Hollie White

On my quest to go paperless in the office, I have found two areas that are stumbling blocks.  Those two are:

• creating lists

• jotting down quick notes

I’m finding it particularly hard to stop doing these two things on paper.    Lists ( daily task lists,etc) are central to my own productivity.  I think a lot about timing, dates, workflow, and schedule.   I just haven’t found the correct app for doing making lists yet.   I know there are a ton out there, but the ones I have tried so far have just not been up the to level of flexibility and visibility I need.  I like to have my list right in front of me on my desk at all times.  I don’t want to turn on the device and hunt for my list.   The lack of paper makes me feel unproductive and I’m just not getting the same “in control” feeling from the iPad as I do a real yellow legal pad.

Quick/short note taking on paper just feels like a bad habit.  I know it would take me just as many movements to open up an app as it would be to open a drawer and pick up a pen.    I think this bad habit can be broken with conscious effort.

After completing my dissertation, I came to a decision.

To go paperless at work.

Here are the reasons why:

1. To be able to give students and faculty real life examples of how to do things digitally.

I’m the Digital Initiatives Librarian and it is my job to help with digital projects related to the library, teaching, learning, and research.   I think this experiment could assist me in the way I work with my user community in terms of instruction and advice.

2. To reduce the amount of items I must carry with me at all times.

I already have a full bag and purse that comes with me to work every morning.   I hope that by going paperless, it will reduce the physical burden that I am under just to walk in and out of the door each day of work.

3. To change the appearance of my desk

I’m what the personal information management literature calls a “piler”. I love using paper and I organize it by making categorical piles on my desk. The different piles and their locations on my desk help to remind me of important things I need to do. I know where everything is, but in shared work environment this system can be visually jarring and distracting for others.