9 - 11 a.m. ; 12 - 1 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking catalog for dead/updated subject headings, and trying to figure out why I can't log into Blogger.

9:00

• Register for SAM, but her card is expired and she owes (another library) money, so I just give her a temp pass for today [she is doing the ESL tutoring program at 10, so bending the rules is ok, I guess]
• Pay to print
• Lengthy ear-bending from Librarian F about our reviews, etc. etc. etc.
• "Where do I find this number...? [on paper is written "70.5"--errrr, ok, I look it up and of course it's 070.5] ; eventually find out her topic is pretty specific and show her the online databases--she practically faints from excitement at the "Cite" function in Ebsco ; and I show her what the local community college has in terms of databases too....
• Today's classified ads [oops, forgot to take 'em out of the paper, so I rescue the paper and ask the patron to bring them back to me when he's done]
• Diagram and anatomy of the human digestive system [yup]
• Password lookup
• [phone] "Do I need to have registered for the ESL session?" [I go check: no]
• Dude stares at print station for long moments--I go see what's up and remind him to click on each document and THEN click on print
• Pay to print
  Ads are returned
• Pay to print

10:00 in the children's room

• Print release station completely fubar, I have to reboot, of course the patron is in a hurry, but at least she's not cranky about it ; in the meantime, SAM has logged her out, so she has to log back in and print again...ten minutes after her first attempt, she's got her Chuck E. Cheese coupon
• Someone has brought in a Peeps display for the contest: The Hunger Games
• [phone] "This is Rose; can I have Reference." [yup]
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark [yup]
• Bathroom doors are wide open; patron asks if he can use 'em [WHO THE HELL opened in here this morning, cuz you SUCK at it!!]
• SAM reservation computer isn't on either
• [Librarian T calls to ask me about overlaying bib records--I get the number to do it later]
• Cleaning guy needs bathroom keys [I give him the one with the closed door]
• Less than 5 minutes later, he comes for the other key because someone went in and let the door close after she came out
• The Stinky Cheese Man [our copy is overdue since 2008] ; other books by Jon Scieszka ; books on aliens [he's at that point in life (age 7) where nothing is precisely what he wants, but he's cute and he does thank me for trying]
  

12:00

• Blogger is fixed, sorta....[yes, Iput all the other stuff down in a notepad file, no I did not remember it all!]
• Bathroom has been cleaned (there was blood--omg omg omg--but it's all good now, according to cleaning guy]
• Kleenex
• Wi-Fi? [yup--guy looks like a very young, 70s-era Bob Seger]
• Director stops by, on her way over to a memorial service for an long-time donor
• Pay to print
• There's a woman here who has been Farmville-ing since I came out here--her famr is absolutely HUGE!! eep
• Look up library card number, and pay to print
• Pencil

9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: end-of-month new clean-up project lists.

9:00 in the children's room

• [phone] Renew overdue book
• I start doing weird happy-dancing in my chair because I just figured out how to Select All and Copy in Chrome (now just wondering why they make it so hard to find) [Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C]
• Bathroom keys for cleaning dude
• CT arrives to ask about a book that we show in WorldCat as owning but it isn't in our catalog yet [that's because we JUST got it, and I JUST added us to the holdings list, but it hasn't yet been added....duh, come on, this isn't new....]
• [phone] "I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to number for ...tax...blah blah" [I transfer her to the main reference desk, because I'm basically too lazy tired to deal with her--she's a regular caller]

10:00 in the children's room

• [phone] Real estate test...needs to schedule time to take it [I transfer to reference since that's where the schedule is]
• ...I hear either tools or garbage hitting the floor in the main library...what's going on?
• Six kids walk in at once and start logging in to the internet...mom eventually shows up too
• Pay to print (2 cards, for some of those 6 kids)
• 10:45 and I realize I never logged onto the computer at my desk in the workroom
• How to print

