9:00 - 10:00 a.m. ; 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: placing holds on Demand-order items, starting on end-of-month stats stuff, cleaning out old email (down to under 2000 now!)

9:00 [in children's room]

• [not one single hash-mark on yesterday's tally sheet for reference/other questions in here...niiiice, peeps!]   
• [otoh, there hasn't been one patron in the room the whole hour, so....]
• [oh, wait: 9:50 and 5 people walked in...yay]
• "Is there a catalog computer in here?" [yup--she finds one]

1:00

• [Librarian M checks on a patron she searched on this computer earlier--nope, no fines...long story]
• [phone] 2001: A Space Odyssey [our copy is checked out...a long, sob-story ensues, one I can't really help with]
• [Librarian M calls back and fills me on the even longer story...]
• Someone left their cell phone next to a computer [I label it with time & date--owner will be back, I'm sure]
• [phone] The Help [on waiting list, I place hold], The Bird Sisters [not here, I place hold], The Queen Hereafter [in the bulding, found and put on holdshelf for her], The Valcourt Heiress [supposed to be here, can't find, place hold], Seeing Trees [not in the consortium, I write up order request]
• [In the middle of that, lost phone owner returns and gets her phone]
• Day pass for internet
• An Unquenchable Thirst [we have two copies on the shelf--he's ecstatic: "does this work just like DVDs??" uhm, yeah, except you get three weeks...lol]
• Same patron asks about a book "something World Book and Python programming" [I find Hello World! in Amazon, which he says is what he wants, but he's going to purchase it]
• Then he asks if I've heard of The Brain That Changes Itself which he loves [our copy is billed since 2009...sigh]
• Medicaid/Medicare spend-down policies for nursing home patients
• Pay for printing

2:00

• Downloading books on a Kindle; and DVDs on prospecting/panning for gold [nothing in our collection, but we do find a bunch of Kindle books, and some DVDs on Amazon too]
• More time on the net? [I renew it]
• [PJM asks about changing stuff around in a kit; I'll need to do some updating when I get back to my desk]
• Pencil
• [Chatty patron from the distant past comes in and we chat fairly briefly (for him)]
• Magazine shelver volunteer has a question about People in Spanish
• Pigs in Heaven synopsis
• Temporary internet pass
• [Volunteer returns to tell me a random story...]
• Pencil
• Ethernet cable
• Print map to P-ski Road in [Big City]

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

What I'm doing between questions: cleaning out old emails (went from about 2600 in my inbox to 2116...sigh)

11:00

• [Librarian J tells me that Mr. Ick has been banned for the day--it's been a stellar week for him with everyone at the Reference Desk]
• [And I call to 'rescue' C from having her ear bent by the boss interminably]
• Local yellow pages: "I found this sitting on a table" [Thank you: we're in the midst of shifting everything in the area where these have been kept, so I actually don't know where it goes now--and wow does the patron smell bad!]
• How to access our wireless [handout]
• Double-sided photocopies? [I take it in back and do it there--way too complicated on the public machines]
• [Director appears out of nowhere to cover since 5 people showed up at once with Double-Side Guy]
• What's my internet password? and Can I print? [yep and yep]
• [much talking ensues]
• [The Director knows where the phone books are now...yay]
• Pencil
• How to access our wireless [he just wants the network names, and the Director goes off with him to help since he's a newbie]
• Pen
• Scratch paper
• [phone] Certified Coding Specialist [of course we don't own, so I do a purchase request...and the Director tells me I should've just told her we can't get it for her since it's not available in-state...it's c2011, so WTF, woman, shaddup! It's my lunchtime, let me freakin' LEAVE!]

