9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon; 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: entering book order in BT, updating coll. dev. spreadsheet (mine and the library's), correcting errors in bib records, and updating catalog counting worksheet.

9:00 a.m.

• Pencil/paper
• Headphones
• Tech arrives in search of last year's Fuel Economy Guide [AWOL]
• Weird conversation about and commuting with odd patron
• "Have the newspapers not arrived?" [all but the local one are in the reading room, and I go get the local for Mr. Ick] [First real question of the day: 9:33 a.m.]
• Tech arrives in search of last year's Broadcast Directory
• Pencil
• Headphones returned
• Pay for print jobs [nope, first 5 are free]
• [phone] Knights of Columbus phone number [I *heart* the Internet]

10:00 a.m.

• [am now depressed because I've used up my collection development budget for the fiscal year...which ends in four months!]
• Printer is psycho [I suggest patron try a different computer and he gets his print jobs finally]
• [I spend 10 minutes reworking the schedule for the day with the director--we are so short-staffed today it's simply not funny at all]
• How to log on? [I look up her password]
• Pay for print jobs
• SAM registration

11:00 a.m.

• Printer problem in kids room
• "Can we put out some tax forms?"--circ person [if we put out some, we really need to get all of them out--can't it wait?]
• [Say hi to volunteer who grabs my hand and won't let go]
• How do I write up a term paper? [I explain the login, and she settles in to work]
• One computer station is showing that the printer is "paused" and patrons documents won't print...[WTF? I've never seen this! I suggest using a different computer and reboot and hope for the best]
• How does printing work? [I explain the print station to new patron]
• [mail sorting]
• Pay for print job [dude with the "paused" situation]
• [I call about a couple of my own personal "reference questions"--ahem]

1:00 p.m.

• Tech brings me book on CD with wrong call number [...I fix it and return it]
• How to save something as a .doc file [well, we'll see if it works]
• Return headphones
• Washrooms
• [phone] Reserve for The Venetian Betrayal [on order in CD and large print, but not the regular book--we're weird!]
• Pay for print jobs
• Librarian D arrives to take over--Hurrah!!

1:00 - 4:00 P.M.

What I'm doing between questions: PL Cat checking, collection development cards

1:00 PM

• Mouthy Fish Girl runs (yes, runs!) in to be sure she gets the first computer of the day [grrrrrrr]
• [phone] CD rates for our county/area [strikeout--nothing]
• Headphones
• Local papers [dude is SCAR-RY!]
• 7th grader with 3-year-expired card needs to use computers [writing paper, yes; Internet, no]
• Vespa repair [found stuff online]
• Local news article from a few months ago
• SAM registration
• Headphones
• [staff member] Why is our staff homepage requiring a password, and why can't we access the catalog on the children's catalog computers? [uh...? dunno...?]

2:00 PM

• "I NEED MORE TIME for a friend who's got cancer....blah blah" [I can't, sorry--and apparently the computer gave her more time anyway so the freakout thing: not necessary]
• Headphones
• Pay for print jobs, and I found someone's card
• Headphones returned
• Local news article found, now how do I print?
• I ask a group of high school kids of any of them are [name on found card] -- yep
• [phone] Time line for Frank W. Abagnale [uh--no dates in anything I find on him]; yes we have the book he wrote, though
• [circ staff] What is this weird error message? [no clue, but another circ person figures it out--yay!--and I volunteer to put her in charge and go home]
• [I get a text message on my cell from ... someone who thinks my name is Grace]
• Can I renew my card here? [nope]
• Today's local classified ads
• SCAR-RY guy spends 20 minutes discussing U.S. Congressional districts, water pollution and...oh, that's all...with me [oy]

