6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the recently-released  ALA awards lists against our catalog.

6:00 [in the children's room]

• Pay for printing
• Books on origami [same kid, and yes we have 'em]
• [I search the toys area for the rest of the stacking shapes toy and find 2 more piece, plus a piece of something else, but not the wooden dowel the shapes go on--WTF?--and also find that the Lego table is GRODEEE]
• How to play a game (on the children's games computesr [I end up having to restart that computer after I find him one that actually works]
• Spanish storytime starts...
• Books for a girl who doesn't like to read "cuz she's lazy" says her mom [sigh, that's helpful]
• The first Warriors book [checked out, so I reserve it for her]
• [phone] IT guy calls and I don't recognize his voice and make a fool of myself, then transfer the call to the boss]
• [at 6:45 I have to go cover the adult desk while Librarian K gets suited up for an appearance at The Unveiling--don't.ask.]
• [phone] First Things First [on the shelf, so I put it on the hold shelf for him]
• "What does 'Crimson & Clover' mean?" [guy who called the cops: long long conversation with him]
• The Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern [here, we find it] ; Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery [we don't own, but I put a reserve on a copy for him] ; 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die [also only available at other libraries, ya big socially-compromised geek]
• Scratch paper, and a bad joke that makes him LAAAAUUUGGH...

7:00  

• [the giant rodent appears]
• How to print [we walk through it] ; public fax? [nope, $1/page]
• The geek returns looking for Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion [our copy is in processing so it's off-limits, and he wanders away]
• Atlas? [yup a whole stand of them over there]
• A child's scream...wth?
• [YAY!! back to the children's room where the screaming is happening]
• Look up password for one for the dads
• [This sad little boy is just DONE--ready to sleep and sad and just so cry-ey, but his mom is not exactly moving him out the door in a big hurry]
• [DVDs are a mess, toy area is a mess, but there are about half as many people here now, thank God]
• Bone [find 'em--we have too many YA graphic novels]
• [Chat with a friend and her granddaughter who stopped by for The Unveiling]
• Scary stories [thank God for Mom: stories, like ghost stories around the campfire, not whole books that are scary--got 'em]
• [capping my stay in here, the giant rodent head returns...I'm so outta here]

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: working on the end-of-month lists for cleanup, specifically

1:00

• [and, right outta the gate I get a crazy...Barack Obama is using all his ideas, it's all Bush's fault that no one wants to help the federal government...all this because he couldn't find the internet icon on the public computer he was using and he brought his 2010 tax return to look up his 2011 return on the IRS site...omg omg omg]
• More 1040 instructions? [yep--I get several copies out since there are none out]
• Pay for printing [and once again, SAM is being stupid]
• Ethernet cable
• "What means this word?" [one of our regulars--in fact the guy who called 911 yesterday--can't understand Mitt Romney on YouTube: "epithets"; Iwalk away and he proceeds to giggle and talk to his screen fairly quietly]
• "Santa Biblia," as opposed to the Spanish Bible she got here yesterday which is...different and doesn't SAY that [we swap] ; also, guitar tab for Sur 16's "Tren de paso" [eventually found and printed]
• How to download ebooks to a Nook [really wish I could figure this out so I didn't have to admit that I can't do it myself]
• [Dude looking at our job app folder...I notice that our little squeezy that I brought back from ALA has already disappeared...I hate people]
• 127 Hours [checked out; I reserve it]
• [Idiot-Man from yesterday arrives, the guy the cops came about yesterday, and I am SO outta here!]

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: ha ha ha, it's a Sunday--there is really no "in between." I am one of two librarians at the desk; we are both equally busy.

1:00

• [email] 8 reserves from a patron (board member) for new books and DVDs [take down the info and let him know I'm ordering them for him]
• [phone] "Do you have Excel 2010 on your computers?" [I check--nope: 2007]
• Copier isn't working [I push the paper drawer all the way in]
• Kung Fu Panda 2 [reserved]; second Matrix movie [on shelf (oops, no it's not, so I reserve it too)]; Do we use Netflix? Why? How does that work? [I explain]
• "Can I use this catalog computer?" [no, since the Black Screen of Death is saying it needs a battery or something...I turn it off and put an Out Of Order sign on it]
• [finally, 25 minutes after opening all the internet stations are full--shocking that it took so long!]
• [I show person how to reserve an internet station]
• [phone] Black sands [find it, hold it for her]

2:00

• [a patron calls the police on another patron who's in my face about reserving computers....20 minutes later we're back to normal, more or less]
• The seventh star of the Confederacy [oh, yeah, we'll be ordering that from out of state, I suspect]
• White-out [by golly we have some]
• "Can I donate an ebook to you?" [dunno, call & ask our techie people tomorrow]
• Currency trading [nada here :-(] Except, yeah, he DID find something, called Binary Trading which works for him...

3:00

• 1099 forms [gotta call the IRS for those]
• Upcoming {local festival} schedule [make a couple copies for her and for the ref desk]
• The military during the French Revolution [wow, ok, found stuff]
• Frackin' ebooks....
• How to print
• Sex offenders site--lots of looking at some familiar faces [I stalk this site semi-regularly]
• Switch [got it] ; "Who was Samuel Johnson?" [wikipedia to the rescue]
• Current People [kept behind the desk]
• [closing announcement]
• Cake decorating
• [PLEASE GO HOME PPL!!]