1:00

• [phone] How to get into NetLibrary when I don't remember my UserID [I walk through the EBSCO (not NetLibrary anymore) procedure, and find that he's trying to get in using a direct URL rather than through our webpage...wrong...sigh]
• [Call Librarian J's leftover reference patron to tell her the book is here]
• Pay for printing
• And how do I pay for the tolls I missed driving up from [former prison city] last week? [plus he's a native Spanish speaker, and the tollway site SUX....]
• Fax
• Forgot my pin [I look it up]
• Need a visitor pass for the net
• Forgot my PIN [I look it up]
• Visitor pass
• Three visitor passes (dad + kids)
• [FINALLY take book to holdshelf half an hour after calling the patron!!]
• Mrs. Nixon [in processing, so I get her name and find the book for soonest processing]
• [I quietly suggest to two tweeners that they need to keep their voices down a bit while they play some stupid game that involves flying--just looking at it from my desk makes me motion sick!]
• [phone from circ] "Do you have [patron] up on your screen?" [yup the one I had to call for the hold for Librarian J...]
• "Why don't you mark books with the year on the call number?" [Zomg--the extra typing for ONE person? I mean, how many people do actually care what year something was written?]
• Books on iPads [yup, we gots 'em]
• [More commentary about dates on books--it would be great if he knew the title...I suggest a subject search in the catalog limited by date...we'll see if he takes me up on it]
• Stapler
• Not-So-Big House books [got 'em, but of course all she could remember was "something like 'small houses'"--fortunately I've read a couple of 'em!]

2:00

• "I need to borrow the edge of your desk..." [to tear a cartoon out of a printout he just made]
• Fax
• How to start a home-based landscaping business [the good news: we own it; the bad news: it's not where it belongs on the shelf--I show them starting generic business books instead]
• Formatting in Yahoo! mail
• IRS publication #17 [not here, and we couldn't put it out till Monday anyway]
• Pay for printing
• [Chat about New Year's activities with a patron]
• The Christmas Wedding [place hold for her]
• Fax
• Pay for printing [helps if I've got the right number...and she complains about having to pay $9 for 9 pages]
• [...am finally back to my workroom desk at 3:15--thanks for spending 10+ minutes with one patron, Librarian J, while I helped three others after 3:00]

6:00 -7:00 ; 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the catalog for possible book purchases....and checking the ALA Midwinter website for scheduling.
6:00

• Disable pop-up blocking software? [can't, and the website won't process job applications with the pop-ups blocked]
• Now That's What I Call Music 30 [turns out he wants NTWICM39, the one with LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem--which we own but there are holds, so I add him to the list]
• [well, that was worth being out here for an hour...]

8:00

• More time online [can do]
• Calendar? [yup]
• "Do you have a phone I can use?" [nope, his just died, but ... sorry]
• [I do my pre-closing walk to pick up stuff left lying, and find a phone charger...wonder if it would've fit the previous patron's phone...]
• [Basement walk-thru done--and closing announcement]
• [I go make change at circ since all we have are three $5 bills in our cash drawer]

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: prepping to clean up the on-order records for end-of-month stats next week.

1:00

• Staff member wants to know why is "Obama next to the euthanasia books" : 179 vs. 179.7 [Of Thee I Sing classed as "Other Ethical Norms"; euthanasia falls in there at 179.7 : "Respect and disrespect for human life"]
• Shelver asks, "Is there a shelving cart back here?" [yup, a full one]
• Boss brings my Emergency Sugar Stash (i.e., Christmas present) to me
• [Why yes, it is actually deadly quiet today, thanks for asking!]
• Witchcraft--"I've read all your books--and specifically on spells for money-making [not much in the system; we seem to have the biggest selection, about half of which is missing or billed forever]
• "I left a pair of earbuds in the library yesterday; do you have them?" [not here, check up front in the lost and found--he asks the same thing almost every time I see him: such a scammer]
• [My family arrives to harrass me, and to return a borrowed-from-a-coworker casserole]
• Incedies [totally butchered the title, but we find it here on our shelves--hah! He is suitably impressed]

10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: cross-checking LCSH changes against our catalog to see if updates need doing.

