11 a.m. - 12 1 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: cleaning up this month's order spreadsheet so I can see how much money we have left for the next two months.

11:00

• [phone] The School of Essential Ingredients [we have it, so I put it on the holdshelf for her]
• Autobiography of Mark Twain, "if there is one" [he is amused that Vol. 1 just came out last year]
• [phone] How to reserve the whole second season of The Good Wife rather than just one or two discs at a time [I walk her through it]
• Scratch paper and pencil
• I find it really amusing that some of our regular patrons only like to use certain computers, and will wait till a favorite comes up before they log on....
• People of the Longhouse [we don't own, and he's going to check at another library (in a different system) to see if they have it--I could do it, but he's already headed toward the door)]
• How to get online...she's got a card so it's easy
• [phone] Health insurance ratings, i.e. Best's or S&P [no longer get, too expensive] ; he's calling his broker to ask if they have them
• Where are the templates for resumes in Word [I show him]
• Scratch paper and pencil
• IRS Publication 17 [I go get some out of our stash and restock]
• More time online
• This week's local paper
• Printer needs paper
• WSJ

12:00

• Ah...the schedule changed after I looked at it this morning! Thanks for letting me know, peeps [I blow up at the scheduling person]
• How to spell "maintenance" [resume template guy]
• Calling the cops because a patron's iPod has gone missing [he asked me to do so]
• Help with an attachment on an email
• The cop arrives
• Other words for "operator" [resume template guy]
• Pay to print
• More time [resume template guy]
• Extension form (4868) [attachment woman]
• I catch one of the cops to tell him we have video cameras; and call the director to deal with it, because that's her thing
• How to get online
• Pay to print
• iPod has been found...in the guy's pocket [dumbass]
• Now the homeless guys are pissed because the cops were 'manhandling' them...uh, no, though I get your point that the guys a dumbass, but he did apologize at least
• Director lets me know that the scheduling person came and whined at her (my words), and that they're doing the best they can when people call in sick....now I feel guilty/ier
• Fax
• Am starrrrvvvvvvvving

12 - 1 ; 6 - 9 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: ha ha ha

12:00

• CRAZY busy again this morning, and lots of homeless in the building again; and three of the six reference staff scheduled today are out of the building, sick
• New card, can't get online [fixed] ; pay to print
• Get online [card's expired, so I send her to circ to renew]
• "I had a pen like that..." points to pen on desk [probably is hers, definitely not one we bought]
• The newest Joni Eareckson Tada book [here, on the shelf where it belongs rather astonishingly]
• Fax
• Pay to print (above, with her new card)
• Several requests to purchase in my collection development sections (200s & 800s)...but one is actually a novel (813.6), so I shoot it back to the Fiction buyer and approve the rest after I check them for appropriateness
• Highlighter, many staples [I have to replenish the stapler just as she's finishing up]
• [phone] The Loud family on DVD [I'll try to find what I can]
• [phone] "Is my Broker test there? Can I change my time to come take it tomorrow?" [yes, and yes]
• Headphone [we're out, so I suggest he change computers]
• WSJ for the past week [I bargain him down to taking a couple at a time instead]

6:00

• And the cops have been here in the last hour... It's been a wicked strange day.
• Catching up on requests (4) that have been done this afternoon that no one had time for
• Proctoring a test
• The homeless have all left for the shelter, thank God
• Very cranky man wants absolute silence in the building...dream on, baby!
• [phone] Very pushy woman calls to schedule a real estate test for proctoring...and then tells me she can't talk right now. WTF!

