The Now: February 5, 2025

For the past two weeks, a group of HVAC guys have been moving through the library space "balancing" the system. This is good because my office would hit 84 degrees if I kept my door closed. I have no idea what they are doing, but it's fascinating to see their tools and systems at work. 

Here's what I've been focusing on:

1. Library Instruction: We're a few weeks into the semester which means instruction requests are picking up. On top of that, one of our teaching faculty is out for a few weeks with an unexpected medical issue. We're all scrambling to help cover their classes. While I can teach most library instruction sessions in my sleep, I have noticed one big trend - more students are asking about AI. We anticipated this and have prepared materials, but it's quite hard to stay abreast of things when AI is changing every day. 
2. New Space Follow-Up: Now that we've been in our remodeled space for a full semester, we have a better idea for how it works and is used. We're taking this information and finally codifying policies and procedures. I'm also updating various documents, websites, and outreach materials to reflect what we know. Unfortunately, some things we can't change - like the way noise carries. So, we're implementing stop gap measures. We recently added ear plugs and noise blocking headphones to our equipment.
3. Freelance Tracker: I've been doing a lot more speaking and writing work. Come tax time, I don't want to scramble to figure out how much I've been paid. I developed a quick spreadsheet to help me track all of this work. I updated it with the current information, but I want to go back and fill in my previous work. I think it would be cool to see my growth.

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