Sabbatical Challenges

As I work on this sabbatical project, there are many challenges I have as well.

The biggest cutest challenge is caring for two babies who are just now nine months old while I work at home.  I love having this opportunity to be home with them, but it is a challenge.  My work schedule consists of about an hour and a half in the morning during nap time, another hour in the afternoon during their second nap time, a couple hours in the evening a few nights a week after the boys are in bed, and occasionally some time on the weekends.  Doesn't really add up to a lot of time, so I try to make use of every minute I can once the boys are sleeping.  It's a challenge but it's a wonderful challenge to have.

An additional challenge has been trying to find a daycare for the boys for when I go back to work in July.  It seems I could find a daycare for later in the fall, but not necessarily in July.  I'm still on the hunt, but going out to interview and tour daycare facilities takes time away from my project.  

On another front, just when this sabbatical started we got an offer on our house.  We put it up for sale early last fall and this was great news!  But it also meant we had to find a new place. We did and we're going to be moving soon.  So the project will probably take a backseat temporarily while we pack up and move from one house to another.  I assume we'll also be without internet for a short period while we're between houses.

I am also working on two other projects at the same time as the sabbatical project.  One is an ongoing thing with a deadline in June.  I'm working on getting that project wrapped up and then not worrying about that project again until I'm back at work full time.  I'll have about 11 months before the next deadline.  The second project is one that I thought was complete but was asked to do a few more things too.  I never found the time at the end of the year to squeeze it in along with the many other things I was doing in trying to prepare to be gone from the office for six months and since I was also not given a deadline I've put it aside for the time being. But it weighs on my mind and I feel like I need to just go in and get it done.  I don't think it'll take long, but I'm afraid once I start that I'll discover otherwise and get bogged down in that.  I really need to find out what the deadline is, that would give me the sense of urgency (or not) that I probably need.

It's a bit of a long list and it feels overwhelming to me to list it all out like this.  But I wanted to do this post because this is part of the reality of this sabbatical and this blog is a journal of this six month project.  In the middle of all this, I am pleased with the amount of work I have actually been able to accomplish.  And when I go back to work in July I think I'll look back on these six months as the busiest ever.  This might be a break from work, but it's not a break by any means.  I feel even busier than I do when I'm working in the office full-time.  That's the reality.

Two Months Gone, Four To Go

One third of the way through this sabbatical deserves an update.  Especially since I haven't posted about anything here in a while.

Since my last update I am still working through the Composer column to research the names that were problems during the first pass.  I'm currently a little more than 30% done.  As expected it is taking a while to work on each name.  Some are easier than others.  The problem names are color coded four different ways.  Those that are in highlighted in yellow are names that are not in the authority file.  I've decided to leave those alone for now.  I am focusing instead on the other three problem types and for the most part I have been able to figure out either who in the authority file the person is or change the color coding to yellow because the name is not in the authority file.

Two weeks ago I attended the Music OCLC Users Group Meeting and the Music Library Association Annual Conference.  While at these meetings I chatted with several colleagues about my project and specifically about what they were each interested in knowing about how others manage their recital recordings.  I had some very interesting conversations with people from small institutions and large institutions.  It helped give me more perspective on how I would like to put together a survey and the kinds of questions I should ask.  I also received a lot of good ideas on questions to ask on the survey.  I am hoping to start putting together my questions soon based on my notes of my ideas and the notes I took while at the conference.  I even had someone volunteer to look over a draft of the survey questions.

After two months I do feel like I have accomplished something, although right now it doesn't feel like it as I work through the problem names.  But I have a much more organized spreadsheet and a plan for the the parts that are still to be dealt with.  Plus the survey is coming together even if it is currently in my notes and in my head.  There is still a lot to do in the next four months!