11:00

• OK, it's much more normal out here compared to yesterday afternoon...
• "Do you have educational stuff to do for kids?" [like games?] Yes. [for preschool, yes, not so much for older kids...] "Can I get on the internet?" [she can't find her card, so I look it up...and she owes over $80 for books never returned, so...no, no internet for her]
• "Is there a problem with the ethernet today?" [not that I'm aware of, but I ask the IT guy, who says "why isn't he just using the wireless?"--can I shoot him?--but he also says someone has nearly broken that plug-in so it may very well be loose]
• Books on Pedro Menéndez de Avilés for a report [yeah, we have ONE book, with ONE tiny paragraph on him--why can't teachers learn not to be jerks?]
• Novels in verse (or "verse novels" as he says) [for an assignment--I show him Ellen Hopkins but he doesn't really want to read about drugs, and they are pretty fat books too--we settle on something by Sonya Sones]

9 - 11 a.m. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. ; 3 - 4 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: listservs about RDA...ugh, ugh, ugh. Once I've had my fill of that, I move over to the monthly name-changes listserv and start compiling a list for me to fix.

11:00

• The children's librarian arrives at work covered in hives; we rejigger the schedule so I'm covering her hour while she sees the doctor
• Local paper? [I swear he follows the mailman in every week so he can be FIRST to see it...but he's a nice old dude, so I don't mind digging it out of the mailbin for him]
• Oh my goodness...a seriously large, mouth-breathing patron wanders past...I'm afraid to make eye-contact with him....
• ....in fact there's a lot of random, kinda creepy people here this morning
• "Can you scan and then email this document?" [well, we don't have a public scanner, and we wouldn't email it to anyone for you...] "Office Max would put it on a disc, but I need it emailed." [once you have it on a disc, you can upload and send....] "Oh, I wouldn't even know how to do that." [then I guess you're SOL, toots, though I wish her luck as she heads to all the printers in town]
• Local paper is returned
• One of our longtime regulars comes over to schmooze me about the HUGE lottery payout that didn't happen last night [like I care? I don't ever buy tickets...and he swipes at me for that. DUDE!?]
• 30 Days, Season 1 [all the copies in our system are checked out, and of course she needs it by next Thursday... I put 'em on hold, but suggest NetFlix and the new video store]
• Lined paper [we don't have...] "The last lady gave me some out of that notebook over there." [damn it! OK, we are NOT supposed to do this....but I tear out a couple more sheets for her]
• WSJ, and a pencil
• And WSJ returns (so does the pencil)
• Cranky patron arrives with a long list of CDs he wants to order, and he's not cranky today!
• Other cranky patron storms off cuz we're talking too much
• Map of [town]
• Help with printing from Hotmail
• Help with resume layout

3:00

• Holy cannoli what a freak-show out here! And that's after the cops came through and vacuumed up a couple of recurring-problem-patrons
• State tax form, schedule M [I print it off for him] ; and he tells me all about doing his taxes for 52 years, and his wife's poor health...lovely little man
• Pay to print
• Stapler
• [phone] Nearby tiny library doing a survey about whether we loan ereaders, and also whether we use IM for reference [no, and no]
• Former-director-now-local-history-volunteer is looking for dark blue dots (round stickers) ; all we have are green ones
• "Do ya have a piece-a, uh, paper I could, uh, write on?" [I silently hand him a couple of the scratch papers about 3 feet from his him] ; "Can ya, uh, show me how the copier works?" [sure...sigh]
• Magazine/Newspaper volunteer-shelver walks by and whacks me on the shoulder with a rolled up paper...while I'm helping the copier guy
• Copier guy now needs a dictionary....
• How to print, and "what happened to those five free pages we used to get?" [omg that was, like eons ago, my friend, and it's because people took advantage and just didn't pay at all]
• OK, this is weird: I've seen about 6 guys walk past the desk, at separate times, in the last hour who either were using crutches or limping badly...is there something I should know?
• Hallelujah!! I get to go home!!

