Setting up my office… again (and a plug for Book Crawler)
As I return to the role of a full-time faculty member, I’m getting a chance to sort through all my academic belongings as I set up my office once again. This is the sixth time I’ve moved my office during my time at Lafayette and each time I’ve made a few changes to improve things (not counting the 9 months I spent with my office in my lab — during that time I was just trying to keep the cockroaches from taking over!). This time, however, I’m trying to be more intentional in setting up my office and I’ve got two outcomes I’m hoping to achieve.
First, I want to create a space that is welcoming, a space that encourages conversations and joint work. I’ve removed one filing cabinet and one bookshelf to get more open area in the office. I’ve rearranged the remaining furniture to allow in the maximum amount of natural light into the office and I’ve created an area with three chairs around a round table and near a large white board. I’ve also put a fourth chair in a position that allows someone to sit near me at my desk and be able to see my computer screen.
And second, I want to create a space that allows me to focus. For this I also want a space that is well-lit and comfortable (though not too comfortable!) but I also want to have a space that is uncluttered. For me that means a space with clean surfaces and where the filing cabinets and bookshelves are not packed solid but have open spaces that allow for the future addition of items if needed.
Both of these outcomes require that I reduce the volume of materials that I keep in my office.
A couple of years ago I began to make changes that have moved me to a much more paperless environment in my administrative role. However, the stuff of my faculty life that had been in storage was highly paper-based. This move has given me an opportunity to sort through and try to rid myself of excess paper. I tossed copies of articles that are now available on line and used a scanner to create electronic copies of items that are valuable but where a paper copy is not needed. (These items are now stored on my network drive so that they are backed up regularly and are accessible to me if needed from any computer.)
Through this process I managed to get rid of one of my two filing cabinets but the greater challenge for me was to clear items from my bookshelves. It is hard to know which of the books on those shelves may be needed for future courses or research and, while I’ve been trying to purchase many of my new books in digital format, I’m hesitant to get rid of old books.
At the suggestion of a colleague, I decided to box up texts that I haven’t touched in years and that are in subject areas where it is likely that they are now out of date or on topics where it is highly unlikely that I’ll be teaching again. This seemed like a good idea and I was able to eliminate one bookshelf in the office, but when I brought the books home and needed to sort them into smaller boxes to be stored, I wondered about how I would be able to recall and/or find any of these books if I did need them again.
As I stared at the piles of books on my dining room table, I looked over at my ipad and thought, “There must be an app for this!” A few minutes later I was looking at reviews of book cataloging apps. While there was more than one that had good reviews, I settled on Book Crawler. Book Crawler allows me to create a personal book database by scanning in the ISBN bar code for each book or, if the book doesn’t have a bar code, I can type in the number or have the program search for the information based on the book title. With a few more keyboard clicks I was able to add the notes that I owned the book and that it was located in “basement storage.”
So now my office is much more open and welcoming and the surfaces and shelves are clean and have space for new additions if needed. I’ve added a plant in the corner and I’m feeling like I’ve moved in!