3:00 PM

• He's still here, reading the reproducible tax form books [oyoyoyoyoy!]
• SAM registration
• How can I hear stuff on the computer? [headphones]
• Do I need a password for the wireless network [no]
• Weird, totally creepy, forwarded 'joke' email freaks out a very nice girl (no, a purple clown with a green penis isn't going to kill you with an axe tonight and put a condom on your head...) [I told her to reply to the friend" who sent it to her and say 'stop sending this crap to me!'--and she said librarians aren't supposed to talk like that!]
• Headphones returned
• Genealogy request: 3 obits [I take down info and put in file for volunteers to work on]
• Headphones returned
• How to spell 'scary' [freaked-out girl]
• Are we having trouble with the wireless net? [...not that I know about...]
• Time to start the closing ops
• Guns, Germs & Steel [on shelving cart]
• Several Katie Kazoo books [I will reserve all of them]
• Travel to Japan

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. ; 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular demand order cards...

6:00

• [Phone message] Inventing Memory; Images of America [our town]; Pat Jordan's new book [which apparently is still not published; we had the others on our shelves
• Headphones
• Return headphones [different person]
• Can I use my credit card on your internet connection? [uh, yeah...?]; where is a computer that's not in use [wow, we're full!]
• [I empty out the singles from our copier payment drawer--they are overflowing]
• Are these computers for public use? [yes, and grab it fast!]
• Printer needs paper
• Copy machine
• Pen
• Look up card number
• Where did my print job go? And why aren't they free? [they are, it's just hard to see the way the screen is laid out]
• Stapler [VERY green shirt!]
• History of Germany [awfully sassy teenage boy whose father wants him to "stand right!" as in don't slouch]
• Printer won't print [I think it's a popup window issue...leaving a note for the techie]
• Return headphones
• Where is the adult fiction section? How is it arranged?

7:30

• Is there a drinking fountain?
• Librarian JK heads to Board Meeting
• [{bloop}--our database goes out on me...weird]
• Printer problems
• Guy on cell phone does NOT get message about not using cell phones in the library...what a jerk!
• The patron who will not leave at closing arrives...of course
• Soccer players are downstairs
• Headphones [and his "collateral" (i.e., library card) is covered with gang grafitti]
• Fiction is up towards the front of the building
• Library cards issued at the front desk

8:00

• Pencil. With lead, please...
• Headphones
• New library card, but it won't let him log in [odd, but we get it working finally]
• Purchase a floppy?
• Where do I...oh yeah... [print]; one page is free, right? [yes]
• Doesn't cost me anything, right? [three pages--no]

And Librarian JK returns

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: downloading Demand OCLC records,

1:00

• Circ person brings today's papers to me and I take out want ads before putting the rest of the papers in the reading room
• Headphones
• Headphones (2 pair)
• "Full already?" [not quite, but well on our way to all net stations in use]
• Headphones [that's it--I'm out]
• Wireless connection password? [there is none--eventually her computer lets her in]
• "I don't remember my password" [with upgrade, she just needs to reenter her info and and start over] ; headphones [try children's room]
• [Wandering soul does not need help]

1:30

• "The printer never works for me anymore. When I need to print, can you help me?"
• One of the two headphones is returned
• I turn into a traffic cop: you need PowerPoint so you get that computer; you just need the net so you get this one
• Printer guy wasn't waiting for the 'are you sure you want to print' box--mystery solved!
• Headphones
• Taskbar not accepting clicks [no clue--it's PowerPoint and I never use that; she logs out and logs back in to start over while I find a book to answer our questions...and then it works fine]
• Check out at the front desk
• Print jobs on kids' computers print in kids room. Yes: all the time. Yes: in color.
• Parenting teens [tempting to suggest duct tape, but she seems very nice and not frazzled]
• Kids' room staff calls to say that the copier in there actually does print in color
• "Is this the library list?" [no, that's the net waiting list signup--catalog is over here]
• Where did the print job go?
• [we're nearly out of red and yellow toner so I go get some more just in case]
• PowerPoint chick got it to work--yay
• Circ person wants to know if a U.S. passport means someone is a U.S. citizen, and is it legal to use that plus a driver's license to register her to vote [well, yeah....?]
• Highlighter
• Foundation grants to individuals [we have it, but it's been put on a shelving cart so it wasn't at all easy to find]
• Headphones returned
• Cute little guy (about 2) playing tag in the adult nonfiction aisles....his mom scoops him up

