Friday, April 29, 2005

11 a.m. - 12 noon

What I'm doing between questions: hah!

* Dictionary [Where is it?? I find one in Reference for her]
[phone] Any information on how much the Spring House cost when it was (re-)built in 1976?
* Pay for print jobs (x3)
* Criss-cross directory
[I call back the Spring House guy and tell him what I found...]
* Circ person brings dictionary out from back room...and takes away the stacks of singles we've accumulated
* Eagle and the Rose [I order it for her: Rural patrons can't ILL books]
[Why is the old printer printing? I thought we had turned it off when the new one arrived...]
* [New] printer needs paper [...but the old one is still printing...]
* Local classified ads [which we are now keeping behind the desk because people were stealing them...]
* Patron turns in state ID she just found in a book; I call patron to tell her it's here
[phone] How many women over 50 in the county
[Tech comes to question a couple of stupid mistakes I made in cataloging this week: 822.3 instead of 822.33, Arthur Clarke is SF not Mystery...duh! And then bugs me about a different copy of Hamlet that she says is cuttered wrong--like I care right now--which we then can't find in the catalog. And I still don't care!]
* Jobs PC
* Stapler

Friday, April 15, 2005

11:00 a.m. - 12 noon ; 1:00 - 2:00 and 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: demand order, Dead Deweys (pulling them, finally!).
11:00

* SAM registration for an online test
* Patron needs more time on SAM and help with margins on Notepad. [I reset her timer and it logs her out. OK. Gonna be one of those days.... I can't figure out how to reset it from the Ref Desk because we've been upgraded and nothing looks the same. Luckily she's not furious. Just annoyed.]
* Patron asks if the 'net is "working better" than it was when we opened.
[I notice a funky/half-loaded Start screen, and just give up trying to figure it all out. Call Sleek the Wonder Tech--he's here today, for a change--who says: "I have no idea what you're talking about" among other lippy/snotty comments. Yes, I am an idiot; get your MENSA ass up here to help me, you lousy snot! In spite of my not saying this, he still doesn't bother to show up. Putz!]
* Another patron needs more time. When I reset her timer it works fine. [grrrr...]
[I'm now in an even worse mood than I was when I came out here. Sleek is a jerk.]
* Patron asks to use Internet; I start signing him up and then ask if he's done this before. Yep [could you mention that to me?!] [See I really am cranky]
* Original time-deprived patron returns for WordPad help [her computer doesn't blow up this time!]
* Directions to courthouse for out-of-towners [who are nice and partially restore me to a better mood]
[Family member arrives to hassle me]
* Genealogy question [guess what: the page she wants won't print! Shocking]
* More time on SAM
[I call Sleek and tell him there are at least 4 other PCs with half-blank screens; he finally deigns to make an appearance]
* A multitude of 8th-grade students show up for research, just in time for me to head to lunch

1:00

* More kids (different class):
I chat with the teacher, who looks 8 months older than the kids [I'm old]
is there a cart with books on my subject....? A-hah
hunting
stapler use
look up card number [nope]
old newspapers (the card number girl)
piercings
curfew
solar energy
diabetes
* Out-of-state tax forms
* Where to send tax forms (different guy)
* Do you have to reserve the study rooms or can you just go in? (non-teen) [I tell him to jump quick before the kids get them all]
* How much are copies? [10 cents] Can I make change? [yes, but the machine takes dollars]
[order person comes for cards--she takes only the AV ones]
* Kids leave
[where would the cards for "Hotel Rwanda" and "Spanlish" be? {shrug}]
* How come we can't connect to K's extension? [circ person. We need to call the phone people....]
* Paper for printer
* Tape
* Stapler
* Circuit breaker form [this poor woman needs loads of help, more than I have to give]

3:00 -- backing up Librarian F

* Story from 1997 about missing teens; old newspapers [I spent 30 minutes finding the date the story broke, in the process of which another computer blows up. Sleek hates me]
* Calculator [and patron stands at desk and figures out his taxes]
[now a circ staff member wants to know how to access the Microsoft calculator]
* Guy who needs out of state forms arrives for help [I set him up online]
* Middle school kid arrives and hangs about pestering us
* More technology problems
[ I can't deal I'm going far away from computers now! ]

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

9:00 a.m. - ?? [11:00 a.m. as it turns out]

What I'm doing between questions: order cards, ILL orders
9:00 -- Sick baby means Librarian H isn't here today; that in turn means I'm on desk till sometime ... 11? 12?

