Unexpected Weeks

Some weeks just unfold in a bit of an unexpected way. While most of my time was dedicated to the Space Use project this week (as we are now expanding to include more of the library), my time was also split among discussions with colleagues about other approaches to issues in the library and the conversations that I am hosting with students. Interesting opportunities, like seeing the Czech Philharmonic at a free open air concert, presented themselves, along with instances I didn’t expect to encounter in Prague, like a bomb threat at the campus in which NTK is located.

As we work more on the Space Use project, I think it becomes more clear how difficult collaborations can be. While we have seen the advantages of them, as they often allow multiple perspectives and understandings to be used to develop good tools and methodologies, it will always be difficult to keep everyone on the same page. I think we are doing a good job of this though. We spent this week making further updates to the project so we can bring in the new interns to help us with observations. At this stage, expanding to even more people on the project means remaining on the same page is crucial, or the data can be affected. This remains important as we bring in colleagues to build a database for use later on in the project as well, especially since two of the original three on the project will be leaving the department near the end of the summer. Still, we move forward and do our best to remain on the same page. My goal for next week is to at least have the documents created for the rest of the floors in the library so we can gradually expand the project as they see fit, but that all the documents are created with the same understanding.

I also spent this week doing a good deal of reading about the Czech Republic, as I have found less and less time to do so in recent weeks, especially with our cultural excursions. This week I read mostly on the Czech experience of communism and the Velvet Revolution, which I have found extremely fascinating. There were other readings on the early twentieth century and some more recent political things, but the major years in recent Czech history (1948, 1968, and 1989) were the focus. These were the political markings following WWII, when the Czech government went communist (1948), when the Czech Republic was occupied (1968), and when independence was won (1989). A colleague actually provided a book of photography that showed snapshots of 1948 and 1968 which were extremely interesting.

Wednesday became a very unexpected day for the entire library. Upon my arrival, the library had been evacuated due to a threat on the campus in which it sits. Colleagues went to a cafe nearby to await news and I learned that I may have been the only one in my department that has ever experienced a bomb threat. Following the cafe, we went to a restaurant for lunch, where many of us stayed for several hours, before we parted to enjoy our unexpected day off. I went to explore that day in a new part of the city, where I watched the Sweden-Mexico World Cup match.

Thursday was used to catch up on work we were meant to do on Wednesday, so I spent most of the day working on the Space Use project, creating documents for the next expansion of the project. This was important for our meetings on Friday, which included next steps for the CRM Project and an impromptu discussion on Space Use that led to the decision to prepare the entire library, for when the team is ready to expand (after I leave this summer). Friday ended in the city with colleagues, showing me a few new places. We ended up meeting a few of her friends as well, where we said goodbye to a friend of hers, as she is going back to Spain.