7:00

• Cranky about noise guy is on eBay--get over yourself...
• Books about running a half-marathon
• [phone] Test proctoring woman calls back; she's at the hospital, so that's why she had to hang up; we get her scheduled
• Books on Boy Scouts
• Silence Man gets off his butt and comes over to complain: "She's talking nonstop to the kid and he's got headphones on!" [she is MURMURING, not-quite-nonstop, but often]; Director goes and asks them to be quiet, again, then heads off to do something with a board member;; angry man stomps out of the building less than 30 seconds after she walks away, glaring at me. This, my friends, is the truest exhibition of an asshattedness I've ever seen.
• Pay to print
• Catapults [the main book we have isn't where it belongs on the shelf, but I find another book with a little bit in it]
• The City Hall's Zip+4 code [got it, eventually]
• How to print just Page 2 [I show him: "it's that easy!?" lol]
• Print from Adobe ; and then pay to print more stuff

8:00

• I do a 'census walk' to see who's hanging around at this point...not a bad crowd
• Renew patron's time
• Say hi to friend from church
• Crazy patron needing format problems on her bibliography
• High Demand holds questions from the boss

11 a.m. - 12 noon ; 1 - 2 p.m. *

What I'm doing between questions: prepping for my last collection development order of the budget year

11:00 in the children's room

• "I'm looking for these books..." as he unfolds a sheet of paper with ~12 titles on it [dude, this is the CHILDREN'S room, so yeah, no books on Navy Seal training in here...off you go to Adult Land]
• There is, apparently, a parent/kid playgroup meeting in the play area today (not offical): about 5 kids, 4 moms, and I anticipate chaos when I got check in there
• Storytimes
• Book two of the Hunger Games [I reserve it for her]

1:00

• Finishing up for Librarian B who got nailed this last hour and didn't finish, I call patron back with the local NOW and ACLU offices and phone numbers...because she got bashed in the head by a customer at Walmart and she's already disabled...not sure what they're gonna do for her/them but not my problem
• [phone] "I lost my lawyer's phone number and address; can you look it up? His last name is Phillips and he's somewhere in [the Big City near us." [Phillips?? You can't be serious--but I actually do find him fairly easily...but in the midst of calling her back, I get interrupted by someone else]
• ...how to print, and then how to download my address book from Yahoo [gah]
• How to print from Word [that stupid button that hides all the options....I hate it]
• Pay to print
• [I hear someone tearing a page out of a magazine and quietly freak out, but I can see him and it's his mag, which he then throws out]
• Discussion about my Friday schedule, and general gossip with head of circ
• Pay to print
• [There are a LOT of homeless guys in here today...which is unusal on a Monday]
• Patron turns over a thumb drive someone left in a computer

* I'm giving up on the ":00s" in the post titles; they take too long to type. Lazy? Me?? Not so much, more distracted....

1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: it's Sunday, there is no "in between questions."

Honestly, today was so screwed up I didn't keep a log. Forgot I was working till I got a call at home at 1, so didn't arrive till 1:30 and the fun just kept going all day. There were questions about chocolate, three borked PCs, an intercom system that doesn't work properly, and the usual random Sunday-ness. All in all it wasn't bad, just constant.

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ; 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: fuming

11:20 [when Librarian K comes to tell me I'm on the desk] 

• Is it really so much trouble to mention that you've had to rearrange the schedule?? Yes. Yes, it is.
• Pay to print
• WSJ is returned
• "How do I turn off the pop-up blockers?" [I don't think you can on the public computers]
• "Fix my settings"...rattles off number [Yassir]
• State tax forms for here and for Arizona [I find and print what I hope he needs]
• ...which reminds me that my son earned money out of state last year, so I print off the tax form he needs as well...
• Local paper delivery
• ...and one bank of lights clicks out, and back on after 2 seconds...oddly, no one but me seems to notice
• A short discussion on whether patrons need to reshelve books, with a patron: "I know where they go"
• Other people's schedules have changed abruptly today as well: apparently Librarian B no longer has a scheduled lunch hour, which seems to be happening a lot to people lately. Guess we don't get paid enough to eat anyway
• Pencil and scratch paper
• Someone is printing a freaking novel on the printer...holy shit...at least a full minute of nonstop printing!
• And I'm off to our pizza staff-meeting...