10:00 (filling in while the scheduled Librarian, M, has a "quick meeting"* with the director re tech stuff)

• "Have you ever done one of these? [a Sudoku--yes, Mr. Ick, I have]
• Circ person looking for some patrons she lost
• "How do I just print the part of a site, not all 11 pages?" [Print Preview to save the day!]
• Minor problem with the printer (same guy)
• Pay for printing [patron is clearly hard of hearing and also not very techy, and wanted her pictures in color, so I walk her through that procedure knowing that I'll have to walk her through printing too since the b&w copies will still be in the printer buffer--she's talking to herself nonstop as she redoes her printing]
• [--and she doesn't have anough money--three dollars--to pay to print....]
• Shelver, who is shifting the Reference books, brings over a 2007 out-of-state business directory that won't stand up [2000-page paperbacks do that] and asks what to do about it; we decide to leave it lying flat for now to straighten it a bit and I'll ask Librarian M if we should/can just pitch it
• [phone] "Do you have Macs?" [after my initial confusion over "Max," I say no and suggest local colleges, and give her the phone number for a nearby public library]
• [* (at 9:34)"quick meeting" my Aunt Fanny --not that I expected it to be]
• Printer needs paper
• [Local paper] and Wall Street Journal [both kept behind the desk]
• ["Islands--Switzerland"??? Isn't that kind of like "Islands--Nebraska"? lol]
• Stapler
• "Stupid computer ain't taking my...." [I get his login information and he walks away before I can tell him what the problem was/is]
• Deaf woman returns to pay and print, and of course it's a nightmare
• Pay for printing
• [phone] Milton Berle's Private Joke Book [this is a kid asking for it, he messes up the title so I can't find it right away...poor guy, like I'd just told him I'd kicked his dog--anyway, placed a hold on it for him]
• [*still not back...Librarian J is apparently covering Hour Two of the Quick Meeting]

11:00 [in children's room]

• [Circ Supervisor is hiding in here because Chatty-Not-Always-Sober Patron is at Circ Desk; at 11:10, I buzz Circ and 'rescue' the staff member whose ear she's been bending for God knows how long]
• [Newly-returned shelver continues to shift picture books--I say hi]
• [Director appears (*meeting's over!), tells shelver she's doing a "great job!" shifting, stops to ask if I need anything--I don't say "a raise," "a dozen cookies" or anything else snarky--and she leaves for the day]
• "Can you recommend any good books?" [14-year-old, already carrying 6-7 YA novels...we wander thru YA and then over to the New (adult) Books--she's read Columbine, so she can probably deal with Nic Sheff--I LOVE THIS PART OF MY JOB!!!]
• Circ Supervisor brings two copies of a Calvin & Hobbes book to ask why one is cuttered CAL and the other WAT; ironically, Librarian T, my co-cataloger, was just talking about this earlier this week, so I dump these on her. Also, Prince of Egypt, cuttered DIS (for Disney)? Not.
• [3 VERY noisy kids run in, directly to the toys in the rotunda...look out, whoever is in here next hour!]

2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the January pre-orders against the catalog, and "other duties as assigned" (mostly watching a few more homeless people wander around, and hitting the bakery...er, staff workroom...for snacks).

2:00

• [one of our regular, annual, homeless guests stops at the art display board I can see and spends a good deal of time examining each of the items--a brand new insight into his world for me. Watching his face is killing me. He's really taken by some of the artwork and keeps checking back on them as he walks away. (Then again, he might just be drunk or otherwise incapacitated, says the Cynic in my head.)]
• Pencil
• [phone] Killing Lincoln [33 holds; I add her to the list]   
• Pay for printing
• "How do I get a PIN?" [you get to pick your own PIN or password! woohoo]
• Pencil
• [phone] "I'm collecting signatures so I can run for Congress in [city] district; can I do that outside the library?" [consensus of everyone in the building is Ask The Director...who just left the building for the day, of course; he declines to leave a name to call back for clarification]
• [phone] "I'm thinking about buying a Kindle..." [...and so I explain the basics, which is all I really know anyway]
• Painting (walls, not pictures) [698.1]
• [greet another of our silent-but-daily patrons, a quiet, behaved one--have now tripled the # of words I've spoken to him over time ;-)]
• [phone] Contact phone #s for [Giant Nearby City] Housing Authority and [County to our East] Housing Authority [he records my findings--that's a first--because he's visually handicapped so writing the numbers down wouldn't work]
• ESL books [but Ingles Sin Barreras is even better! Plus, cute kids]