* Nice man, a regular, volunteers to take today's papers to the reading room for me
* Baseball biography videos
[Circ person brings me a jobs posting and utters the kiss of death: "It's really quiet back here!"]
* Patron arrives with catalog: "Can I reserve things here?" But she brought the wrong catalog and is relying on memory: a Welsh singer, maybe named Celeste...? [after some searching, I show her a picture of Charlotte Church on Google Images and she decides that's who she meant]
* Same patron wants to know how to access her account at home; and she practices here on our catalog terminals [very wise]
* Add money to SAM account
* SAM registration
* Charlotte Church Lady asks how to renew items she has checked out

10:00

* CCL asks if our access to city papers also provides access to their classified ads [no]
* Family member calls for an update
* CCL is back: 1) Can we make it so that books returned in the bookdrop after hours aren't overdue? [talk to the director] - - 2) How come our after-hours reference service can't look up my record? [because they aren't in this building] - - 3) I can't remember my Yahoo Mail password; how can I get back in to check my mail? [I show her how] -- -- [she's my new best friend...sigh]
* [phone--"call on line 1;" it's gone...]
* SAM visitor registration [definitely from a big city]
* Can she borrow tape? [lots of tape]
[There is a message flashing--that's where that call went!--from someone who is taking a real estate test here; she has questions. I call her back and leave her a message]
*[phone--someone else calling about a real estate test. Spooky]
* Out of towner pays for print jobs
* Information on pacemakers for an English paper [ooo-keeey]
* CCL wants me to waive one of her "oops" print jobs [no can do, but I show her "Print Preview"]
* Pacemaker dude can't see full text...because it's blocked on the PCs [naturally, our IT guy isn't here today]
* [phone] Reserve two Linda Lael Miller books

I've been reprieved by Librarian K!!

Friday, April 01, 2005

11:00 a.m. - 12 noon ; 1:00 - 2:00 and 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: reviews, shifting the 200s (right behind the desk), keeping track of news from Vatican City
11:00

[As she leaves, Librarian F says it's Yawnsville today. Thanks for cursing me--now I'll be busy! ;-)]
* Return headphones
* Look up mom's password [no can do]; look up her card number [aha--THAT I can do, with ID]
* Have I seen a little boy with a tutor in the study rooms? [uhm, no, but I wonder why is this cop is asking...?]
[Family members arrive to hassle me]
* Red Book and Kelley Blue Book value on a 2003 Dodge Intrepid
* Current info about assorted companies; and, how to get online
* SAM registration...[same guy]...his card's expired...sigh
* Change temporary SAM number to permanent card number, and change from 30 minutes to full hour
* Business guy returns to finish the SAM signup
[LUNCHTIME]

1:00

* Librarian K stops to tell me she'll be a little late
* Word proc
* Microfilm of news reports on Grover Cleveland's nomination [nope, try your college library]
[phone] 9 reserves from one of our regulars
* March National Geographic [checked out]
* Can I access the Internet from a word proc PC?
* Pay for print jobs
* Tax forms [mucho help needed: she eventually asks for the "medical form" then the "AARP form"]
[Homeless Crossdresser is back, with a new orange parka, and several fancy ponytail holders in his hair]
[And Sleek paces past carrying our completely whacked Jobs CPU]
* SAM registration
* Pay for print jobs (same girl)
* Pictures of deer skeleton
* More time on SAM to finish ordering computer [with one minute left...aaaarghhhh!]
* Envelope to send taxes to IRS [I give her the address and assure her she doesn't need a special envelope]

3:00

* Patron shows me a lovely picture from her email of her 90-year-old mother
* Librarian F doing the list of requests from other libraries because we're still understaffed today...sigh
* Extra time on SAM
* Pay for print jobs
* Headphones
* Publisher? [yep]
[Librarian F is now telling me precisely where she will be searching for the next 10 minutes...]
* How to fold the American flag; he can't find it to print on the Internet, so I print them