learning
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Neck deep in data
This week, like part of last week, is processing data. I am working on two projects, both spreadsheet heavy. The first is for a paper that involved us going back and remining almost sixty websites for course offerings and program listings. I’ve derived subset data sets about three times now. Every time we do it, we discover new questions based on inconsistencies. We go back, diambiguate and try again. I hope this is the last time. I’ve gotten about one-third of the processing done. I will have time to work on it tomorrow morning as well. Then after that, I will finish the data for my presentation to the pharmacy…
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ELNs, LIMs, and project management
I finally have to jump into a different part of the data management pool–project management. For the past year I have been intermittently asked about electronic lab notebooks and options for them in basic science research. Over the past month I have had office hours flyers up in my basic science building and it caught the eye of a core resource department. They are a fee for service core that needs some help in project management and called me. My experience with electronic lab notebooks has been minimal. What I have seen so far is that the are too inflexible for practical use, or too expensive for implementation on a…
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Gentleness
One of the things that I have gained by reading a book on creativity is the idea of being gentle. Yesterday I wrote of the larger picture of creativity. Inevitably, there comes a period where creativity is absent. I like that she puts these periods as droughts rather than blocks. She goes on to explain that crativity exists in cycles and with gentle action, the cycle will progress and work can begin again. I had a hard time identifying with this at first because I don’t consider myself a working artist. Even as a hobbist, another label I don’t quite attach to, I am not producing art and I have…
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5pm and daylight
I just realized it’s February. In my time, that is the backside of the gauntlet of events that starts sometime late October. But these weeks have flown by. I am starting to come out of a work shell. When I left today I noticed that it was still daylight. This little observation usually means that I have made it though the toughest part of winter for me. I also realized that despite my uncertain future (Thank you Governor Rauner!), the weekend trip with my sister and a few friends will be coming up in about two weeks. We aren’t even leaving the suburbs, but we are holing up in a…
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One thing
There is a host of things going on in my mind. I have a lot of work to do in a short week. I am hosting a cookie baking and exchange tomorrow and there may be freezing rain. I have all of my weekend work, normally done over two days, crammed into Sunday. I am participating in National Novel Writing Month and while currently on track, will have to make up time next week. We are hosting Thanksgiving and that prep work needs to get done, including the final email that tells people when to actually show up. I need to get back to the gym because I haven’t been…
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Health and wellness
I turned forty one a few weeks ago. I marked the occasion by going to a conference in Milwaukee and pretty much telling no one it was my birthday. I celebrated with family, of course, but that was it. Today I was discussing work and life with a colleague. I had been complaining that my headache made me completely unproductive today and I was frustrated about it. The past few weeks, and if I’m honest –few months, have been a challenge. I have had severe headaches and my right shoulder has become chronically sore. I’m not used to chronic anything. I get sick (if I do) and then get well.…
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Media companies and reference service
I seem to be developing a reputation for getting the most random questions through all of our sundry reference avenues. If there was a contest, today would have crushed it. I was sitting at the reference desk fielding the usual when an L.A. call came through. It was someone associated with a media company looking to use our library as a filming location for a tv show. I looked them up. It’s legit. So to that, I ended up calling a number of administrators and gathering a list of contact names to pass along to this guy. I learned a bit more about our institution. And it sure beats the…
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Decision fatigue
I just read an article on Slate on a few tips to combat decision fatigue. I am notoriously bad at making decisions promptly. I’m almost always comfortable to happy with the decision that I’ve made. But the article was particularly timely. I, of course, already knew about this phenomenon; but I feel that this perfectly described my distrupted life and current work habits. Without realizing it, I have mitigated some of this. I cook on weekends so I don’t have to think about breakfast or lunch. I have a wardrobe that I bought all in one season, so it coordinates and I don’t have to spend a lot of time…
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Email and One Note
Today I accomplished two things that have been a nusiance: cleaning up my email and getting One Note to sync. These tasks fall under the “not real work” category for me. I generally consider them time sucks, that are necessary only in that they are tools that have to be used because of the systems that we have created around ourselves. Email has been a particular challenge. Pervious jobs have not been so communicaton heavy. Even when it has brief moments of activity, I can usually defer some of it by simply walking down the hall and asking in person. That can’t be accomplished easily here. Not only that, but…
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Adaptation
Tonight was the third of three classes. I tried to get a little more attendance from posting informal flyers around the library with reminder sticky notes attached to them. The tactic was successful in the sense that two people dropped in due to them. The third was already registered. One other contacted me about missing the class. He was also registered, but mentioned the notes that he saw. I’m following up to see if he is willing to attend another group or make an appointment. So far the marketing that I am using is either generating more attendance or other consults. So overall, postitive results. I;m tracking them to get…