1:00 - 2:00 ; 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: catching up on Autocat postings, starting an order for prize-winning books...

1:00 [in the children's room]

• "Can you check to see which storytime we signed up for?" [after I get help from Librarian M, yes]
• Bathroom key
• [phone] Renew books/DVDs
• Multiple questions about storytime, registration, how it works, when they are, how to find out when/where to register, etc. [this time I could answer!]
• Pinkalicious books, in English [all checked out, except Spanish]
• Bathroom key
• Junie B. Jones books [we have 'em, but I'm not linking because there's no way to link to a series in Worldcat....grr]
• Bathroom key, and I keep an eye on the oldest kid because he's only 3 or 4, but bringing him in the bathroom with the rest...no; bathroom isn't big enough for four people
• Director arrives and (eventually) asks if I would please create a new code for two-week DVD checkouts [this isn't that hard, except finding all the DVDs to which it applies and moving them]

3:00 [in the children's room]

• How to register for programs [I am now, officially, a pro at this]
• Pencil, with eraser. Or pen [hmm...why eraser if you can use a pen? But anyway, as usual, all we have in here are those cheesy golf pencils]
• Pencil, with eraser [different kid]
• Any Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in? [again, no link, but I do find one that just came back for the kid]
• Bathroom key
• Bathroom key
• How many activity kits can I check out? [one per family] "But then the kids fight over it!" [well, that's when you haul out your excellent parenting skills, right? ...sigh]
• Bad Kitty and Mary Poppins [the former is on the shelf; the latter is out so I reserve it for her]
• "How much money is on my Internet account?" [a whopping ten cents=one page of printing]
• "Are any of these computers just catalogs?" [we find one that fits the bill]

1:00 - 2:00 ; 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking our catalog for updated subject headings to fix

1:00

• [ah, jeez, I lost track of time, so I'm 10 minutes late in arriving]
• Pay for printing
• eBay and Auctivia books [well, I can do eBay, but Auctivia is too new]
• [dude at Internet Station #2 is arm-dancing & lip-syncing to the YouTube vid he's watching/listening to...pretty funny]
• Knife collecting books [got 'em]
• More time for the internet? [yup, can do]
• Fax [a resume for a guy who's in here often..sigh]
• Pay for printing (same guy)
• Legal forms
• Can I print? [fax guy]
• Guest internet pass
• Chas. & M@ry L!ebman Trust [well, much research later, it's possible they're local; not much of a web presence though]

4:00 [in the Children's Room]

• Pencil, with eraser
• Stapler
• [phone] Renew items due tomorrow
• Is there a place to look up books? [yup, I find a catalog computer for them]
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid [all sixteen thousand of our copies are checked out, but he's ok with putting a hold on the next available copy]

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

What I'm doing between questions: checking updated subject headings.

6:00 [in the children's room]

• Legend of Zelda graphic novels in Spanish [English, yes; no Spanish]
• Babymouse in Spanish [same kid, same answer]
• Parental permission slips for internet use
• How to print [the parental permission guys]
• Printing help [same guys...they're really cute]
• Cat Found [no one in our consortium owns, so I do a request slip]
• Card isn't in system [lost, replaced, found old one...blergh]
• Look up password [can't--not her card, it's her sister's...sigh]
• Pinkalicious books [yep, we gots 'em] [so glad I don't have to deal with these with my own kid]
• Help with printer [same kids]
• Key for restroom
• "Where's my printout?" [turns out he printed in the adult area, but this print station is closer than the adult one, so he came in here...clever, but no]
• [After investigating the schedule, I find that there are two of us at the reference desk at 7--Librarian K says "don't bother--I'll be fine"...YAY]

7:00

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular checking the database for updates...
1:00

• [phone] Visually impaired gentleman needs help finding audiobooks to download now that NetLibrary isn't available [I walk him through our webpage, which is less than fabulous for his needs]
• Local classified ads, and other job listings
• Pay for printing
• Can I double-side copy? [not on the public machines, not easily; eventually Librarian C takes her to the staff copier to do it]
• Pop-ups are blocked but I need to take this test... [I call for help after exhausting my knowledge; she gets him going by restarting and finding a link in the email he received...]
• Pay for printing
• Circuit Breaker form for this year [can't find it anywhere online, just a lot of stuff about it being funded at a much lower level: YAY State Government!]
• Pay for printing ... x 3
• 1040 instructions [haven't received them]
• Temporary card [because SAM no longer lets me access the staff login page to input 'foreign' library cards]
• Pay for printing
• Scratch paper
• Temporary card + card reader attachment
• Annoying local blogger comes in to ask about ebooks...[yes, I am courteous to him!]
• Fax
• "Does everything delete as soon as I log off?" [yup]
• Style section NYTimes [current one not here, but patron goes and finds it for me in the reading room, since she's the one who noticed it kept getting stolen]

(also backing up Circulation at 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.)

