Monday 31st January 2011

Technically annual leave today, but this was so I could go to the Career Development Group national council (something I have volunteered for outside work).  I was somewhat apprehensive as I found the last meeting I attended rather uncomfortable, but this time was much better.

I am the Honorary Editor of Impact this year, which is a challenging year for the group as it is going e-only.  At the moment, the electronic version is created using a free online tool called Issuu.  While this is useful when the electronic version is an option, it didn’t seem to be the solution for a purely online publication, so I asked for a small amount of funding to set up a better system.  Thankfully the others saw the advantages of this, and I can go ahead!

The meeting was a very friendly affair, with lots of lively discussion.  Our end of the table did dominate a little (perhaps next time, us noisy ones should be separated!), but it was really good to see all the divisional representatives joining in so enthusiastically.  One of the really encouraging things about CDG is that the divisional structure is very strong, and gives the group a very democratic aspect.  We had a visit from Daniel Sabel from CILIP, and he was somewhat surprised at the value we placed in our divisional structure.

Tuesday 1st February 2011

A somewhat unproductive day, as I unexpectedly went to the staff Christmas lunch (postponed due to weather).  A colleague cancelled and an hour later there I was.  The day was otherwise concerned with downloading usage statistics, a biannual ritual, but storing the reports centrally saves a lot of time and effort for others.  We did a pilot last year which required quarterly statistics gathering, but that really was too much.

Wednesday 2nd February 2011

More statistics today, and some discussion of where to store some files – on the shared drive or on the wiki (our intranet).  I think most of the files are going on the wiki, so will no doubt be doing a lot of file transfers later this month.  Should make things more findable though, which is good.

Thursday 3rd February 2011

Some more statistics trickling in.  Most use a Counter or Counter-style format, but the occasional provider is fun with pivot tables instead.  I had one of those today.  Pivot tables rock.  However, the bulk of today is going to be about cancellations – we have a lot this year, due to some rearrangements of packages (some things now included that used to be separate etc.).  It’s important to delete old orders, otherwise budget holders can’t see what they still have available.

Friday 4th February 2011

Cancellations have been finished now (hurrah!), but there’s still some renewals work to be done next week.  I’ve done most of the package changes, most others are just the natural coming and going of titles, rather than major changes.  To do list for next week looks much shorter, which is good – always a satisfying moment when I can cross something off.