New Job Report

I've been at the Longmont Library for two weeks now and I can safely say that I am enjoying myself!

My very first day was a little stressful - since I didn't know anyone and I wasn't sure what I should be doing. I felt very much like an intruder in the place. Not that anyone was unfriendly - far from it - but it was still very awkward as I didn't know what I should be doing with my time.

(My second day with Longmont was a paid holiday off for Veteran's Day!)

Now I've had some time to get into the flow of things and meet some people, and things are much better now. I have logins and authorizations that I need to do my work and I have a better understanding of what the expectations are with my position. In fact, that was what threw me off at first: I wasn't supposed to me a 'peon' that just followed instructions - I was supposed to be a decision-maker. They wanted me to come in and use my experience and expertise to actually start making changes to improve the place. Once I realized that, I started letting my imagination run wild!

So anyway, my basic duties at Longmont are to support the public side of the computer system (that is, any PCs used by the library patrons) as well as do time monitoring the computer lab. In addition, I'm responsible for the weekly scheduling of the lab monitor staff. Finally, I'm a basic on-call troubleshooter for any technical problems that occur in the building.

So far, it's kept me pretty busy - which is good. I have some ideas that spawned from my time in Fort Collins that I'm pretty sure will help stabilize and secure a number of the public computers. There's also a big project coming down the pipe involving computerized management of the public lab computers and printers, and I'm going to be pretty central to that work. There's e-commerce software to test and implement - which will be a change for the library. There's also a lot of work to be done to catalog, inventory, and standardize the configurations of the public computers. I'm seeing some security or procedural holes that I'd like to patch up and I've got ideas for how to do it. Plus, the city tech guys (called ETS) have some projects involving centralized virus/spyware proection and virtual machine profiles that they might want me in on. In addition to all this, I'm also a part of the Library Leadership Team, a group made up of all supervisors, department heads, and the library director who discuss and make decisions on overall library policy.

Yeah, I'm busy. :-)

The commute hasn't been too bad. I can take either I-25 or US 287 up and down and I don't really have much of a preference for either route. It takes just a bit longer to use 287, but sometimes the traffic is so bad on I-25 that the time ends up being pretty comparable. I haven't had to try making this trip in the icy winter (yet) but I'm prepped. Kate and I assembled an emergency kit for the car and I have a couple of friends from the Fort Collins Library who live along my route to and fro that have offered to let me crash on a couch if the weather is ever too rough to risk. I'm also getting through a lot of audiobooks during the commute. :-)

Okay, some fast pictures to share. I'm hoping to have more eventually,but these will have to do for a start.

First off, my desk...



Yep, that's my own desk with my own printer and phone and lockable cubby space.

Opposite my desk is a computer work area for fixing PCs...



There were several computer waiting for me on my first day. :-)

Next is the computer lab that I'm responsible for...




This is the CATS (Children and Teen Services) Lab, which I don't monitor but I'm responsible for maintaining...



Here are some of the other public desks around the library...

Reference...



Media/Periodicals...



Childrens...



And the Information Desk...



(Didn't get a good pic of the Circulation desk yet, but this is a picture of the back sorting/check-in area...)



Here's a shot looking down in the main foyer...



The two entrances to the library...




And, of course, the break room...




Finally, here's a shot of a picture of me on the Computer Lab Team section of the picture board, in which pictures of all staff members are posted with their names and which departments they work in...



Steve is the library's systems administrator and my boss. Pat is the other Library Technician; she's been doing all the tech support work by herself until Steve showed up in July and I showed up now.

So all in all, I'm very glad I made the move to Longmont. Yes, the commute is a little trying at times and yes, I do still miss the Fort Collins Library, but I think that this position is a great opportunity for me to stretch my talents and really make a difference in the organization. I'm looking forward the challenges and the experiences to come!

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you're having a great day!