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. ; 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the catalog against authority updates lists

9:00 [in the children's room]

• Miss Mary Mack [yep, found on the shelf too] (this question at 9:46)
• [Librarian T freaking out because page is only scheduled at 10...but she's on the schedule the rest of the day too...relax!]

11:00

• [phone] In the Land of Invisible Women [on the shelf, now on the holdshelf waiting for her]
• Books on Hermes for a report [mythology books to the rescue]
• [phone] How to download books to her Kindle [I talk her down from the edge]
• [The phones are dial-tone-free, though we can use them to call out if we dial 9+the number. I don't see what the big disaster is, but Librarian J is whizzing around like a hummingbird about it, calling the phone company and the Director]
• Copy machine? [right around the corner--I show them, the Hermes people]
• [phone] Director starts blathering on about Spanish storytimes [I cut her off and say that I've got people waiting and calls to return]
• Help with copier [same people]
• [I call Librarian M to find out how to reset the phones, then go do it, which restores the dial tone--though I have to call her back to tell her it worked since resetting the phones means, yeah, shutting them off]
• Guest pass for the internet
• [phone] Virg in the kids' room asks if I know of a kids' book called Death by Pizza [no, but it sounds so familiar--there oughta be one, but can't find anything kid-like]
• Look up internet pass number [different guy, with two last names, under the 'wrong' name, of course]
• "Can I bring in my laptop and use it, and Wi-Fi?" [sure]
• CDs for learning English [right here--we just shifted all the Spanish things--and no I can't check out, do that up front]
• [phone] Just 10 Lbs. [we don't own, so he's calling his home library to ILL it]
• [holy CATS--what an hour! I finally call the Director back but there really wasn't anything about Spanish storytimes, she was just checking on the phones. Yeah.]

12:00

• [I order some stuff from BT that's been hanging fire for a month or so and download the files ready for updating the database, etc.]   
• The "Praha's" Cemetery [ok, with a little translation we find it on the shelf]
• Compatibility view (Firefox to IE) not working so patron can't finish ordering stuff for work [the computer next to his is fine, so he moves over and does his thing there--I hope] [later: it worked]
• [phone] Notary [nope]
• Power cord for laptop [nope, no dice]
• Books on Java and C+ [Java we got, C+ checked out so I reserve what we have]
• Laptop power cord dude comes and tells me he swiped the power cord from the printer laptop [I'm cracking up]
• [...and why does everyone sound Scottish today??]
• "Where do things print?" [I walk him thru the process]
• "Are these the only computers?" [holy shit, we're full up! But someone finishes just as I'm starting the waiting list spiel : YAY]
• [phone] "Who is the author of The Children of Men?" [well, that's easy: one of the few books by her I'm not at all interested in reading...]

[10:00] - 11:00 a.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking catalog for updates.

10:30  [in the children's room] [just now found out I'm covering for someone this hour...nice]

• [the girl using the computer I can see is watching YouTube videos like she plans to see ALL OF THEM--shades of my son]
• ...and that's all ...glad I came in here

6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: looks like Librarian J didn't get all the patron requests finished this afternoon so I'll be doing those, and deleting old email (under 1500 now, w00t!).
6:00

• How to scroll in Yahoo!Mail [sigh]
• Pay for printing
• [check shelves for two items supposedly here--find one and put it on holdshelf for patron]
• [I discover we have no Kleenex at the desk, just about the time my sinuses decide to explode]
• Computer classes [I walk through our calendar on the website; registration starts next Monday]
• Pay for printing
• Any books on the Chilean mine disaster? [she has what we have--cute girl]

7:00

• Pencil, and paper
• Fax, including backs, so I have to go make copies [turns out she's the daughter-in-law of some new friends of mine]
• Fax
• Patron looking at local job ads; also wants info on scholarships for aviation schools for her son
• "How does your Wi-Fi work here?" [I 'splain to him]

8:00

• [Chatty patron from the distant past comes in and kills about 15 of my minutes...]
• "Nobody here!" [just the nice people, lol]
• "It was in your catalog when I checked it last night--but I can't find it when I search here!" [that's because there's a difference between "hearth" and "earth" dodo-brain!]
• Marketing and starting a small business [I've learned from long experience that this sort of question usually brings out the life-story...and it does again this time]
• [I do the rounds of the basement]
• ...and everyone's out before 9 for a change

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: still working on cleaning out emails....
1:00

• [phone] Someone asking for Librarian C; I transfer to call to her
• Photos of Great Danes to help an artist do a commission
• Printer needs paper [and when she prints, about 10 coloring-book pages print first before her job starts]
• Patron needing material left by Librarian B about an hour ago arrives to pick up her requests
• ReferenceUSA database search help
• [phone] Bread Builders [will have to ILL for him]  [...aaaand he owes $23 for overdue kids' books from last year so I have to call him back before I place the hold]
• [phone] Trouble logging into Learning Express database [I tell her how to cheat, and now need to find out from the rest of the staff what we are supposed to do with this sort of thing]
• "My computer just started acting weird..." [I reset his logs and his time
• Wall Street Journal for today and the weekend