Break Week Thoughts

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope this week has been treating you well. We are on Spring Break at my university so the campus and library have been quiet and it has been a wonderful week for getting things done. I wanted to share a few thoughts on the importance of break weeks, or something similar, along with a few bits of fun.

I love being an academic librarian. I love the students. I love the work. And I sometimes even love the frenetic energy on campus. But this last term just about had me crawling under my desk in search of some quiet and calm. It was a chaotic term for everyone I talked with, not just those of us in the library. No one is sure why, but it completely zapped our energy reserves. This break week, even though the library is open (albeit limited hours), has been a joyous bit of calm between the storms.

Break week isn’t a week of zoning out or goofing off. We don’t have it as vacation, unlike some of the other faculty and students. Instead, it is a week of catching up and diving into those projects that take a backseat to the urgent demands of teaching and other work during the term. For me, it has been a week of research and writing, getting to delve deeply into projects that I had to neglect while teaching two credit-bearing classes and doing more committee work than I care to remember.

I’ve actually been able to get into a state of flow with my work, which never happens during the quarter. I’ve been able to finish another round of analysis on a large stack of transcripts, complete a conference paper and presentation, and check of a half-dozen other smaller projects that need to be finished. And, I’ve hardly had to look at the clock at all. Without interruptions or meetings that section off my time into hour increments that may work for busywork, but don’t work for deep thinking and analysis, I’ve felt more relaxed and accomplished at the end of the day than I have for a longer time than I care to admit.

It is hard brainwork, deep thinking, but satisfying in a way that urgent emails and fixing work for committees will never be for me.

It is a reminder that we need time like this to think and to plan so that when we take action, it will be thoughtfully considered instead of a reaction. If you can carve this out into your week or month, you are fortunate indeed. If you are an administrator, my hope for you is that you would figure out a way to carve out this time for your staff if you aren’t as fortunate as my library to have built in “downtime” like the break week, where work can be done without interruption.

We, as the faces of the library, are public serving and public-facing, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need some time for reflection and flow work, too.

As for fun, because we need fun, too, check out Smashing Magazine’s Easter Icon Set (it’s free). And, if you are in the San Jose, California area on April 9th, check out the S.F. Bay Area Printers’ Fair & Wayzgoose. It sounds like it should be fantastic!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with good times and good reads! I’ll be back soon with thoughts on our spring exhibit and graphic design for librarians.

Tuesday Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! Most Tuesdays could use a little more fun, but I think the first Tuesday after Daylight Savings Times begins (at least for some of us) requires a lot of fun. For today, I have some lovely information and articles about books because there are few things more fun than a good book.

In case you missed it at the end of last year, check out this infographic on what happens to your body after you start reading a book. I especially love the tongue-in-cheek writing even as it reminds us how powerful books can be.

Also in the realm of books and fun, check out Gizmodo’s article about 16 fun, escapist books to read. Looks like I have more titles to put on my “to read” list. 🙂

Springtime is always birding time, so I’m especially enamored of this poster illustrating the birds of North America. It is lovely. Though I’d suggest taking a Sibley Guide into the field is more practical for identification.

I’ll be back soon with some thoughts on libraries and graphic design, as we are about to mount our spring exhibit, as well as other news and notes. Until then, happy reading! Allons-y!

Tuesday Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed your Leap Day and are ready for March! I am looking forward to Daylight Savings Time beginning and the start of spring. It is a good month. In celebration, let’s have a bit of fun today.

Who doesn’t like a good home library? No one who reads this blog, that’s for sure. I love having books around to read and to draw inspiration from. So I was in awe of this amazing home library and slightly jealous of what sounds like fabulous talks that happen in the middle of such a great collection. Check out this article and video on Cultivating curiosity in amazing home library. I think I need to go buy some more bookshelves.

It’s a new month and that means Smashing Magazine has released its monthly post of fantastic wallpapers for your desktop. They are beautiful and inspiring, as always. Take a few moments and refresh your desktop’s wallpaper. It’s the quickest bit of redecorating you can do.

