Librarian Ire

Holidays, the Library - good times or bad?

What's the verdict with working in the library during the holidays?

I'm thinking the good can just as easily turn bad and vice versa. In the academic arena holidays = finals, burnt out and flaky students, and lax-a-daisy staff. Student staff are over sleeping, forgetting about shifts, or subbing like crazy. I spend half my day trying to keep up with just who is supposed to be working the next day. Then there is a quarter of the day where I am trying to hunt down that student who is supposed to be working to find out why the heck they didn't show up. The last quarter is spent with the full time staff working to reschedule meetings and reference shifts because they want to leave early, go shopping, get sick, or just forgot. The good in all of this is that, as you see, my day is completely filled up. There is no room for extra 'projects' (please see 'Quick, pass me the stupid stick' for explanation of where extra projects gets me), meetings are cancelled, certain undesirable staff members may be absent for part or whole days. The closer we get to Christmas the increased frequency of such things, so that usually one accounts for them. We put out a sign up sheet for students to work the week before and after xmas. Usually you get a whole day with those 1-2 workers who really like the extra money. These are almost always the good ones - responsible, eager, good natured, polite. Full-timers just outright cancel all meetings for 3 weeks as they come and go with vacation days. You get 75-90% of the staff who takes at least one full week off - and its usually 2!

My personal conclusion? The holidays are all good. Its a time when no one actually expects you to accomplish much, co-workers are gone, students are gone, its quiet. This is the best time to 'work'. Bring on the absences. Truly, its summer and the holidays that make working in the library so grand.

posted by Loki at 10:24 AM