3:00

• Apply for a library card? [circ desk]
• [turn down the firetruckin' music, idiot teen playing pot-related online games!!!]   
• [turn down your firetruckin' PHONE, idiot teen's friend!!]
• Pay for printing [from the first guy at 3:00]
• [Local paper] ... and returned in about 20 minutes
• [returning, college-age shelver comes by--great to see her!]
• Headphone splitter [we used to have dozens; now we have...zero]
• Pencil

2:00 - 4:00 ; 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: hah! School district art show is up, so random people are wandering around looking for 'their' art (or their kids'). Public Library Core Collection 2011 has arrived so I do some desultory checking in my buying areas. Oh, and reading Autocat postings.
2:00

• Yesterday's problem patron (drunk & disorderly) having trouble accessing his internet account due to fines on library card [Circ Supervisor notes that he is making payments but still owes almost $40, so SAM won't let him online--day-pass a-go-go for him...and yes, he's been drinking cheap beer again]
• "Do I have to register to use a study room?" [nope]
• Scratch paper
• Wireless access + "can I use a study room?" [yep, and yep...both these questions from people over 30, probably doing business]
• iPad--ebooks--long, but good, discussion of issues
• Pay for print  [yes we have a color printer]
• Card catalog [the one he usually uses has someone at it]
• [phone] Journey of Souls which I swear I already ILL'd for patron...after much searching I can find no trace of it [I end up thinking I requested for purchase, so I redo that]
• Pay for printing
• Borrow a calculator
• Scratch paper
• How to use internet [card is expired, so she has to renew at circ]
• Pay for printing
• [realize I'm logged in to Librarian K's email by accident, so everything I've sent from this desk has been 'from' someone else--what a dork I am!]

3:00

• Pay for printing
• Fatal Vows [can't believe we don't own this--guess where we are??--but I ILL it for her from one of the many libraries in the area that do have it]
• Second comment of the day that all our ebooks are 'checked out' with dozens of holds....yay [:-(]
• [I save this document now, because last week I did two hours out here and deleted the whole damn (long) post just before I saved it....]
• Calculator returned, and lengthy discussion of the Jim Carrey Grinch movie with a tweener and why it is checked out...still [he asked for it a couple of weeks ago; I eventually check IMdB and find that it will air on ABCFamily on Friday...parents pay for cable/satellite, but he doesn't have a library card?]
• Map from Fpt to Blt [found, printed, done + he paid!]
• Pay for printing
• [text from DH that his cortizone shot is done and he's headed home, courtesy of The Kid]
• Pay for printing [newbie]
• "How much to fax?"
• Pen [last three=same guy]

6:00 [in the children's room]

• [I suggest people looking at the art show panels that they might find what they are looking for elsewhere--this stuff is everywhere!]
• Pinewood Derby designs & patterns [our copy MIA--I reserve a copy from another library in our consortium]  
• James & the Giant Peach [on the shelf! Yay!]
• [Autocat topics under discussion: vodou/voodoo/vodun, discovery (in a technology sense), RDA (endlessly endlessly endlessly), and cataloging an issue of journal as monograph. Who says catalogers aren't fun? Anyway, I'm caught up]
• [Clean-up time in the Land of Toys...]