Finally, check out this short, useful video from Lifehacker on how to pack for long trips. Spring makes me want to travel, so I couldn’t help but share this resource, too.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday and rest of your week. I’ll be back soon with some more news and notes. Allons-y!

 

 

Design Resources for Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! As you can tell from the lack of posts this month, it has been rather crazy around the library. Teaching two freshmen information literacy courses in a quarter usually doesn’t throw me for a loop, but combine them with massive amounts of committee work, a battle with a cold, and a bunch of project deadlines, and it has definitely impacted the amount of time I’ve had for writing. So today, I want to share some fun design resources to get you into the weekend because everyone can use some inspiration.

It is no secret that I’m a fan of free icons, and you should be, too. They are so much better than clip art and great for use in quick graphics you may need to create for your library. I’m especially fond of the curated sets available via Smashing Magazine. Check out the adorable home appliance and real estate icons and this huge set of icons on e-commerce, food, summer, and more.

Also, it is no secret that I love good typography and think every librarian (and every person) should know at least the basics. It is imperative for graphic design and finding more sources of free fonts is always useful, so check out this great set from Smashing Magazine: free fonts with personality. I can’t wait to use Badhead in something.

Speaking of design on a much larger scale, check out this Gizmodo article, “Look how much better a city can be when it designs for people not cars.” The photo comparisons are amazing and it is a stark reminder that good, liveable design is a choice; it doesn’t just happen. Something to keep in mind when we renovate or design libraries, too.

Finally, just for fun, check out The Well-Appointed Desk’s Chocolate Lovers’ Fashionable Friday post. So much yummy-looking stuff. And, of course, who can resist this project of turning an old t-shirt into a cat tent? Definitely not me.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and get to design and to read something wonderful. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

 

Dreams and Design

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope that your week is going well and you feel settled in the new year. I’m still trying to remember to write 2016 on memos and papers, but feel like 2016 is already running away from me sometimes. Always so much to do and learn, especially in libraries. Today I wanted to talk a bit about dreams, because it is that time of year, and a bit about design, because libraries should always be talking about design.

First, a couple of things to share: Month in Typography by I Love Typography and All Steps Lead to Somewhere by This is Indexed. Both of these have been on my mind in this new year as we consider design and branding, promotion and outreach, marketing and engagement at my library. Sometimes it is overwhelming when I think about what I can accomplish today or this week (especially when teaching and considering all my other duties). But it is important to remember that we can only accomplish anything by taking the first step, no matter how small, or continuing on with a long-term project.

I’ve been thinking a lot about designing and dreaming in this new year as we are talking about how to do better outreach and publicity for the library, which obviously means we need to design publicity materials. In order to do this properly, we have to have space to dream and to create. Sometimes this seems impossible with all the urgent, and even important, tasks we are called on to do everyday as librarians. However, if we don’t reserve the time for thinking and dreaming, we come up empty when it is time to create posters and flyers and handouts for our events. And herein lies one of the great challenges of librarianship. There is always more to do, so how do we carve out time for these design projects? I don’t think anyone has the perfect, one-size-fits-all answer, but I know that we have to make space for designing if we are going to succeed at my library in promoting and engaging with our community.

For me, the space to dream and design almost always happens in the morning before most of my colleagues arrive at the library. I have to resist the siren song of checking my email and instead use the first hour for whatever design project I’m working on, or paper I need to write, or data I need to analyze. I have to be protective and even stubborn about keeping this space open for my work or it is too easy for it to get lost in the shuffle of all the urgent tasks that need my attention. I’m a morning person, so it works for me. Do what works for you. If you are creative later in the day, use that time. Will  it work every day? Of course not. But if you can line up more days than not for working on your projects, you’ll be amazed what you can do.

And you know, the funny thing about being deliberate about designing my time like that? I still manage to get all the urgent stuff done, too, but feel better at the end of the day because I’ve gotten further along on my important projects, too. Work really does expand to fill time, so design your time so you have as much control as you can.

I hope the new year brings you many opportunities to dream and to design. I hope you turn your dreams into wonderful projects to share with the world. I hope you find great satisfaction, and even joy, in your work this year. I’ll be back with more news and notes soon. Allons-y!

