Day Two

Hi again,

I've been working as a capital L Librarian for two full days now, which gives me enough material for a blog post.

I have a cube, I've never had one before, I have 3 and 1/2 sorta walls!

I will also have business cards And a big timey name plate for the front of my cube!

My computer and phone are all set up, although no one has called me yet and I spent a little time personalizing the computer today.

I've been learning a lot, tons of info coming at me about procedures, the building, the staff and today, collection development.

I learned about approval plans (which means, basically, that books are purchased automatically for each subject area and sent to the library, the other side of that are slips, which come for potential books in each subject area, which each librarian reviews and decides to purchase for the library or not).

So, sometime soon, I'll be spending some library money.

I also have my first instruction session on Tuesday, which will involve teaching the library resources to 1st year students from one of my subjects...I'm a bit nervous, but it will be very introductory, which is nice.

I'll have to decide on a really good 'librarian outfit' for that day.

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Ottawa is cold, already!

Sweaters!

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The buses in Ottawa are almost exactly the same as the buses in Hamilton, full of students, standing room only...more about that in the future.

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I have discovered the secret of Carleton, not only do they have an intricate tunnel system, which will be very handy in the winter months, but it is the kingdom of the neverending staircases.

I will be fit as a fiddle in only a couple months!

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Food variety seems pretty good on campus, I've sourced out the best spots for tea already.

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I'm still looking for a place, but may have some potentials, I'll keep you updated.

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Big difference between Mac and Carleton, all the disciplines are in one place at Carleton, and there are quite a few departments/specialties that we did not have at Mac, so there will be a learning curve there in terms of the desk.

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Today I also learned about SmartLibraries, which is a partnership in the Ottawa area of libraries and museums sharing their resources, basically, if you are a patron in good standing, at say, OPL, you can get a card to borrow at Ottawa U, or Carleton and can view the collections at places like the Museum of Civilization.

This is a great consortia project.

More about it on their website: SmartLibraries

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That's all for now, thanks for reading!

~ Michelle