6 - 7:15 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions:

6:00 in the kids' room

• I tidy up the DVDs which are always a mess by this point every day
• A cute little 5-year-old Harry Potter lookalike walks in with dad (who rather resembles Hagrid, actually), and asks if he can please have a book...OMG, so adorable, his first card...
• Dad/Hagrid wants to reserve some books, so I show him where the catalog computers are
• Headphones...and she brings 'em back in like 3 minutes [she's got a black eye which worries me]
• No storytime tonight--Val's out of town--so it's a little quieter, but there are still a lot of Hispanic families here
• [phone] Woman wants to know if we have calculators for people to use, specifically a Casio FX-260 [uh, no, we have basic arithmetic calculators, but anything more than that would get stolen...it's for her son]
• My husband is having ten cat fits (one of my mom's favorite expressions) about hotmail not working today; he can SEE his inbox, but he can't OPEN anything in it; this has been going on for weeks, and he's p.o.'d today and asking ME for help [hah]
• "I'm tutoring a mom; can we sit in here so her daughter can look for books and read near us?" [of course!] What is unusual about this, in our little city, is not that the student is Hispanic, but that the teacher is African....
• Bathroom key
• I got show the tutor where the beginner readers are...picture books are took hard to riffle through to find easy enough words....
• Junie B. Jones books [I show her]
• Ugh, some twerp stuck their peach-colored gum on one of the shelf-markers by the easy books...ick ick ick
• Peeps project has moved to another display case
• Bathroom key
• Picture books about cars [there have to be dozens, but I can't find ONE--so I finally raid the easy 629s for her...]
• Keys returned
• Bathroom key
• I spend some time talking with the student's daughter, and she asks about books for her mom to learn English [I show her the Spanish collection]
• Key returned
• Finally have a second to wash the gum germs off my hands
• Solar system in Spanish [got 'em]
• Why am I still in here? Who's supposed to relieve me??

11 a.m. - 12 p.m. ; 1 - 2 ; 6 - 7 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: catching up on Autocat (RDA is making me want to vomit), and checking for subject heading updates

11:00

• No headphones on my computer? [move yourself over to one that has one]
• Paper and pencil
• Fax...and white-out? [he uses the white-out, but when I tell him it's $1/page, he opts to take his 15 pages elsewhere to fax]
• OCD Me untwists the phone cord
• Paper and pencil
• How to print just the page content, not the extra junk on the webpage? [I show her how to cut and paste to Word]
• 3/18's NYT Style section [still behind the desk, so I give it to her, and go get yesterday's from the Reading Room]
• Uhmmm, those aren't internet stations [and I have a little discussion about whining with one of the kids she has with her about whining...lol]
• [phone] Film Noir and the teacher guide, and anything else about teaching film noir [I'll have to ILL everything, I'm sure]
• Pictures of the solar system [we don't have any in books according to them--hah! I'm sure we do--but I do find several online pics that'll do]
• The New World and The Last Templar [the former is here on the shelf, the latter we'll have to get from another library]
• [phone] How High the Moon [I swear we have this, but it's not in the catalog...so I give her the number for the library in the next town over, outside our consortium, which may have it]
• Guy prepping for his proctored test needs a break...I hope I'm not there when he's ready for the test....

1:00

• The guy is taking his test...I hope I know what to do next......
• Mail person brings me another real estate exam
• Fax
• Test-taker just logged himself out--I log him back in
• [phone] "Did my proctoring agreement I just faxed arrive?" [sigh, yes]
• Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get those film noir things ordered....
• Redneck Cinderella [head-desk--in our consortium, I'm sorry to say]
• Spider's Revenge [I leave it for ordering next time we do a demand order]
• [phone] Request for a book I'd have to ILL, but her card's expired and she owes over the 'legal limit' for ordering stuff so she'll come in and start the ILL process after her card is fixed
• Pencil returned
• Pay to print
• Pencil and extra paper returned
• Pay to print

6:00 in the kids' room

• I do a quick round of picking up left-behind stuff and reshelve it
• Paper
• Director comes to check in...er, out for the day
• Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School [our copy was on the shelving cart, but I find it]
• Paper & pencil
• "Where am I on the lists for all the Hunger Games books?" [somehow his name has gotten bumped down to the bottom...how odd; I placed those holds for him a couple of weeks ago!]
• Pay to print
• Teen gaming programs [we're in that weird in-between time where I can't access the calendar and the next printed program isn't out yet either....he'll be in again soon, I know so I tell him to check with me next time he sees me]
• He also asks about doing a Facebook program for kids...GREAT IDEA!!
• Bathroom key [and patron lets me know that the men's room in the adult area is all plugged...yay :-(]
• I Spy books [yep, I show 'em where]
• How to download ebooks [long explanation...and I'm going home now]

3 - 4 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: rejoicing that I got the stupid Standing Orders figured out. Almost. Maybe.