2016 and We're Back

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! Can you believe that we are already over a week into the new year? I can hardly believe it myself. The campus is full of students again and everything is chugging along at its usual frenetic pace. So I thought we’d slow down a bit today and focus on some articles and items that can help us try to keep calm as we rush headfirst into the new year.

I love being organized, don’t you? It makes work and play that much easier. While it isn’t gift-giving season per se, this article on the Gift of Organization from Lifehacker is still useful if you are trying to figure out how to get a bit more organized before the month is out. I recently bought some new storage containers for home, now I just need to find some time to actually get things organized in them…

A new month of course means new beautiful Desktop Wallpaper Calendars from Smashing Magazine. If you have to stare at a screen all day like I often do for work, you might at least have a lovely desktop wallpaper. This month’s batch of wallpapers run the gamut from cute to quirky to beautiful so I’m sure you can find something to perk up your screen.

Finally, if nothing else works for holding back the chaos at work and/or home, have a cup of tea. There is nothing like a cup of tea to make a few minutes a bit better. In that vein, check out the lovely Tea Time Fashionable Friday post from The Well-Appointed Desk. Tea (and some coffee) plus stationery? Count me in.

I hope you had a lovely end to 2015 and are having a good start to 2016. I’m sure this year will bring many changes, challenges, and surprises. I’ll be back again soon with some more thoughts on libraries and such. Allons-y!

 

 

Time at the End of the Year

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! Another week in December gone by. The time does really seem to fly by at this time of year. Everything wrapping up (including packages) and the start of anticipating the new year makes it a great time of year to slow down and prioritize what we want to do next in our lives. This post has some resources to help with time, focus, and getting our stuff done (in life and at work).

Do you feel like time is speeding up as you get older? If so, you’re not alone. Goodness knows I’d like to have enough time to be bored sometimes. Lifehacker has an interesting article on why this phenomenon exists and what we can do to get back into the present moment. Enjoy the article on Why Time Feels Like it’s Flying By.

Part of the reason time seems to be flying by is that most of us, if we admit it, are overscheduled, bad at multitasking, and jump from project to project throughout the day. Because of this, our focus suffers. Being reflective and proactive about how we work helps and so do these Seven Strategies for Regaining Focus in Hectic Workplace. Let’s all agree to have a less hectic workplace in the new year, shall we? That would be grand.

I love the idea of taking the time now to Schedule Catch-up Days in the new year. Having a day or even an afternoon to tackle the to-do list and get through everything that keeps getting put off is a great idea. I’m pulling out my planner now to schedule some in 2016.

I hope you have a lovely day and weekend, dear readers. Hard to believe we are at the end of another year. Let’s make the most of it. Allons-y!

Tuesday Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! We all need a bit of fun on a Tuesday, especially since it is final exams week at my university. So I have a few fun things to share today.

First, for those looking for some lovely new icons to use in their designs, check out this icon set from Smashing Magazine: Voyage Icon Set. So much fun to use new icons. I’m a big fan of the free Smashing Magazine sets and have found them really useful in sprucing up our library brochures and ads.

For those who love science, and those who love creative, cool concepts, check out Super Science Friends: Episode 1. I love scientists re-imagined as superheroes.

Also, if you need a moment to relax and enjoy some nature, even if you can’t step away from your desk, check out the Winners of Royal Society Publishing’s photography competition. Absolutely lovely. Makes me want to go wandering out in the woods right now.

I hope you have a lovely week. Allons-y!

Why Being On-Campus Matters: Or, the Benefits of Drop-ins

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! So here we are, into December already. Can you believe we are in the last month of the calendar year? Neither can I. The days and weeks and months have seemed to fly since the school year started. But here we are. Today, I wanted share a bit about why being on-campus matters to me as a librarian and my one unscheduled day of the week when being on-campus just might matter (almost) most.

