We’ve made it to Thursday. This is the fourth in a week-long series of “Day in the Life” posts for those considering a career in academic libraries, specifically working in either outreach or managerial positions. Here was Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. 

8:30a: Arrive at work. I spent the first 30 minutes trying to film a piece of video content that refused to work the way I envisioned it. This is a sad reality of working in a creative position: sometimes the first four drafts are all complete rubbish. I decided to shelve the idea for a later time. 

9:00a: Scheduled three future meetings: one for a committee, one for a photography shoot with a faculty speaker, and one prepping for the launch of a new digital archive. 

9:30a: Meeting prep (see next item). Coffee.

10:00a: Our library is currently working with a consultant to do some thinking around stakeholder mapping and strategic communications (internal). Two other department heads and I met to brainstorm all the key players on campus and arrange them according to “low/high power” and “low/high interest.” We then went through a series of questions that helped us to articulate the level of influence those stakeholders have vis-a-vis the library. 

12:30p: I had planned to go to a pilates class, but the meeting before ran over so I took a walk around campus instead. Breaked for a lunch. More coffee. 

2:00p: Met with two other colleagues to draft a proposal for an upcoming conference.

3:00p: My two student workers arrived for their shift. We spend the first hour brainstorming a [different from the one this morning] video idea: this one to promote the use of study rooms during finals. It took us a good while to figure out the best format, script, and audio. 

4:00p: Filmed and edited the video. We’ll post it tomorrow.

5:00p: Left work to pick up my son from school and take-out Thai food. 🤤 

6:00p: Spent about 30 minutes catching up on emails and Teams messages I missed throughout the day. 

Because of all the creative and brainstorming work today, it took me longer than usual to wind down. I don’t think I fully shut off until almost 7p. This is one of those days when I come home feeling worn out, but not overly productive. However, I know from experience this is all prelude to something better. It just takes time and a few false starts for some good ideas to fully gel.  

banner image: view from the campus bluff during my walk