2:00

• Is there an election next week? [...uh...no? I can't find anything, and I haven't seen any of those ubiquitous yard signs...the county's website is no help whatsoever]
• Current People mag.
• Headphones returned
• [How is Sweet T. getting more time online? He is looking really shady..so clearly something is up...?]
• Headphones
• [The Bears are losing. YAY!!]
• Headphones...and she returns them within 3 minutes
• [Speaking of people who shouldn't be online Mouthy Fish Girl has been blocked at her mother's request, and she's online as well! I replace the block on her card.]
• World's Fastest Indian [we have it--she's happy]
• How to search Google [school-age girl--eventually, I send her into the children's room with her mom to sign up....when I call to give the heads-up to the staff person in there, she sighs as if this is the final straw: that she has to show someone how to use Google. So I bite off her head. #*%^!(*]
• Headphones

2:30

• Headphones returned
• How to retract a bid on eBay
• Headphones
• Where did my print job go?
• People mag returned
• Computer with Word on it
• Pay account balance
• [eBay woman tells me I'm good luck as she leaves]
• Travel books, Switzerland
• Nope, no headphones left (again) [second time she asked]
• Mark Fuhrman book
• Headphones returned
• Headphones returned
• Headphones returned

3:00

• Email to Librarian H about assorted problems I've come across about technology and this order thing I'm supposedly working on
• [phone] One of our regulars calling to reserve 5 more bestsellers
• Highlighter and PowerPoint book returned
• SAM guest registration
• [The Bears lost--Bigger Yay!]
• How much does a library card cost? [Nothing but you do need ID...which kills that plan for her today]
• Living Beyond Breast Cancer [I ILL it for her]
• Why can't I save to the CD drive? [no idea, so I left a note for the tech to look at it--right now it's Admin Only]

3:30

• Where are my print jobs?
• I clean up all the books lying around and make the closing announcement; check the basement
• W00t! We're done!

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: filing order cards, going over inventory, checking stack ends for Dewey numbers (don't worry: I know what I mean) and the usual task of cutting of scratch paper...grrr.

1:00

• Giant flurry of people coming in without their cards, passwords or in any other way prepared to log on to the computers...
• One guy tries (badly) to scam me for someone else's password
• Print job frozen
• "My mom will pay for my overdues when she picks me up" [uh, yeah, sure]
• "But you looked her card up...! [cuz I know her--kid, that's not necessarily a good thing!]
• [phone] Books on Hawaii: Kau'ai, Oahu especially
• Books (or DVDs) on the International Space Station [hah!!]
• DVDs on how to play guitar
• SAM is telling people their numbers are wrong...[I shut down the computer that's doing it and it works after I restart]
• IT Guy calls to say we probably will crash again at 1:50 today, like we did yesterday [thanks, can you make it not happen? No]
• Pay for print jobs
• Printing off G-G-G. grandpa's land grant...

2:00

• [THERE ARE A LOT OF WEIRD-LOOKING YOUNG PEOPLE HERE TODAY...not just teens... Go outside, all of yez]
• Bibles [220.5]; King James [parallel Bible only]; Catholic Bible, difference between that and the 'real' Bible... [no clue, you'll have to research that yourself]
• Hey! We never went down at 1:50 (that I noticed)!
• More time on the 'net [our guy who lives on YouTube: he's here every day, all day]
• The goddess Pele [which she keeps pronouncing Pee-lee]
• Lots more weird computer stuff
• I can finally start on some of those "between questions" tasks besides cutting up paper
• Webmail not letting an sbcglobal customer on [she'll have to call sbc]
• When a Crocodile Eats the Sun [not in system; I do order card for it]
• More time online
• Pay for print jobs [Freaky: $2.45 at 2:45 p.m.]
• Am I online? [I must have been asked this a hundred times today...so tempting to say "No, you're talking to me."]