This quarter, my only day when I don’t have a meeting, class, or reference desk hours scheduled is on Tuesday. I feel rather grateful for having a day when I’m not automatically scheduled to be somewhere other than my office. If that makes me sound old-fashioned or out-of-touch, I don’t really care. It is nice to have some unscheduled time, especially when I am expected to research and publish in addition to my teaching and service duties. I often use Tuesdays for research: writing and revising article manuscripts, analyzing transcripts for a study, or finishing up grant paperwork. Tuesdays are my unofficial research day, but they’ve also become my unofficial “drop-in to see me” day for students, colleagues, and unexpected visitors.

In one Tuesday, I had an unexpected transfer of materials to the archives from an office that was moving, food drive donations, a history professor stop by to chat, an impromptu check-in about next term’s outstanding scheduling issues (even though I’m technically not scheduling all of our courses this year), and a request from a colleague for help with a misbehaving tutorial software program. To me, this day served as a reminder and an example for why being present on-campus and available, even when I’m not technically in office hours, is so important. As an academic librarian, a library faculty member, I have a lot of flexibility with my time and days, but it is still so important to be around, in the library, to have these serendipitous encounters. Not to mention, being able to have a chat with another professor and help a colleague rescue their tutorial work, totally made my day.

Would I have gotten even more research done had I been holed up in another place no one could find me? Definitely. Would I get annoyed if I got interrupted throughout the whole of my day? Completely. But is it worth a little less productivity to help out? Of course. Plus, it reminds me why I love librarianship. I love being able to help people; I love the conversations and the problem-solving; I love having the library be part of the larger community, on campus and off.

So, my unscheduled day has reminded me why being on-campus and available is so important. It is a reminder to not overschedule myself so I’m available for those drop-in moments and those serendipitous chats (and so I have the headspace to be present and open to these conversations).

So I hope, dear readers, that you have some unscheduled time in your day for these kind of encounters and if you don’t, that you do soon. We are all continually stretched to our limits, I think, but it is good to remember that sometimes it really is being around and present that counts in getting our work done. Allons-y!

 

 

Thankful Post 2015

/ dwakimoto

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers! In honor of the holiday of giving thanks (and a not-quite-annual tradition on this blog), I wanted to take today to write a bit about things I’m thankful for in the library. I’m not going to be comprehensive (at this point in the term the memory is a bit fuzzy) or try to fit it into a predefined list (too hokey). Instead, I’m just going to write a bit of thanks and call it a good day.

1. East Bay Wrimos This was the first year that I signed up the library as an official Come Write In partner for National Novel Writing Month. It has been a long, exhausting month hosting write-ins every weekend, but the people I’ve met and gotten to know better over the course of the month has made it all worth it. (Even the running around like mad trying to figure out how to work a colleague’s coffee maker when my order for coffee hadn’t been received so there was no delivery one weekend). It has been great to write with other people, listen to their stories, and share laughs as we all do this crazy, novel-writing thing. It makes me happy to see so many people, who wouldn’t normally come to campus, come to the library and have a great time.

2. Students I’m continually thankful for my (mostly) wonderful students, both in the classes I teach, the ones I see at the reference desks, and the ones that come for help in my office. They keep me on my toes and make me remember why I love to teach and learn. I’ve felt especially grateful this year for students I’ve had in previous terms who’ve come back to say hi, get help on research for their current classes, and introduce me to friends who need a bit of research help, too. It makes being a teaching librarian a lot of fun (and makes doing grading seem a little easier, too).

3. Colleagues I love having colleagues I can collaborate and learn with at my library. A couple of colleagues and I were in the same faculty learning community this year and are just finishing up an article manuscript together. It has been great to share the learning experience and article writing experience with them.

4.  Generosity This is the fourth year we’ve participated as a library in our campus’ Bountiful Basket food drive. I’m always so grateful for the generosity of my colleagues in giving to the food drive and how we are able to represent the library in another positive way within our campus community. Plus, it is always fun to see just how many cans of green beans we get each year. 😉

So really, I’m thankful for so much of my work and my ability to keep learning and sharing. I hope that you have many things to be thankful for this year, too, dear readers. I’m also thankful that next month is December and I should have some more time to write and share here. Because, as always, I’m thankful that you read this blog, dear readers. It is always a journey. Allons-y!