What do librarians do when they work at a university or school and there’s a vacation? The general perception out there in the pseudo-real world is that academic librarians are like teachers, meaning that they only have to work when there are classes. Nine months a year, and relax all summer and relax during all breaks.

Butler University has a week-long Thanksgiving Break, and the library is VERY quiet today. Does that mean we have nothing to do? Not hardly!

Technology has given us even more things to do when we have “free time.” Technology used to be ahead of the work, and it made the work easier and quicker, but now it seems that work has caught up with the technology. Before computers, we could process books, do some collection development, get caught up on reading the stack of issues of Library Journal or American Libraries or Publisher’s Weekly or CHOICE that has been accumulating in a pile on the floor in a corner of the office, grade papers from the last BI session we did, do some of our own research, or even (gasp!) shelf read!

Now we can also update web content, write a decent post for the library blog, design a new layout for the library’s email newsletter, get caught up on all the listservs, websites, blogs, etc., that we subscribe to, or (gasp!) still shelf read! There STILL is value in doing that. We need to stay knowledgeable about what books/CDs/DVDs/etc. are on our shelves, and shelf reading is a tremendous tool for doing just that while making sure things are where they’re supposed to be. It’s not “beneath” librarians to do some shelf reading.

With or without technology, it seems like “vacation” times are still times that we try to play Catchup. We have so many things we do as librarians that are behind the scenes, days with no classes are times to get caught up on that kind of thing. And that’s just for Public Services librarians. If you’re one of the fortunate ones that get to catalog or process books without having to deal so much with the “general public,” they there’s really no change for you on these days when school isn’t in session. You just keep plugging with the same old same old.

Well, time to run. I’ve got a stack of journals that’s leaning over my shoulder, about ready to tip over on me!