3:00

• ...and then it got crazy-busy again
• Childcare contracts, from the provider's side [spent a lot of time with her]
• Closing announcement
• Typical: no one is leaving...till the computers shut down completely...
• Basement and doors checked--goodbye!

10:00-11:00 a.m.; 1:00-3:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: messing about with Demand Order cards, cutting up scrap paper (as usual), collection development.

10:00 a.m.

• Woman returns yardstick to me [pointed directly at my chest--a little scary, though she's perfectly nice about it]
• Circ person arrives to discuss weird card app. from last night, which continues to be weird, weird, weird
• [bummer: Facebook is down]
• [Serial Killer Dude walks by]
• Renew time on SAM
• Contact info for Attorney General in another state 2000 miles away [Yay Google!]
• Pencil
• Mr Ick: "Did you see if my son walked past here and towards the door?" [Yes, five minutes ago and about 10 feet behind you--I'm totally NOT checking the bathrooms for him!!]
• [SK passes again]
• Pencil returned
• Change card number in SAM [he wins the Best Password Award for today: "chonkle"; and then after logging in & out very quickly, he moves to a computer where I can't see the screen....hmmm]
• Can we buy a copy of a book in a Nora Roberts series which we own other titles in? [Sure]
• [SK passes the desk again.]
• Two girls, on MySpace/Facebook next to each other are also having a running convo...just quiet enough not to get in trouble, but VERY irritating (to me)
• OK, it's 11. I'm leaving........

1:00 p.m.

• I take over from Director who leaves me all kinds of stuff to 'finish up'
• Word processor
• "How do I go about typing a letter on the computer?" [I log him in as a guest rather than signing him up....]
• Real Estate License Exams for Dummies [we don't own and she needs it ASAP]
• Word processor
• Desperately paranoid and DUMB woman arrives for her hour-long session to sign up for email. I. Am. Not. Kidding. An hour. To sign up for email. This begins at 1:30. Thank God it's pretty quiet.
• Attachment won't print. We finally get it to work, but again: no, we don't ahve a fax machine.

2:00 p.m.

• Psychic phenomena
• 2:30 and Paranoid is finally set up with email. She wants to double-check in a few minutes to see if it's still there. {omg omg omg omg}--I could never make this up. Never.

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: fixing typos in catalog, reading up listserves, looking over massive stack of reports from data-checking firm (gaaahhh).

1:00

• Real estate test proctoring
• Put out all three of today's newspapers, removing classified ads beforehand--then wash hands
• Refill paper in printers and copier
• [phone] Books on autism
• SAM lookup
• [phone] Renew books
• Local phone book
• Pencil
• "Any other word processing computers?" [over under the clock]
• Pay for print jobs
• Real estate test guy is done; I mail his tests back
• "You have to tell it twice to print..."
• Pay for print jobs

2:00

• Pay for print jobs
• Big City Paper classified ads
• Renew time on SAM
• Scholarship books
• Today's Big City Paper
• How to get a card
• Where to check out
• Today's local classified ads
• Change quarters into a dollar bill [and they head off to the copier--??--the copier doesn't take coins???]
• "So...how do I get online?
• Pay for print jobs
• The Ultimate Gift [we don't own, so I order it]
• Clear U.G. patron off screen because she needs to check out at circ desk [doy]

3:00

• Renew time on SAM
• Buy floppy
• Renew time on SAM
• Wood finishing and staining
• Stinky Guy needs help printing a picture
• [I'm so bored, I walk around picking up stray books and reshelving new mags. Why are there so many people here on such a beautiful day?!]
• [phone] Needs help with doing research in preparation for her master's thesis [I suggest she come in and we'll show her in person what we have accessible]
• Closing announcement
• Lost looking guys with long list of call numbers...all starting with 'J' or 'E' [I send them in the kids' room and they take their frappacinos with them]
• [Obnoxious circ person makes another closing announcement, and all the computers log off-YAY!!]
• Basement check

GO HOME!