3:10 backup Ref

• Place hold for ... something [got interrupted and don't remember]
• Resume books
• Related-to-Magog has been back asking questions, so Librarian J is crawling around the wackadoo internet sites
• I pull review journals to flip through tonight and tomorrow
• ...and clean out the "messages left" pile and pitch anything from before December 2011
• American Capitalist by Five Finger Death Punch [we don't own, but I'll order it for him]
• Fax
• "If you ever get rid of this book, could I have it?" [I add his name to the record--it is pretty fugly, so I might just do that one of these days since it's my buying section] ; plus, he didn't know we put our withdrawn stuff out for sale all the time in our bookstore downstairs--he is stoked...and he's half my age, which is unusual
• Jobs folder [postings] getting a workout

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: oh hell, I dunno

6:00 in the children's room

• World record books [I check in here, but end up sending her to the adult section
• Lots of VERY tiny people are arriving for the storytime at 6:30--too excited for words!!
• "I need to get online" [but she's not here with a parent so we can't do that...but the woman who brought her in says she can use her card...but it's expired...zOMG]
• I'm cutting out brown circles for tomorrow's storytime: monkey parts [heh]
• The little girl is online doing her homework after 5 or 6 more assists
• Bathroom key...and back
• Pay to print (x2)
• Add paper to printer
• Director comes in to ask me how the desk schedule used to work on Saturdays [we've shifted staffing, lost some people we can't replace--hiring freeze--and changed responsibilities, so yeah, the rotation gets shorter for everyone]
• Bathroom keys (both)...and one back
• Bathroom key

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

What I'm doing between questions: filling ILL requests, subject headings cleanup
1:00

• Today's WSJ [don't have it because it comes in the mail and today is President's Day]
• How to get online
• "There are no headphones..." [I give her the backup pair and when she asks why there aren't any, I tell her that people steal them; she's astounded: "WHY?!"] ; then she doesn't know where to plug them in
• How to print (the "how to get online" woman)
• Fascinating: a couple walks in looking for internet access...clearly looking for two computers next to each other, at least one of which needs to not be visible or near me (or other nosy eyes)...ppl r weerd
• [phone] Three titles, all checked out, that I placed holds on
• I've now officially dealt with BOTH of Librarian C's Crazies: this one needs constant attention while she does her family tree...back to Magog and "Scathans," i.e. Scythians...good thing there are other crazy-ass people on the internet who are ALSO into this!
• Pay to print, and "I haven't ever had to pay before...?" [uhm yeah, you have, ya dingdong]
• Tax forms [What Do I Need?? panicked young person]
• The Guy Who Called the Cops a few weeks ago "for me" is now my best friend, and has a concern he wants to discuss, but "later" {head-desk}
• Typewriter [I log him on to SAM and show him how to get into Word instead, for his resume]
• A very excited young man has loads of questions about our International Film Night, which I do my best to answer; he walks away after saying, "Gee, I wish my college did this!"

4:00 in the children's room

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the movie [all checked out, so I place a hold]
• "My daughter's looking for a book, but she's too embarrassed to ask you..." [can't remember title, but the daughter remembers that it starts with D about a cure for love at age 18...on the best YA books of 2011...Delirium!!]; and then a longish discussion of good books to read next, and I show her Novelist and talk about The Hunger Games and Philip Pullman, and Scott Westerfeld and James Dashner....
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever [all checked out, wants it now...oh well]
• Books on Einstein [got 'em]
• Scratch paper
• Bathroom key ... and some help using it
• [Nope, no extra ports open out here, Librarian T.]
• [phone] Renew items
• [it's 4:30 -- Yikes!]
• Magic Tree House books [I walk him over]
• [phone] Staff member's daughter/One of former babysitters...[miss her]
• Print release computer is borked--I have to restart it

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

What I'm doing between questions: cleanup projects

9:00

• Musta been a rough closing last night--books to reshelve are stacked all over the ref desk in here, and the staff computers weren't logged off
• [phone--message left] Actually, for circ, about an overdue letter he received...I pass along to the circ staff
• Goddess Girls [we have a couple on the shelf]
• Bathroom key
• Grandma comes in chatting on the phone with two kids in tow...straight to the rotunda...where her voice echoes throughout the whole (giant) room...totally not interacting with the kids at all; hangs up, goes directly to an internet computer, still ignoring the kids
• Time to go--bathroom key hasn't yet been returned...20 minutes later....