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the death dates list, and researching vacuums.
2:00

• "I found this at that internet computer" [ID holder + flash drive]
• "I think I forgot my password..." [check ID and look up for her]
• Pay for print jobs [forgotten pw woman]
• ...and the printer's out of paper
• [phone] Sing You Home [our copy checked out, so I reserve it for her as she is an "our library only" patron]
• Shockingly, ID holder + flash drive guy returns to collect it
• "How do I get on the computer?" from a kid [since his parents haven't signed the permission slip, he can't today, but I walk him thru the basics]
• Pay for print jobs [and I 'donate' 2 cents to him so that he doesn't end up with 23 cents on his account--because I know him and he makes me laugh]
• ...and he returns with two quarters [goof] ;-)
• Pay for printing; he asks about blank pages [I show him "Print Preview" and make a friend]

And I'm outta here! Because I have to get my house organized for tonight's staff party!! :-)

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ; 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: catching up on the 404 unread Autocat postings since 11/14 (finished at 3:50, holyMarymotherofGod!).

11:00 [in kids' room]

• Key to restroom, and returned
• Other key to other restroom, and returned
• "Do I get a library card at the front desk?" [yep]
• [phone] Asks for Librarian C, but since she's not here today, "any other reference librarian" will do
• "Elephant Key Please!" [small child who used the Ladybug Key 25 minutes ago--lol), and returned
• [rather creepy guy comes in from the other room to print his documents, and stands and "hmm" and "uh-huhs" while doing so--ugh]
• IT guy appears, we chat

2:00

• Neuromancer [on holdshelf for someone else--I reserve it for him] and Dune [on the shelf, but so old the spine is hard to read]
• Gmail changed, so I go over how to compose a group email with an older patron
• Patron turns in random headband he found on the floor; I doubt anyone will remember it falling off here...but who knows?
• Magnifying glass to read the microfiche [it's actually film, but wevs, yo--and yes I actually found one in the drawer!]
• [Sir, those computers don't access the internet]
• Fax
• Pencil
• Pay for printing [and a quick tutorial on how to his document print]

3:00

• Books on Britishisms or, better, Canadianisms or Australianisms and what they mean in "American" [we.have.NOTHING--fail--so I show him some of the blogs I read, especially the one by Lynneguist, and leave a note for the Mad Weeder on staff to freakin' BUY SOMETHING in that section!]
• Magnifying glass returned
• Kingston card reader returned
• "Is Librarian C around?" [yep--more of the grant fooforaw that's been going on around here all week]
• How the Grinch stole Christmas [all copies on hold or checked out, doesn't want to wait]; Mortal Kombat, game or DVD [we don't own, doesn't want to wait; Rush Hour 2 [aha! success, plus RH3 is here too]
• Fax [guy looks disturbingly like a friend of mine]
• Scratch paper
• Pencil and paper
• Ethernet cable [ID taken and attached to note in drawer that says "USB thing"--in Librarian M's handwriting, and she's the techiest of us!]
• [time has officially stopped at 3:30...or rather slowed to a complete crawl...isn't it 4 YET?]
• Pay for printing
• Ethernet cable [another ID on the "USB thing" tag]
• Recycling bin time [and again I'm picking up stuff that didn't go IN the bin]
• Operation Family Secrets [on the shelf--woo-hoo!]
• "You have TWO horses here??" [yep, the other one is behind that pillar]
• [phone] "Can you find my old dentist's new addresss?" [couldn't find the guy]
• Scratch paper

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: creating order carts in B&T and Midwest Tape for my collection development areas, and the ever-exciting subject-heading changes.

