{"id":61992,"date":"2015-01-09T07:45:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T13:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=61992"},"modified":"2015-01-08T19:34:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T01:34:41","slug":"making-peace-with-the-24-hour-day-taking-the-good-the-bad-and-the-haggis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=61992","title":{"rendered":"Making Peace with the 24 hour day\u2014taking the good, the bad, and the haggis"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexis Rohlfing, former Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ New Hampshire
\n<\/a>previously published 2\/19\/14<\/em><\/p>\n

Making Peace with the 24 hour day – taking the good, the bad, and the haggis<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"alexisr1\"<\/a>I don\u2019t know about you, but from time to time, I find myself suddenly faced with a time deficit. The 24 hours a day that used to do the trick simply don\u2019t any more. Between work and home life, and all the nice \u201clittle things\u201d that enrich both, there\u2019s suddenly a lack of time. I find myself facing this conundrum on occasion, but a few weeks ago during ALA Midwinter, I found the issue thrown into sharp relief.<\/p>\n

Working outside the library field, there isn\u2019t much time to travel to a professional conference, particularly when it would involve time off of work. A few days before Midwinter, I received a chipper email that reminded me that even if I wasn\u2019t in Philadelphia I could still be part of the action. Enter social media\u2014great in theory, but in the reality of my Saturday? It was also Robbie Burns day, and my husband is nothing if not a fan of all things Scottish. We hadn\u2019t ordered haggis, but there was a store nearby doing a presentation of the haggis, complete with kilted ensembles and a recitation of \u2018Ode to a Haggis\u2019\u2014perfect for the lover of Scottish things looking for an excuse to wear his kilt.<\/p>\n

Thing about haggis is that, boiled pudding that it is, it is done when it\u2019s done and heaven help you if you try to eat it cold. I spent a morning pulling up websites, You Tube, Twitter, & Google + on a myriad of devices to no avail; there was no sound on the videos, the pages crashed when I tried to refresh them, and while I could get opinions on the latest crepes or cheese steak \u2018wit wiz\u2019 I couldn\u2019t get a live stream of a webinar or live tweet of a lecture. Now it was crunch time\u2014abandon family time, or abandon professional time.<\/p>\n

I found myself fleetingly wishing for more than 24 hours in a day. After all, if there was more time, I could find a way to do both things right? Obviously, wishing does not make it so, and there is no way for me to know for sure, but something tells me that even with more hours in a day, I would not have found the balance that allowed me to both participate live in a distance event and enjoy the personal life that I value.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s a librarian to do?<\/p>\n

For one thing, where there is social media participation, there\u2019s an archive. Live streams are usually posted on you tube for later viewing, hash tags are searchable, and networking over distance will happen if you work at it, synchronous or asynchronous. Is it the same? No. But depending on what you are looking for in your distance experience, it might work.<\/p>\n

From the broader perspective of work\/life balance, there are going to be days where you have to choose one over the other. I have worked on more than one weekend in the hopes that my work would lead me toward my chosen information professional path. In the end, it comes down to planning and organization. I keep multiple checklists and schedules, and between the two, most days get by on just the 24 hours that are on offer.<\/p>\n

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, let me offer a few suggestions:<\/p>\n