11:00

• How to download pics on a flash drive [well, aside from clicking too fast and confusing the computer, and himself, we sorted it out]
• "Do I check these out here?" [nope, at circ]
• Stapler
• Tractor engine repair
• [phone] In the catalog, the Reading Lists aren't working [sure enough--email to database IT guy]
• "There's this book I read maybe 15 years ago, you had it in large print, about Norwegian skiers sabotaging a Nazi heavy water factory..." [I find it with this search in the catalog: world war norw* bomb* --Assault in Norway. Wow, do I love keyword search!]
• "My screen froze" [no idea why--when I go look it's fine]
• "But I need to use Explorer!" [I show him 'compatibility view' and he is relieved]
• Headphones [none attached to his computer, and as he walks away with the backup pair I have, he sheepishly says, "I dunno why I didn't just move to a different computer." lol]
• Pencil + "It's beautiful outside!" [ugh, yeah, I know--and he smiles and apologizes for telling me]

12:00

• I talk to the page who closed the children's room last night, and she says yes it was actually mayhem at the end
• "Is [Librarian T.] here?" [yep, I go find her and send her after the patron]
• ....just found a mess in the catalog: subject headings starting with numbers...like this: "0Alcohol" and "7Mystery" and "1United States" [T. and I will work on them...hate stuff like this]
• Neil Simon's Rumors [got it] and where are the DVDs? [I show her]
• Pencil returned
• There's a woman here who comes in regularly and plays a state map game similar to this one EVERY day, for about 10 minutes, at least. You'd think she'd know where they go by now, right?
• "Do you have something like this in English?" [no...just lots of books...]
• Bible in Spanish? [yup]
• Paper & pencil
• Pay to print
• "Where are movies? [I tell him] "Kids' movies too?? [uh no, those are in the kids' room, so I explain that]
• There's a couple at the catalog computers and he's not finding what he wants, so his wife keeps saying, "Why don't you ask the woman? She's right behind you." [turns out he's placing the holds himself, so yeah...good on ye, mate]
• [phone] Author of The Great Santini? [Conroy] ; and which was Anne Brontë's first published novel? [Wikipedia says Agnes Grey]
• Tax forms

3:00 - 4:00 ; 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: the usual stuff actually, I read some GReader cataloging items, and IM'd the whole hour between work activities

3:00  in the children's room

• It's half-day school today, so the room is busier than usual
• Weird when a kid says, "I haven't seen you in awhile..." [weirder yet: I don't really recognize him]
• For my own edification, I check the keys to the bathrooms: nope, you do have to match the key against the door [they are coded by color AND animal shape]; neither key opens both doors
• Journey to the Center of the Earth [yup, on the shelf in YA]
• Keys to bathroom [for custodial dude]
• Pencil
• Keys are back
• "Are there more games with computers?" [after a lot of questions from me, I determine he wants games for older kids on computers...no]
• Question about grant materials from C
• Bathroom keys [pencil family]
• "My daughter would like the next book in this series..." [which is due out next month, so I'll do a Demand order for it]
• Our processor comes in and asks me about what's on the CD inside this book [why? "well, shouldn't we know before we put it on the shelf?" as if it might be dangerous or toxic or something...just freakin' PROCESS the damn thing, woman!!]
• Pencil returns
• A very happy little girl has now said "FISHY!" 932 times in the past 5 minutes at 100 decibals while standing at the fish tank 30 yards from me....I want to duct tape her mouth think she'd mind?

5:00

11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ; 3:00 - 4:00

What I'm doing between questions: checking subject headings

11:00 in the children's room

• Crisis du jour: the pump in the fish tank died, and now a fish has succumbed and is floating on the surface...the horror!
• "Where do I print?" [I show her] ; she asks about computer classes [so I photocopy our list for her]
• ...and a mom takes her cranky toddler out, after giving her a short T.O. for smacking mom repeatedly in the face [gonna be a long day at their house...mom looks pretty unhappy]
• [phone] Vendor from ALA calling to talk about their product; I pass along the boss's email but she's at a meeting today, so....
• Custodial worker wants to know about broken fish tank part; I tell him the very little bit I know
• ...then comments that the salt water from the tank appears to have bleached out the tiles next to it in the craft room...