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: I'm going to attempt to do the budget totals for the past two months. We'll see how that goes....

1:00

• Scratch paper
• SAM registration
• Password lookup
• Copier not working (coin thingy, and no paper)
• "Can I just use any computer?" [yes!}
• Password woman can't access the website for a shower registration (because it was misprinted)
• Reverse lookup out of the area
• "Why isn't my card working to get online?" [she has the numbers written down slightly wrong]
• [phone] Clever Tom the Leprechaun
• Journal articles online
• Books on tatting [we have none--I reserve some for patron and leave a note for crafty book librarian]
• Internet printer having issues [actually it's the guy's PC, but eventually it prints]
• Specific Consumer Reports issues
• [All the 'golf pencils' in the box for the public are too dull to write with...grrrr]
• [phone call from home]
• Headphones
• [There is a guy online who keeps glaring at the clock and watching his screen very intently--I finally figure it out: he's on eBay...{snort}]
• "Can I use a computer to attach a file from this disk in an email?" [sure]
• "Can I have more time?" [he hasn't even gotten online yet--I explain that we usually don't extend time on Sundays because of how busy we are, which is evidenced by the fact that there are no computers for him to use right now]
• Car parts, like a dictionary [I eventually find something he can use]

2:00

• [The dude who needed extra time is done--he chuckles with me as he leaves]
• "Any free computers?" [uhhh, not too many] and then "How do I login again??" [she's only used our computers once several months ago...can't remember password]
• "Is the internet available on that computer?" [yes]
• Paper and pencil
• Consumer Reports are returned
• "Can you extend my time online since there's no one upstairs?" [nice try...no]
• Classified ads from today
• Wireless connection issues, easily resolved
• Friend here to use internet doesn't have card
• Books on John Hancock, and why is the biography section so weird [I explain that we're moving everything...slowly]
• The ADD Answer [our copy is checked out, so I reserve it for him]
• Computer isn't working right [I turn it off and leave a note for the tech]
• Headphones are returned
• [I realize I'm not wearing my nametag and go get it]
• "I ordered a book. Actually, I ordered two DVDs..." [I send him to the circ desk to pick them up]
• He's Just Not That Into You [our copy is listed as Lost, so I reserve it for her, and write up an order card for a new copy]
• "Is this the tax form?" [yes, and his dad who lives out of state can access them online...or you can mail it to him...whatever]

3:00

• Classified ads are returned...by a different person... [?]
• ExTREMEly opinionated man wants information about economics for his 'idiot cousin who been brainwashed by his Democrat friends for decades' [we are lacking in our Milton Friedman material, to his vocal dismay...another note for another collection development librarian]
• More time online [fat chance!]
• Change number in SAM, and can I print something off my thumb drive [yes]
• Pay for print jobs
• Tarot card reading [we have too much on that, IMHO]
• Pay for print jobs [number change guy above--but it didn't charge him for his 44 pages...how odd!]
• Tarot lady thanks me
• [The computer I turned off awhile ago has been turned back on and apparently is working fine...whatEVer]
• Boy wants DVD of Discovery Channel show he watched last night [his mom and I spent a great deal of time explaining that it hasn't been released yet for sale]
• [Closing announcement]
• Pay for print jobs
• [phone] Departed [there is, of course, a massive waiting list for this]
• Tax forms
• Print tax form [different guy]
• Pay for print jobs
• Kid ran out of time online before his document went to the printer [I have him use the other PC at the Reference desk]
• [The internet computers blessedly shut down]
• Pay for print jobs

WHEW...and yes, somehow, I managed to get the budget numbers crunched!