3:00

• [internal call] "You don't have a lost maroon notebook there that someone left?" [that is correct, I do not]
• CT needs me to make an executive decision about a book that was requested from us that is falling apart; there's another copy in the system so I re-place the hold and put our copy on the cart for withdrawing
• WSJ [and somehow I say something that reminds him he left his umbrella by the copier]
• Pay to print (twice, dime at a time)
• Scratch paper
• One of our regular has headphones issues...move to another computer? But I'll lose a whole hour of my internet usage today! [what?? no you won't]  ; but the headphones on the next computer aren't working either....I'm so very sick of dealing with headphones.... [I get a new pair, which does work fine so I cut the zip-tie on the old ones, check 'em on the Ref computer and then pitch 'em]
• Local history [upstairs]
• Scratch paper
• Someone finds a (non-maroon) notebook on his computer station, with no identification on it
• [internal call] Librarian D wants me to count the 4 holds she just did on my tally sheet here...ok then
• WSJ returns
• Pay to print (same woman)
• Godmothers series, Fern Michaels [I write 'em all down for her and she takes off for the Fiction section
• A mom and 5 kids walk by...one of the girls is reading as she walks... [love it love it love it!]
• "Is this computer locked?" [well yeah, since that's what the screen says, it is indeed--I point out a vacant one]
• Scratch paper
• "Can I put ebooks on my iPod and laptop?" [yep--here's a handout that tells how]
• Pay to print (same woman)
• Paper and pencil--and the latter are so sharp he stabs himself repeatedly
• Ethernet cable returned
• Scratch paper
• Someone else sits down at the locked computer and tries to log on

10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions:  Oooh, something new (ish) -- cleaning up the standing orders list. When I put it all into Excel three or so years ago I noted which items were scheduled to be released when. Since then I have "crossed off" things as they arrived, and so I've removed the "un-crossed-off" things to a new worksheet, printed it, and am going through that list today to see what is going on.  Whee.

10:00

• Wow the chair is set REALLY low today...
• "Can I have eat one of those Peeps?" [in the displays? Uhm, no, there's glue on them] "But I want to show my mom." [Bring her in and show her, later...I actually think he's never seen a Peep before, God love him!]
• Bathroom key
• I successfully extract all 9 crayons from the toy watering can (about 4" x 5") on the desk
• Kleenex [I have to go get a box from the workroom]
• Key returned
• ...and....crickets

11:00

• At 11:05 a couple comes in looking for books on metals [ok, for kids, yes, we gots, and he find the periodic table in one, so he's happy]
• Someone is walking on the roof....and the blowers are now off...and it's REALLY quiet in here!
• 11:15 and the blowers are back on
• Librarian M comes in to do some quick tasks, and we chat--she's been out of commission for the past couple of weeks, so I tell her some of the gossip
• Other than a few little kids playing with toys in the rotunda, there is nothing going on.
• Thomas the Tank Engine books [oh, yeah, no problem]
• 2/3 done with the standing orders checking...ugh

2 - 3 ; 5 - 6 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: subject headings cleanup

2:20 [because once again...blah blah...repeat...]

