A Day in the Life: Joe Garity, Reference Librarian, Coordinator of Library Instruction

I thought it was fitting today to profile Joe Garity for the ever-popular “A Day in the Life” post.  Why?  Because Joe works at a place many of you should be visiting as we head into finals week… Gleeson  Library!  Joe is a Reference Librarian and the Coordinator of Library Instruction.  He is also the subject liaison for Communication Studies (as well as other departments).  That’s right… many of you have probably met Joe when he taught a library class for Communication & Everyday Life.  Joe has been at USF since 1991, so he is in his 20th year here!  Joe earned his BA in History from Fordham University at Lincoln Center and his Masters in Library and Information Studies from UC Berkeley.  Here’s “A Day in the Life” of Joe Garity:

6:45: alarm goes off.

6:55: roll out of bed, put on tv. A confession: I’m kind of a news junkie. As I have breakfast, shower, get dressed, and all that, I’m switching around between the local news on Channel 2, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CSPAN, CSPAN2 and yes, I admit it, I even watch CSPAN3.

8:45: bus to work on the 38 Geary. I’m originally from the Bronx in NYC and I guess one way that I am still a New Yorker is that I’ve never owned a car, I always use mass transit to get around.

9:30: arrive at work

9:45-10:45: check my email.  Answer some questions, follow up on requests for classes from faculty, check to see which librarians are available for the appointments students request for help with research, read listserv on library instruction, my daily google alert on the phrase “University of San Francisco.” (http://www.google.com/alerts)

Joe at his desk... trying to win the contest for "Neatest Desk at USF"

11-12:15: meet with a student who needs some help with her research for a Latin American Studies class. Students can request appointments with a librarian (http://www.usfca.edu/templates/gleeson_library_inside2_forms.aspx?ekfrm=2147486103) for one to one help. Another confession: one of the reasons I really enjoy being a librarian is that virtually every day I learn something new just from the questions people ask. The student today is researching Argentina and plastic surgery. I did not know Argentina has one of the highest plastic surgery rates in the world. The student is interested in why. We find some articles and some statistics.

12:30-1:30: lunch—buy a gyro at The Twilight Cafe (http://www.yelp.com/biz/twilight-cafe-san-francisco).  I sit outside to eat. I always try to leave Gleeson for lunch; I like the fresh air, it recharges my batteries.

1:30-2:45: back in my office: yet more email and write up a job recommendation for a former Library School intern. Each semester we have library school students (usually from San Jose State getting their Masters) who intern with us to get experience in an academic library. After that, I look through some publisher catalogs for books to order for the library.

3-5: on the Reference Desk. The reference librarians do about 8-10 hours a week on the desk answering lots of different questions. Some examples from today:

• a student looking for articles on Latino/Latina immigrant students and language acquisition
• an Instant Message from a student having difficulty finding a specific article from The New York Times in April 1998
• a Fromm student wanting to find books on an 18^th century European painter and the general section in the library on art history
• a Nursing graduate student looking for research articles published in the last 5 years on types of cancer and the articles need to cite demographic data on the people in the study

Joe at the reference desk

A "Joe's-eye-view" from behind the Reference Desk

5-6: back in my office: prepare for a Media Studies class coming to the library tomorrow. The teacher has sent me some of the topics (new social media and celebrities, global branding of athletes, etc) and I usually try a few in various databases to find good examples to use in the class.

6-8:30: leave the library, catch the bus downtown. Have dinner with a friend at Victor’s Pizzeria on Polk Street, at Bush. Great eggplant parmesan, great conversation.

8:30: head home, pick up the SF Chronicle and NY Times to see what is going on (yes, I buy morning papers in the evenings)

9-11:30: skim through the SF Chronicle and NY Times, see what is on tv, flip through some channels and fall asleep watching repeats of The Golden Girls.

Thanks, Joe, for taking us through your day!  So fun to hear the interesting questions you get!  Joe and the other library staff are incredibly helpful, so be sure to get to know them during your time here.  Actually, I think there is a “Joe Fan Club” on campus, because every student I told about this blog post mentioned how great he is!

You can learn more about Gleeson Library by checking out their blog here: http://gleesongleanings.wordpress.com/