12:00Why does the schedule change EVERY bloody week?? I ask the person who normally does this hour to cover it again today, which she's fine with...

3:00 Backup only, not needed, went home early

12:00 - 1:00 ; 3:00 - 4:00 ; 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: trying to find something productive to do...cleanup or whatever....oooh, the new subject heading changes are out!!

12:25 [in J] because I just found out I was in here this hour...FML!!

• @12:50 I try to answer the phone, just for something to do...but that didn't work as Circ got there first
• ....and that was literally it

3:00 Since I was only backing up the desk, I was 'allowed' to leave...
6:00 [in J]

• I love kids, even when they're eye-rolling at age 8....
• Biographies on Lincoln [oh, yeah, those we got loads of!]
• Pay for print jobs
• Random people come in looking for "take-home crafts"--I think they are group-home supervisors, but...no, we have a storytime starting at 6:30
• [overheard: "I don't have enough money to pay for another lost backpack, so NO you are NOT checking one out!" lol] ...later: but he cracks and let's her take one because he's busy with his iPhone to the point of not being part of this world
• Biographies on James Monroe [I'm sensing a theme...]
• Clifford books [what is the DEAL with these again?] (x2)

7:00 Turns out I was backup this hour too, and not needed

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking for people on the Death Dates list.

1:00

• Renew time on internet
• [phone] State tax forms [come on in!]
• [phone] The Crisis of Church & State, 1050-1300 [o.m.g. we actually own this! I put it on the hold shelf for her]
• Guest internet pass
• Put $$ on account & help with printing  (x2)
• Import record for internet use and explain how to print
• Stapler
• State tax forms [probably the same person as above]
• Three-hole punch
• No your old card should have been deleted, and you should have been using your new number not the old one...no really, the old one is gone, I just deleted it...yes, you used it last week, but it should have been deleted when you got your new card number....no, really, this new number will work
• Pay to print (x2)
• Headphones not working [I find a random pair for him to try]

10:00 - 11:00 a.m. ; 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking on the ever-growing list of cleanup chores...

10:00 [covering for Librarian K who's home with a sick kid]

• Watching people Facebook: Farmville and videos....
• Librarian B looking for wall-tack [none here so she liberates some from J to stick her sign on the desk]
• [phone] A Dog's Purpose [our copy is out, and she's going on vacation so I reserve it and set the hold to trigger after she gets back]
• Temporary pass to the internet, and how to print
• "My screen froze" [ctl-alt-del works]
• Changing Firefox to IE compatibility view
• Pay to print, and "here's a chocolate" [Dove!!]
• Pencil sharpener
• Pay to print [temp pass woman, with adorable kid, who 'helps' me show mom how to print--he's AGOG at the printer magically making paper appear] ; and "where's the copier?"
• [phone] Basic help-with-schoolwork book for 5th grader [I transfer her into the kids room]
• Someone turns in a wallet...and temp pass woman returns for her iPhone [must be the day to leave things behind...]
• I do some request slips to kill time...lol

12:00 [children's room]

• Long discussion with Librarian C about phobias and crazy people
• [phone] Children's librarian letting us know she's running behind from her meeting, but she'll be here for her 1:00 program
• At 12:26, I am completely alone in here....
• Someone comes from YA to print, asks for stapler, does her thing...and leaves
• At 12:33 I'm joined in the empty room by a mom and toddler
• Children's librarian arrives at 12:40, lunchless but ready for her program...
• Custodian needs the keys for the bathrooms to mop
• And the kids begin to arrive for storytime....

1:00 [children's room]

• Thank you, kind mom and former employee for shutting the door so I don't have to listen to storytime again today ;-)
• It makes me nervous when adults come in here without kids, even if they just walk through and out the other door, or turn around and leave the way they came in
• 1:32 = end of storytime and the room erupts with kids and coats and parents.... ;-)
• Bathroom key
• The Serpent Came to Gloucester [checked out, so I place a hold] ; Chester, the Worldly Pig ; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [both are here and found: YAY!]