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

What I'm doing between questions: budget spreadsheet for January, chatting with our IT guy, checking for typos in catalog.

11:00 a.m.

• Tax forms
• [I can't find the most current budget spreadsheet--the director must have it on her personal, password-protected, drive]
• Paper/pencil
• "The Titans" or "Titans"...movie about football... [Remember the Titans--I reserve it for her when it comes back]
• SAM registration
• Headphones
• "Is this a warming center? There are about five people sleeping over there." [He looks amazed that people come here and sleep--perhaps he'd rather they come here and fight? "Some of them look like they could be working..." Whatever, dude. Did you not know there are homeless in this country?]
• Why won't the cover picture in the catalog enlarge right? [who knows...Stinkyman...I tell him I'll ask the techie]

1:00 p.m.

• Resume not printing [Try again, it worked] and pay for print jobs
• Printer needs paper
• Will we be getting more state tax forms? [They are out, she just didn't recognize them...]
• Pay for print jobs
• Pencil/paper
• I can't log in the internet, says I have to have caps lock off [his password is all numbers...move to new computer...works fine, so I shut off the first one and reboot...weird]
• Frozen PC [They are all acting weird all of a sudden: won't print, won't act right...]

I don't see any way the last hour could have been quieter unless we were closed. I nearly fell asleep (not that this would be a bad thing!).

1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: barcoding new items, a full cart-load of 'em.

1:00

• Can I check these out? [yes, but not here]
• Internet use, and Kelley Blue Book website
• I just type my card number in to use the internet, right? [yup; except if you have a new card you have to tell me...]
• The Boys on the Tracks [I order it for him through our system]
• [Circ person comes for order drawer]
• Cell phone [I motion to hang up and she does then comes to apologize]; Russian word for 'death'; pay for print jobs [yes, all the same girl--this involves getting a tattoo]
• Is [Librarian K] here today? [he'll be back, but not right now]
• House floor plans [Stinkyman]
• Pay for print jobs
• More time online

2:00

• Basic accounting books [yup]
• Typewriter repair [we got nada]
• Horses [cute little girl in pink with pigtails]
• Can I use the internet? [he's already registered--I give him his access number]

6:00 -7:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: NOTHING, i.e. wandering the net.

6:00

• [Technically it's 6:10 before I realize that I'm supposed to be on the Reference Desk, and only then because Librarian F comes to tell me so that she can go home...]
• Is [Librarian D] here? [no] He was supposed to read today in my classroom...? [sorry, don't know; he was at work today, but he's left now]
• Circ person needs help with a color copy of something [we eventually figure out enough for her to make it work]
• Formatting a resume [I show him Microsoft Office, and reregister him in SAM]
• Renew time on SAM
• "What does this mean?" [she has a kabillion windows open--freakin' popups!--so I explain how to keep that from happening, and then things won't freeze up on her like this]; and I renew her time on SAM
• [phone] Little girl looking for "The Cay" movie [not released on DVD or video, bummer]
• [phone] Mom asking what I told her daughter about "The Cay" [girl didn't understand how it can exist if it's not on video or DVD! Ah, youth]
• SAM registration
• Friend arrives for her tutoring stint and we chat while she waits.
• Two cops come in, looking for current city budget [thank God I can find it--don't want to look stupid in front of people with guns!]

6:00 - 7:007:30 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: Dewey updates, and cutting up scratch paper....

