lesson #2: overstaffing isn't fun

Today's my third Monday at practicum, and what I've discovered is that I find this experience to be more fun and more meaningful when -- like every other sphere of my world -- I'm needed. Wednesday night, the librarian on duty (LOD) was teaching and it was just me and the student assistant at the desk most of the evening. Today (like other Mondays), there are two student assistants, two graduate assistants, AND the LOD on hand. And then, there's me. So these Monday afternoon shifts seem to be the time when I'm supposed to get my non-desk work done. Still. It's far less fun to be sitting at a terminal in the reference area plugging away at my own independent research projects than it is to be at the vortex of all things reference, answering questions, troubleshooting problems and generally being of use to someone other than myself.

SO ... guess it's time to work on that independent research project, eh? I'm lagging somewhat because I'm waiting on the Blackboard shell for my bibliographic instruction session to be set up, and it's not yet. {sigh} Meanwhile, it's hard to sit and think about what I'm *going* to do much more ... really, I'd rather just *DO* it.