I just completed my first "new normal" week of working. This position requires a shifted schedule, coming in on Sundays and having Friday and Saturday as my weekend. It's not a bad gig, and I find the days go by much faster than a normal 8-5 sort of schedule (but it's all relative you know).
It is an adjustment to begin work around 1 PM; I have to push myself to not answer email in the morning (or on Fridays) but that's proving to be difficult. In true Hailley fashion, the work and personal blend rather seamlessly. In addition to the email game, I also am getting use to having lots of back-to-back meetings when I come into the library in the afternoons. Once 5 PM hits, the emails die down and the meetings stop. Then the student interactions really begin.
Which is my favorite part. I love sitting at the Knowledge Commons Desk and chatting with our student workers. It reminds me a lot of my office hours in the residence hall libraries; you're sort of right in the middle of all the undergraduate work. It's the best feeling, especially when you can help a student.
And I've already been called on for reference support. My approach to gaining students was to help our service desk and Welcome Desk workers know who I am, a little bit of my background, and how I can help them. I did this through an email, filled with hyperlinks for those interested in learning more about me through websites and blog posts. At the end of the email I asked for their feedback and their perspective on their jobs. I've received several responses and it has allowed me to start an active dialogue. I feel like these responses allow me to better understand the positions and how I can help. It's also an exercise in trust building so that these library employees feel comfortable and confident in getting a hold of me and directing students to me.
This trust building has worked because for the first week in my position, I had at least one reference referral (to me) each day. I got the opportunity to work with all sorts of students trying to find a wide variety of things. It was incredibly rewarding and a nice reminder of why I chose this job and the field of academic librarianship. These interactions also lead to further referrals to other subject experts/librarians. Those referrals help me to build relationships with subject experts/librarians which is awesome!
I can only hope the steak continues -- I am here and boy, am I ready to help! Reference on :)
Note: I really love the stock photo I found for the post's thumbnail. I typed in "Yes" in the Getty images search engine and I found lots of great photos of people being really excited.