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

What I'm doing between questions: whatever I can find to fill the time, God knows I have plenty to work on!
11:00 [in children's room]

• "Hey, you know you're in J now...?" [no, I was not aware that the schedule had changed...sigh]
• Werewolf Crazy comes in with Librarian L whose eyes are HEEYUUUGE telegraphing "save me!" to me [I will rescue her if things start going pear-shaped for her]
• Books on basic magic tricks [we have quite a lot of those]
• [phone] Someone claiming to be "Tr^ly Rem@rk@ble L00n, the J^ggler" is looking for the children's librarian [...who doesn't want to deal with him at all]
• Talk to the custodian dude about ... well, some very random things, cuz that's the way he rolls

1:00 [in children's room] 

• Storytime is going on so there are lots of random extra people around for that
• [phone] Renew my stuff [can't: too many renewals already]
• Children's librarian is singing a song about valentines to "Clementine" ... crack me up
• Bathroom key
• Wow these moms... kids are running wild, in and out of the story room (and yes, I do mean running) and unless they see me look up at their kids, they are apparently unaware of the noise and running
• Not a Box [checked out so I reserve it] ; also, good read-alouds for 4th/5th-grades [it's love-to-read week at the schools next week]
• Discussion about duplicating a good series of kids non-fiction in Spanish...

6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking in withdrawn material so it can actually be deleted from the database....four pages....tiny print

6:00 [in the children's room]

• "I need to peeee" [a quiet little girl--bathroom key duly handed over]
• Where the Wild Things Are [got it]
• Imagination Station series [we have none of them--note to children's librarian about 'em] ; Magic Tree House series [those we gots!] [the first one has two series names so it took awhile to dig up the right books, but I reserved them in our catalog to come from other libraries]
• ...and Spanish storytime is starting...
• Bathroom key [and a little help with using the key in the right door the right way]
• "Can I borrow scissors?" [no because the person who borrowed them an hour ago has not yet returned them] [she doesn't fully believe me--oh well]
• "Is this my barcode or my PIN?" [that there on your card is the barcode, and I check her PIN which she had right]
• Bathroom key
• I get yanked into the adult section to help a VERY NEEDY nontrad college student use the databases...she's really desperately bad at this.
• ...the flip side of that is that Librarian K says he doesn't need me to sit at Ref at 7 so...I'm back to my desk
• But first: "where are my print jobs?" [dunno, they're gone I think] ; stapler [yes]
• How to get a card... [front desk]
• Bathroom key
• ...RUN AWAYYYYYY....

7:00

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions:

1:00

• Ref #20 is acting weird, acc. to Librarian B; and the woman who is currently printing is going to want a receipt when she's done.
• I thank the guy who put the chair back where he found it [this is rather rare]
• Reset internet logs [done]
• Pencil sharpener [done]
• Pay for printing
• Ingles in Tres Meses [bad tapes on the copy the patron has, so we'll try again for him]
• Crazy woman comes in ... much blah blah about the Social Security office, her card is borked in 20 ways ... at least she's not mean
• A book I ordered... [too soon to be on ILL]
• Pay for printing
• Problem opening files
• Photocopy a page of Who's Who for a patron who knows the daughter of the famous person she's copying
• Recept for printing
• Pay for printing
• Fax

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

What I'm doing between questions:  death dates in our catalog...and I get bogged down in all the Liu names...ack.

9:00 in the children's room

• One of the computers starts the day with a "low battery" note, which I pass along to IT and override
• 9:15 and the first people other than staff walk in the room...
• "Do you have any Polar Express books?" [adorable little guy...yes we have the book, on the shelf, even!] ; [about 10 minutes later] "Do you have any Clifford books?" [oh, yeah, dozens! I love when I can actually FIND and hand over the "key to the kingdom"]
• Another adorable, smaller boy comes in a spots a wallet by the Clifford books...fortunately, Adorable Boy #1 is still here
• "Do you have this book?" [he points to the back of the Clifford book he just finished--yes, yes we do!] "My mom won't let me check out 5 books..." :-)
• Random wanderers pass by all saying, or muttering "Hi" to me; friendly place today
• [My only issue with this little guy, and the rest of his family, is that they don't pick their feet up: scump scump scump in their boots....]

