Carol Avery Nicholson
Assistant Director for Collection Resources and Bibliographic Services
Kathrine R. Everett Law Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
A Day in My Life . . . As a Law Librarian
Law Library Journal Spring 1997
I have been a librarian half of my entire life (twenty-three years to be exact). In fact, the only work for which I have ever received a paycheck has been that done in a library and I even recall filing cards in the card catalog as a volunteer at my elementary school when I was just a child. (I'll bet many of my colleagues can relate to that.)
I have been employed at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, since 1982. My official job title is Assistant Director for Collection Resources and Bibliographic Services. A loose translation would be head of Technical Services, which itself means that I coordinate the overall supervision of acquisitions, serials, cataloging and government documents for the library. In addition to managing the flow of new materials that are added to the library's collection, I also coordinate automation activities related to Technical Services. Finally, I am a member of the law library's Management Team.
In addition to my affiliation with and affection for all things related to technical services, I also enjoy actively participating in professional library associations, most notably, AALL. Being on the cutting edge of shaping the future of AALL as we sail toward the twenty-first century is very exciting and rewarding. Thus, I am very honored to be currently serving on the AALL Executive Board. In fact, the day that I am describing occurred when I was particularly involved with AALL matters.
Of course, I began the day by checking my e-mail. Thanks to my subscriptions to several electronic discussion lists, I always have new mail to delete—oops, I mean to read. After completing a request for OCLC authorizations for a new staff person and a revised authorization request for the library's ILS, I decided to tackle the mountain of mail, paperwork, and professional reading overtaking my desk and office. After all, I was recently complimented by a sales representative on the orderliness of my stacks of stuff so I have a reputation to protect!1
After more mail sorting and desk organizing, I sent a fax of my travel agenda for the upcoming Executive Board Meeting to AALL Headquarters in Chicago and found a fax waiting for me in the fax machine. Alas, more work and another reminder to get busy on the work of a subgroup of the board dealing with publisher relations (what fun!). I have to be prepared for a conference call at 2. It's a good thing that I rescheduled my (sometimes) weekly meeting with the Associate Director as many of the items on my desk will be matters to take up with him tomorrow. Whew—it's only 11 A.M.!
During an early lunch break, I read a couple of chapter newsletters and was immediately inspired, amused, encouraged, and refreshed. I really needed that pick-me-up, too, because I then spent about an hour with the Serials Librarian mulling over problems and procedures involved in setting up and using the serials control module of our ILS (which will remain nameless, but it is not the one most often used by law libraries).
I then had just a few minutes to read some data for my two o'clock conference call with two members of the Executive Board in preparation for a Committee of the Whole discussion at our upcoming Board meeting. Time to check my e-mail again—oops! I can't get in, so now I finally have to face that SOLINET survey (since I received a follow-up letter today). In between completing the survey and handling the usual daily interruptions, I received and sent another fax.
Okay, I confess, I joked around with the staff for a few minutes and arranged a group lunch date for a new staff member, but—all in all—what a day!
1. In fact, this article would not exist had I not decided to clean my desk, as I discovered an unopened envelope in a little pile that contained the invitation from editor Frank Houdek to write this piece!
For More Information About Law Librarianship or the AALL Recruitment Committee, contact committee chair Sarah Mauldin.