A few weeks ago I started trialling Google Calendar as a way to keep track of all the tasks I need to complete throughout the course of the day. I’m pleased to say that this trial has for the most part been successful!
This week I discovered a new feature that has definitely been useful – the bookable appointment schedule. It was fairly easy to set up for half-hour slots and takes into account existing commitments on my calendar, which means it only offers appointment times when I’m otherwise free.
This is especially useful since I’ve often got students or staff wanting to work with me for various projects, such as programming or developing study skills. The booking sheet allows me to easily share my availability and for others to choose a time I’m available which best suits their needs, and then the booking appears on my Calendar colour-coded as a meeting. This week I’ve used it to schedule one-off bookings for the Distance Education students I supervise and found it was an efficient way to organise our meetings without seemingly endless and easily forgotten emails back and forth negotiating a time.
Another benefit I’ve found of using Google Calendar to schedule my day is that it shows me what type of tasks I’m completing and how many hours I have free to fit in these different jobs. This gives me a much clearer understanding of what I can do on any given day and I feel like it has increased my productivity (or at least my perception of my productivity) as a result. It’s also enabled me to schedule in a dedicated lunch break. This is something that is so easy to slip off the radar or be overtaken by other tasks without a conscious effort to take that time away from my work! Scheduling the break makes it much more likely that I’ll take it, which is an important part of self-care on the job.
One issue that is still present is when staff or students pop in for an unannounced chat. When we work so hard to make the library a safe space, this is an inevitability that can throw off my schedule for the day! To counter this and to ensure availability for bookings, I’ve started using the Focus Time event category to schedule in my Teacher Librarian Tasks (above in green) at the start of each day instead of at the start of the week. If a task is interrupted or not completed in the time allocated, I can easily add it to an available time the following day. I’ve found this has given me a nice balance between scheduled activities and flexibility which is so important amidst the chaos of the library. Having the calendar open on my screen when people come in also acts as a nice advocacy tool, since they can clearly see what my day looks like and what sort of work I complete (and counters the misconception that all we do is read all day!).