11:00 *

• [I check the tax forms--apparently the state sent us a box of last year's instruction booklets...nimrods--they are all ok now I think]
• Someone looking like she's been sobbing all morning arrives for tax booklets
• Books on U.S. Grant [the number I snag from the catalog is wrong-- 973.92 should be 973.82-- but we find some for his mother-in-law
• SAM use [we get her online eventually]
• Quilting mysteries [who knew there were at least four of these things around? The patron is delighted] ; also Call Me Princess [we don't own, so I do a request order for it, and reserve it elsewhere for her]
• Restrooms
• Hey! Just found a sign saying there's a DAR meeting going on--explains why Ancestry.com is getting hammered today!
• OMG the sweetest older couple just stopped in front of me: he put his arm out and she took it as if they have been doing that for decades, which they probably have....
• Help with Learning to Use the Computer. She's REALLY not ready for this, and the book she's using wants her to start with the Start Bar, which we have totally disabled, and she "doesn't want to start in the middle of the book" with Word, so...fine. Go to the Community College and try your luck there. [Her computer is 'just basic' and doesn't have Windows...really? Not so basic then, eh? I've no patience for newbs today...]
• Fax

12 :00

• Rosetta Stone [oh yeah, we gots 'em, they are always on hold or MIA...he'll wait he says...oookaaayyy]
• Rachel's Tears [surprisingly, since the program based on her family's foundation (whatever) was just at one of the local schools, the book is here)
• Guest pass
• AWESOME! Someone is muttering VERY irritatedly at the copier out of sight behind me...and wadding up paper
• "My card expired....?" [yup, go get a new one up front and you should be all set]
• MORE muttering and wadding behind me; I'm afraid to go offer help....
• ...so I go collect orphan books instead
• River of Doubt [he really doesn't want me to find it for him, so I show him where to look...]
• Nora Roberts' Sisterhood series listing [I print it from Novelist]
• Today's WSJ
• Tax forms
• OMG REALLY? People are Skyping {smh}
• Drinking fountain
• Leadership (658.4) but since he's also carried a Chilton's around, I show him Auto Repair Resource center on our webpage
• "#14 seems to be dead" [I go re-animate it]
• And we have a woman with too-long nails on a computer--clicky clicky clicky....
• Two restaurants I've never heard of, though I eventually remember where [More-Than-One] Tails is
• How to get IE8 to work on my computer...every since I uploaded it it won't load [uh....sorry no dice]

The whole time I was at Reference, the woman using the database computer next to the desk turned and glared at me whenever I was...I dunno...talking too loud? Being too familar with people I knew? I've never seen her but I sure got glared at a lot today.

2:00 - 3:00 ; 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the catalog for updates to do later....so far behind on this....

2:00 (covering for Librarian C who is sick)

• Guest pass [upgraded to 'permanent' guest pass]
• [some confusion about who, precisely, is supposed to be out here now, but I shoo Librarian L away]
• [Why is the old SAM staff page the only one I can use at this station??]
• Books/videos for son about why he shoulden't hit [he's six, oy, parents getting divorced etc., more counseling for the parent than help for the kid]
• [Yesterday's idiot employee-from-another-library returns...]
• Pen? [yes, and he takes a small scrap of paper and proceeds to write on it for a good 3 minutes, then gives me the pen back...hmm]
• Pay for printing
• [phone] Circ person wants to know if I feel like walking around to look for someone for their ride...the driver is calling while sitting in the parking lot and doesn't want to come in and look...[uhm, no, I'd rather go collect orphan books, thanks]
• Stapler [and a screed about high gas prices...ugh]
• "Can I have about 5 book request slips?" [sure!]
• One of my favorite patrons leaves...
• ...and Scrap-Paper-and-Pen Man returns, with his own pen, to grab paper...and write for another 3 minutes
• Say hi to another of my favorite patrons, who is leaving

5:00 (backup only...and not needed)