6:00

• [phone] "I think there's a meeting there tonight; can you check?" [we decide that what she's calling it and how it's in the meeting room book is the same thing...probably]
• "How can I center something when I print it?" ['...from a webpage, you can't if it's set up in columns...but you can copy and paste into a Notepad doc'...her eyes glaze over] "Can I put some money on my account for printing; do you take charge cards; can I get a receipt? [Yes; not for under $5--she owes $3.60--and not here but circ can do that for you and get you a receipt] Heavy sigh [Life is very hard for her. Very hard. So hard that she can't even complain except to sigh gustily. grrr]
• Circ staffer needs to know what time the Board meeting starts tonight [7:30, no matter what the newspaper printed]
• Stapler [a regular]
• Stapler [a regular]
• Different circ staffer comes back to tell me that the "fish guy" isn't coming today; he'll be here tomorrow to clean the tank, etc. [woo-hoo]
• Stapler [one of our former 'nightmare children' -- she's now a sophomore in high school and...well, some things don't change, but she's a nice girl]
• What's a "ligawka"? [a Polish trumpet...who knew?]
• [Lesson : never leave your email account open at a staff desk...or, anywhere]
• How old do you have to be to give blood? [16 with parental permission]
• Graffiti and the Bermuda Triangle [two different patrons, but I end up showing them the online databases together; we find stuff on the Triangle, but not graffiti]
• Tupac (the graffiti guy) [All our books on him have been stolen...grrr]
• More time in SAM

7:00

• [Looks like I'm actually out here till 7:30....]
• [phone] Date the city was founded [well, that's a complicated question, and here's why...]
• SAM registration
• Where do I get on the Internet? [right there]
• Pay for print jobs
• [Aide B takes the rest of the SAM registrations to check]
• Board member wanders through before meeting
• What is an "orkon"? [a flute? Again, who knew?]
• Can I have extra time online? [I tell him to ask when he gets the 10-minute warning, but probably so]
• What time is it? [There's a clock right there, but I tell him it's 7:25--cute kid]
• "Surdo"? [It's a drum...and this time I found it in Wikipedia...]

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: there isn't any time between questions on Sundays! However, there is a football game today that will probably keep people away and glued to their TVs till 3 or so.

1:00

• Why aren't the computers turned on upstairs? [cuz I forgot to do it--which I do for this very nice man]
• Forgot card; can I look up her number? [yep]
• Internal Combustion, recently returned [found it]
• I can't log in [she moves to next computer station and I find that NUM LOCK is off]
• Where do things print? [right there--patron comes back and says wonderfully nice things about this library...preen preen]
• Gangbanger alert
• [I notice a cart with a note from yesterday re items that couldn't be done because of the computer outage, and take the cart to today's page to finish]
• Complimentary woman asks about printing the stuff at the side of the page, which was cut off [can't do it]
• Internal Combustion woman asks about a list of all our travel videos and DVDs [I print off one for her from the catalog]
• Pay for print jobs
• Local classified ads
• What do I click on to get into the internet?
• [Ugh--Smelly Man has arrived]
• Pencil/paper
• [Circ person comes to let me know she's noticed some teenies wandering around--"circling"--mostly hovering at the computers; probably up to no good. I turn on the security camera viewer.]

2:00

• Middle school teacher arrives with a million questions about the 1920s [good thing she's nice!]
• Pencil/paper
• Online magazine indexes [teacher from the other middle school in town]
• SAM registration
• Pay for print jobs
• The Art of War [find it, and patron confirms it's the right book--"by a Chinese guy"]
• Novelist...and Diana Gabaldon [I look up the fan site and give it to her, too]
• A Child Called It
• Two separate SAM registrations
• Smelly Guy asks for help [I'm too buried in a flurry of questions to get to him: and he doesn't get cranky with me! WTF! yay]
• When I print off the internet, where do I pay? [one of the previous registrants, hasn't logged on yet]
• More time online [Are you kidding? Every station is full! I'm polite but firm and she gives me several dirty looks]
• Smelly Guy brings me extra scratch paper from printer [??]
• Stapler. And scissors--Art of War guy
• More time online [teenager, and she understands completely when I explain]

