

http://yfrog.com/z/kjcqlzwej

Y Llyfrgell ar film

English at the bottom.

Dim ond nodyn cyflym i ddweud rhywbeth bach answyddogol am ddathliadau canmlwyddiant Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. Nid canmlwyddiant y llyfrgell fel sefydliad neu hyd yn oed fel adeilad ond canmlwyddiant gosod y Gareg Sylfaen. Careg enfawr yn edrych mae'n rhaid dweud.

'Da beth dros i'r trydiau nesaf (yn cynnwys heddiw) mae'r llyfrgell yn dathlu gyda digwyddiadau yn y Drwm. Heddiw roedd yna rhai hen ffilmiau yn dangos y llyfrgell yn cael ei chwarae yn y Drwm. Fe es i ac eraill o staff y llyfrgell, ynghyd a'r cyhoedd i weld beth oedd "Y Llyfrgell ar ffilm" amdano. Gweld "patchwork" o hen ffilmiau gwnaethon ni, "patchwork" a oedd yn dangos hanes y llyfrgell, yr adeilad, y trysorau a'r staff.

Wrth wylio'r film fe wnes i sylwi ar faint mae pethau wedi mewid, does dim angen y "Card Catalogue" rhagor, 'na beth ma'r cyfrifiadur yn ei wneud. Does dim hyd yn oed rhaid i'r darllenwyr i ddod i'r llyfrgell mae 'na llawer o wybodaeth ar gael ar y wefan. Llawer o lawysgrifau a llyfrau pwysig ein hanes fel gwlad wedi ei ddigido ac ar gael i bawb yn y byd heb iddyn nhw orfod gadael ei cadair eistedd. A mae 'na mwy o wybodaeth yn mynd ar y wefan drwy'r amser, fydd yna 2 filiwn o dudalennau ychwanegol ar gael pan fydd y prosiect dwi'n gweithio ar wedi gorffen.

Ond mae hyn yn gadael y pwynt, beth o'n i'n meddwl dweud oedd er fod hyn i gyd wedi newid, er fod technoleg wedi neidio ymlaen dros i'r ganrif ddwethaf mae yna o hyd pethau sydd ddim yn newid. Mae'r llyfrgell o hyd yn gwarchod ac yn rhannu trysorau ein gwlad, hanes ein gwlad. Ac er fod llawer o bethau wedi newid dros i'r ganrif ddwethaf mae prif elfennau gwaith y llyfrgell wedi sefyll yr un peth. Rydym ni yma i warchod Hanes ein gwlad.

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Only a quick note to say something quickly and unofficially about the National Library of Wales's centenary celebrations. Not the centenary of the library as an institution or even as a building but of the laying of the foundation stone, which was prett massive I must say.

However over the course of the next three days (counting today) the library will be holding a series of events in the Drwm. Today there were a series of films from over the last century. Myself and some of my colleagues from the library, along with members of the public went along to see what the "Library on Film" was all about. What it was, was a "patchwork" of films all stitched together showing the history of the library, the building, the treasures and the staff.

While watching the film I was msing over how things have changed over the century. For example there's no need to use a card catalogue anymore, that's what computers are for. And then there is so much information on the web page that in many cases people don't have to come to the library building itself anymore. There is so much available on the website, the treasures of our country, manuscripts and books alike available all over the world, and people don't even have to leave their armchairs. All the time extra resources are being uploaded to the internet. The project I'm currently working on will contain an extra 2 million pages.

However this is besides the point. What I meant to say was that despite the fact that everything has changed so drastically, despite the giant leaps technology has taken over the last century many things remain the same. The library still protects and give access to our heritage, our treasures. despite everything the main aim of the library has stayed the same. We are here to protect out countries heritage.

CPD23 - Wales Meet Up anyone??

I've noticed that Wales doesn't seem to have anybody arranging a meet up for cpd23. If anybody's interested I'm willing to arrange a meeting either in Aberystwyth or Swansea (as I know those fairly well). If those aren't convenient would somebody else like to arrange it for someplace else? Any ideas, comments for suitable dates etc would be gratefully received as I've not tried arranging something like this before.

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Dwi wedi sylwi bod neb wedi trefnu unrhyw gyfarfod i ni'r Cymry er mwyn cpd23. Dwi'n barod i drefnu rhywbeth naill ai yn Aberystwyth neu Abertawe (gan fy mod yn ei nabod nhw yn weddol o dda) os mae yna ddiddordeb mewn cwrdd lan  'da beth. Os nad yw un o'r rhain yn gyfleus a oes yna rhywun arall fyddai'n barod i drefnu Cyfarfod y Cymry? Fydden i'n ddiolchgar am unrhyw syniadau neu sylwadau am ddyddiad neu lle addas gan fy mod i ddim wedi trfnu unrhywbeth fel hyn o'r blaen.

Thing 4 - Current Awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

Hmm... Thing 4 seems to be a bit of a tricky one. I'm trying to understand/get the hang of all three of these mediums.

Twitter - I'm managing OK with Twitter, though until recently I had only a handful of followers due to everything being in lockdown. My Twitter is still in lockdown but I'm following more people some of which have been kind enough to follow me back. So now I have a grand total of 32 followers and I follow 86 people. The majority of which I've added in the last couple of weeks since I've started cpd23.

RSS - Well, I've signed up to Google Reader and am attempting to get a hang of it... I've added some random blogs that I like the look of, news and jobs. I'm still experimenting with this but to be honest I think I'd rather go to the blogs themselves in most cases as you don't get the various backgrounds etc that make the blogs personal to the blogger with Google Reader. For jobs I love it as then I can star the jobs I like the look of and I don't end up looking at the same jobs over and over. We'll see if it grows on me given time.

Pushnote - I really don't get this. None of my friends have it. Although I did find a couple of my new Twitter people from cpd23 on it. But so far I'm not fussed. We'll see whether or not this changes given time...