#libday8: Lessons Learnt
Before I started #libday8 I blogged about my reasons for taking part. In addition to wanting to share my experiences of my job with others and motivate myself to blog more, I hoped the process of writing about my working week would allow for reflection on my job and career.
Developed a better understanding of my role.
A couple of weeks ago whilst chatting to a friends from library school about our jobs at graduation, I was told my job sounded really interesting, to which I responded that all I really did was push tapes around. In reality I do push tapes around on a trolley but that’s not all I do. But it’s easy to forget that. Thanks to #libday8 I’ve learnt more about what my role is and what I actually do over the course of a week. When caught up in the moments it is easy to forget how many things I am responsible for at work; now that the job has become routine I just do things without thinking because I know they need to be done. Recording my activities at work has helped me to recognise the skills and knowledge gained since starting the job. Keeping a record of my working week has revealed that I definitely do a lot more at work than just push tapes around.
Gained greater insight into how my library fits within the organisation.
I’ve also learnt more about how my library fits within the organisation. As a team we are a very small part of a massive system so it can be easy to feel lost within it all, and not recognise how our work fits with the organisation as a whole. When sending out boxes of tapes or cleaning up metadata the focus is on getting that job done, there isn’t always the time or impetus to reflect on the significance of the box of tapes or having the correct metadata. But keeping a record of what work has been done, who it was for and the reason behind it for #libday8 has provided opportunity to reflect on how our work helps the rest of the organisation.
Learnt about what I do well and what I could do better.
Recording my week at work has provided fantastic insight into what I’m good at and perhaps more importantly what I’m not as good at. I’ve been able to look back on my notes over the week and identify areas where I feel confident about my responsibilities and areas where I still seek reassurance and support from colleagues. I’m now in my 4th month in this job so most things are routine and I have ownership over the jobs. But on reflection there are still some areas of my work which I’m less confident about. Participation in #libday8 has helped identify areas for improvement and development which I am very keen to do something about.
