Organization Monkey

Valentine’s Day dream

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

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celebratory organization

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

whenever i finish a big project i like to get down with some celebratory organization afterward. we just finished a grant application to imls (cross your fingers!) and now that we’re done it’s time for hanging and file folders, baby! copies of all the literature we cited, in folders. the application pieces itself, in a folder. we did a survey to get data to support our argument for the grant; IRB documents, human subjects certificates, copy of the survey in a folder.

i gathered together the documents (microsoft word, excel, adobe pdf) we wrote and put them in the same organizational structure as the print files. then i weeded through the email folder where i had been stashing all communication and got rid of any emails whose only content was, “okay, yes. let’s move that to section 2.” what i left behind are emails where we made big decisions, but only keeping the latest one in the thread.

now that everything is all organized it will be easy to find things in case we have to refer back to any documentation of our process. and now, on to the next project!

Fireworks / Nikita (http://www.flickr.com/people/malfet/relationship/) / CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

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“never met a librarian like that before”

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

i’ve been training at the information (a.k.a. reference) desk for the past month, in anticipation of staffing it for a couple hours each week. yesterday a young woman and man approached the desk, and i smiled as they walked toward me and said, “hey, what’s up?” they replied they were visiting campus for the day and came to see the building. i grabbed a map of the building and told them they had to go to the third floor and catch the view because it was one of those rare, perfectly clear los angeles days. they asked for a campus map too. i circled the library building and drew a line from it to the main quad where there was to be live music and food at noon. when i finished giving the directions the woman took a little step back and said, “i like your energy. you’re so cool and helpful. i’ve never met a librarian like that before.” i said thanks and they went on their way, but her comment stuck with me all day and now spilled into the day after.

“never met a librarian like that before.” i should be pleased at the compliment but instead am a little sad. the service i performed was not exceptional, i believe. i think it’s what anyone at our information desk would do if a visitor came in the building. it’s disappointing that she’s encountered librarians in the past who haven’t performed at that level. maybe it was the smile that sold her? 🙂

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