3:00

• Art of War guy is stapling together resumes and head-shots and starts talking about politics with me
• 1920s teacher asks about radio shows [I gratefully walk her to the media area]
• Pay for print jobs
• Is this street [in a suburb about 90 minutes away] a North or a South or what? [since the map shows that it's only about 5 blocks long, we decide it doesn't matter]
• Pay for print jobs
• [phone] How to download ebooks onto my MP3 [I refer him to Librarian H who will be here tomorrow]
• Are my DVDs that I requested here yet? [no, and one is overdue 3 months, so I put it in the line for ILL instead of getting it in the system]
• Inorganic chemistry book [hah! I reserve one for him...not likely to be here!]
• Rants [for Smelly Guy--it's misshelved but I find it]
• Can't print [stupid PC--this station just has a mind of its own--she tries another station and it won't work, so I print from here]
• [Punk poseurs arrive with green hair, pseudo-mohawks, and leather jackets (they make me giggle)]
• [Circ staff member does closing announcement FAR too early]
• [phone] Today's winning team's fight song, just the lyrics [I'm totally cracking up reading them to her]
• Pay for print jobs
• Chat with MLIS student about library 'stuff'

CLOSED!!!

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

What I'm doing between questions: Dewey updates (what else??)


11:00

• Music books, nothing more specific [I walk her back and explain the general layout--she is totally in heaven!]
• Internet printer needs paper
• SAM app for patron of nearby-but-out-of-system library
• [phone] Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest [We don't own--though it is in the system--they wanted it for tonight, and he suggests we buy it--I've already started writing an order card for it!]
• Pencil?
• Music lady--a regular patron--returns to desk with 67,000 requests for ILL/purchase/reserve...[I spend the remaining 35 minutes of the hour dealing with her--luckily, she's nice--and have to squeeze the other patrons in around her]
• SAM app for another out-of-town/out-of-system patron
• [Librarian K comes to tell me I've a call from home, which I can't take because I've got three people waiting--Librarian K goes away without offering to help]
• Travel videos
• Pay for printing
• [My cell phone buzzes: another call from home. They've given up on being on hold. I start worrying, but I still can't answer because I've doing Music Lady's errands in the music section...]
• Smelly Man runs out of Internet time and moves to the catalog computer next to the desk

1:00

• [They needed my sewing kit at home. Sheesh. National crisis averted when I tell where it is...]
• Smelly Man finally runs out of ideas of things to search for and goes away
• How to open a file on a floppy [it has been wiped, God knows how, but she has it saved on her hard drive at home: SMART girl!]
• Smelly Man wants to know when we got black keyboards [when we opened the building in 2000...years before he started showing up!]
• Upstairs PC froze [I go reboot it]
• [Oh! THOSE black keyboards! We do have new black keyboards on some of the computers...oops....]
• [Librarian Dr comes to tell me that there's an electrician in the basement working on the parking lot lights. We need to check all outside doors very carefully when closing tonight.]
• Barefoot in the Park [we have it!]
• Pay for print jobs, for her and her family (not currently here) [...and we spelled her name wrong, to boot, so I correct it!]
• [I cut up scratch paper...again]
• [Librarian Dr comes back to say that the circ person at lunch right now is running late, but she (Dr) has to leave promptly at 2. We'll have to punt.]
• [...and she's back again, with the electrician looking for all the circuit boxes...which I show him...]
• Tax forms

2:00 [covering for Librarian K, as usual--why is she even on the schedule? She is never here on Friday afternoons!]

• [Director walks out and asks about guys who look like they are fighting in the reading room--they aren't, but I go ask them to talk elsewhere...feeling silly as they are both super-nice guys]
• Pay for print jobs
• Why does it keep printing blank pages with just headers and the web address but no picture that I'm trying to print? [I explain about Print Preview and suggest he move to another computer]
• Pencil/paper
• Where are the books on CD?
• [phone] Number for the IRS
• Why does this not open right? [It's a pop-up, but I don't know how to override that for this use...and I can't find our tech guy.]
• [Incredibly tall young woman comes in, sits down to use Internet. Very striking. She's forgotten her library card and asks me to look it up. I realize that she's Polish? Russian? Lovely girl.]