I jump-start my annual self-evaluation process with a low-level text analysis of my work log, essentially composed of “done” and “to do” bullet points. I normalized the text (e.g. emailed to email), removed personal names, and ran the all “done” items through Wordle.
2014–15 was my third year in my job and the third time I did this. (See 2012–13 and 2013–14). I do this because it can be difficult to remember what I was up to many months ago. It’s also a basic visualization of where my time is spent.
What did I do at my job this year?
Aside from the usual meetings, emails, and Reference Desk duties…
- chat: I implemented a chat reference service with my colleagues (this had been tried before on this campus, but with subpar software and bad staffing experiences; this time, we have limited hours and are very happy with LibraryH3lp)
- 50th: I worked on a physical and digital exhibit on the 50th anniversary of John Jay
- mmc: We rolled out the Murder Mystery Challenge for the second year
- l-etc: I co-chaired the LACUNY Emerging Tech Committee for the second year
- dc: I worked more on our Digital Collections site, importing materials and refining the UX
- mla: I went to MLA 2015 in Vancouver and gave a presentation
- onesearch: We further implemented CUNY’s web-scale discovery service; I organized and ran a usability testing session with my colleagues
- caug: I began to convene the CollectiveAccess User Group at METRO
- socialmedia: I became more active on behalf of the library on the @johnjaylibrary Instagram account
- newsletter: I designed two more biannual issues of Classified Information, our department newsletter
- drupal, page, fixed, update, added, etc.: I continued to maintain the library’s Drupal-based website
What’s on tap for 2015–16? Lots of online education outreach and much more instruction than I’ve previously done! I’m also starting to flex my writing muscles, starting with a quarterly column in Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian.
