I never imagined documentation would be so fulfilling in my work. There’s a special sense of accomplishment when I complete a documentation page for a project that I’m working on. This post will be about my process so far and where I’d like to go in the near future.
I’m a librarian who works on a variety of projects: metadata creation, web development, digital archives, image and document organization, various systems migrations, many times while working with a class of undergraduate students! I love that I’m able to work on these classes/projects, but being able to step in and out of them is key to doing well on any of the projects, since, you know, there are competing priorities in the Library. This is where quality documentation comes in.
I have used a few different platforms for documentation and I still haven’t found one that I love. I recently went to a webinar on open documentation presented by Jay L. Colbert. Our jobs have a lot of cross-over and the tools, tips, and tricks he suggested are on my list to explore. I’ve been wanting to get more into Git and stretch its purpose to fit more simple documentation needs that may or may not include code. Jay’s presentation was just what I needed to move forward. Who knew library work would be so much fun!? Digital Gardening is another thing I’ve been interested in, but haven’t made the time for, but that’s for another blog post!
The big first step is the right platform to house my work documentation. Good thing I have great co-workers to collaborate with to figure out a good solution. Whatever platform we decide, I hope there’s an openness element integrated since so much of our work can inform others’ and vice-a-versa.
