Week two

Sunday:

I've got through a second week of full time work. Not as stressed and exhausted as the first week, but still very tired at the end of each day. A bit disillusioned that I'm doing very little of the things I was actually trained for - like cataloguing and helping people with research. I'm doing basic library tasks like helping people borrow and return books; but a lot of my time seems to helping students with computer stuff that I have no training or experience in. Some I can do - like show them how to format an assignment and print it - but often they need more complex tech help that I have no idea about, like getting them wi-fi, or helping them use computer programs I've never even seen before. I watch my colleagues and learn. But it's not what I became a Library Technician for.

I spend about half of each day on the circulation desk helping students, the rest in the office doing things like creating a PowerPoint slideshow for Harmony Day and updating lists of resources we have for the teachers of each subject. My favourite is when I occasionally get to work with actual books - like when I noticed we had different editions of the same book shelved in different places so I corrected the call number for the misfiled one and printed new labels.

Well, if it's not the perfect job I need it as a stepping stone to a better one. Maybe something better will come up. But I know the computer side is a big part of libraries now.

I'm more exhausted this weekend than I was during the week. Maybe I'm coming down with something.