1:00 [in the kids' room]

• [there is a storytime going on for the first half hour I'm at the desk, so I eavesdrop on that]
• Disney Princess Christmas CD not in library system? [nope, and it's not available from our suppliers, being 6 years old] [thank God!]
• [phone] Do we have "e-reader books" for Kindle? [transfer to adult ref]
• [when storytime ends, I talk to Library L re her new kids' standing order plan(s)]   

2:00

• [phone] Do we own I Have Heard You Calling In the Night? [no...he will check it out at the library he is at then]
• [phone] How to download library ebooks on Kindle [I walk her thru it]
• Can we get books from [next-town-over] library? [nope, different library system, but your card works there] REALLY?! [I love telling people that--it makes their whole day]
• "My email didn't fill in my friend's email address, just her name. Did it send? [yes, probably, but this is how you can check...]
• Downloading ebooks on Kindle. [the week after Christmas is going to SUCK, when everyone is trying to get their new toys to work!]

3:00 - 5:00 p.m. ; 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

So, yeah, I haven't been doing a lot of Reference for the past few years, trying to catch up on a giant backlog of cataloging and bring a new director up to speed.

As I will start working full-time hours beginning in a couple of weeks, and as one of my friends reminded me about this sad little blog recently, I figured I would use the quiet early-afternoon hours today to reboot.

What I'm doing between questions: revising this blog (ahem), and working on cleanup, mostly subject headings.

3:00

• [I am warned before Librarian L leaves the desk that people seem to be cranky today. Great]
• [phone] Garbled request for "It's not fair, Jeremy Spencer's parents let him stay up all night!" and Hannah's List [we own both, but Hannah is checked out, so I put it on hold and take the former to the holdshelf]
• Pay for printing [and I have a terrible time understanding how much she wants to leave on her card after she prints]
• One of our custodial workers comes around emptying recycling bins [how the heck does staff MISS a 2-foot-by-3-foot box under the desk??]
• Return ethernet cable; I return her ID
• Pay for printing
• Realize DH has IM'd me

4:00

• Ethernet cable goes back out to someone else; ID in drawer
• [phone] Basic math books to brush up [we have loads--I pull a couple and put them on the holdshelf]
• "I forgot my card. Can you look up my number?" [ID? Nope? Then, sorry, no...]
• "I've moved, but I have a card from my new home...." blah blah [yes you can use the internet]
• [Person on computer nearest me has the volume turned up so loud on her headphones that I can identify the song, easily. Yeeesh!]
• Pencil
• Pay for printing
• Pencil
• [Hmm, dude with card from out of the area is clipping his fingernails at the computer station! NOT a homeless guy. ...sigh]
• Pay for printing
• "Where is everybody??" [not here, not sure why, not complaining! lol]

6:00 [in the kids' room]

• Pencil and paper
• [6 black sharpies in the drawer and NOTHING ELSE to write with?! ...sigh]
• [I was volunteered to 'peer review' a paper for a patron--am doing that for the first part of the hour]
• Pay for printing
• Bathroom key
• [Circ person comes in with a DVD asking if I requested it--yes--it's been sitting around for God-knows-how-long in The Box (there's A Box?) for staff requests]
• "Where do I find a book that says it's in "J Parenting..." [I find it]
• Key returned
• Pay for printing 
• "Where does it print?"
• Easy-to-read books for a 3rd-grader who reads low for his age [Magic Tree House to the rescue!]
• 2-inch long pencil stuck in electric pencil sharpener; a paper-clip is a bad idea for retrieving it [I snag it with the one fingernail I have]
• Bathroom key
• Key returned
• [phone] Books on rocks and minerals for "oral language" low-level elementary kids [I pull what we've got on the shelves]
• Eclipse movie [checked out]; other Twilight movies [checked out]; Harry Potter movies [the only one that's here he doesn't want]; Harry Potter books [THOSE we have!]; Alvin and the Chipmunks, Home Alone movies [strikeout] [I eventually walk him to the to-be-shelved cart at Circ to look at what's there....and reserve Eclipse for him when it comes back] [And his name was wrong on his card, not inverted so he was coming up under his first name...fixed]
• "Are there any programs tonight?" [nope, not really much going on till the beginning of 2012, sigh...sorry]