• Ah, that's right--half-day of school in town today...hurrah, kids everywhere
• Look up internet password [and he goes over to canoodle with his password...uh, girlfriend...and tip sideways in the chair...gah...teenagers (lol), but the canoodling stops abruptly when her friends appear]
• There is a park in Utah called Dead Horse Point?? That is really superbly awesome
• Paper and pencil
• The canoodlers are now IMing each other...yes sitting next to one another, and the dude next to them just gave me A Look...and is moving away from them
• Phone book to look up addres [when I return after the next question, I look it up online instead]
• The Host [it's here, shockingly enough]
• Canoodling recommences while his webpage loads...and they continue to IM each other
• Clouds, and Zeus and the Minotaur [for a ticcy kid who apparently wasn't excited about asking for help--thank goodness Mom dragged him over! I found stuff for him on all three subjects]
• [phone] Where do I vote? [south-side fire station] ; uhm, yeah, how do I get there from WalMart (near her house)? [well, that's remarkably easy to explain]
• More canoodling...as I leave the public area

5:00 in the children's room

• "Can I use the crayons?" [which are sitting on the counter--sure]
• Her sister (?) asks if she can use a pencil [of course] and despite there being two 'real pencils' in the cup, she looks through all the golf pencils for one that will write ; and then brings it back
• Librarian K walks through [same time every week--I need to ask why]
• Nightmare Before Christmas [well, it came back today, but we can't find it anywhere....oh, well, duh--if I'd look at the catalog I would see it's under TIM, not NIGHTMARE, but by now apparently the girl found it on her own. I fil dum]
• How to use his dad's flash drive so he can save what he's going to write [all set] ; and bathroom key [which he is extremely polite about getting and bringing back]
• Meanwhile the crayons are returned
• A ~11-yr-old girl walks in, slowly, while her mom keeps waving her over; she doesn't notice, because she's reading as she walks [my favorite pose]
• Books for boys--Mom says his Lexile is "like" 163 or 193 [no freakin' way--he's about 10!], and he's working his way through the HP books. She wants The List [what list?] but I find him 39 Clues and Erin Hunter and he gets the next HP, and he's set [parents are a waste of air sometimes--obviously this kid has his mom outpaced already]
• Kid faceplants into a pillar, and barely cries
• Woman needs help printing an attachment; all our internet stations in here are in use, so I walk her (back) to the adult stations and introduce Librarian K to the issue
• Faceplanter needs the bathroom key [omg he is so freakin' adorable!] ; and brings it back
• ...and we have a 'sneaker' who's trying to creep up and scare his ...uh...mom/brother/sister, quietly. Oops, his dad.  --and he wants the picture we took when he got his first card last fall, but he says we DID take it, but he means we TOOK HIS PICTURE not that HE took his picture HOME....just gotta love the English language
• Story time leader needs a stapler...and the one at this desk is MIA after the weekend's extravaganza
• [phone] "Did the stuff I ordered come in?" [yup]

1 - 3 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: today's assignment is subject headings...I'm only 5 months behind on everything now. ahem

1:00

• Pay to print
• Guest internet pass
• Pay to print; and some help printing
• Books on cleaning
• Wait! Why is Librarian M here?? [cuz she's been gone a LOT lately, and next week is vacation week for her...]
• [phone] Island of the Blue Dolphins on CD [we have it even though it is supposed to be In Transit...since 2/18...on the hold shelf for our patron now] ; what about downloading it as an eaudio? [I'll walk her through it when she comes in]
• "My ID is disabled..." [he logged off the net and then back on quickly...SAM hates that, which is one reason we all hate SAM some days]
• "Do I need to check in before getting online?" [nope]

2:00

• Pay to print [two different cards] ; and why won't her computer let her enter her card number [Num Lock turned off]
• Discussion of Compatibility View in Firefox for a bank site [she doesn't seem sure, but really it works fine; and I need to explain this to Librarian T who dealt with this patron earlier and sent her to her bank with questions] ; however, her original question was "Is [Librarian K] here?" which clearly wasn't really her question
• More time? And more money to print
• Check out here? [nope]
• I'm asked to proof the summer reading program publicity...and find a few errors, nothing major
• Hold punch
• Delivery for Ms. M.
• "I tried to delete one hold of my record, and they ALL are gone!!" [sure enough--I replace them and move her up the list on the second Hunger Games book since she says she placed it weeks ago--and then I show her the Very Scary Delete ALL button on the patron record page in the catalog which stealthily hides and trips people up]
• Pay to print
• I deliver the envelope to Ms. M. and  return proofed document to Librarian B
• "I don't want double-space in my Word document..." [I fix it, a little confused by the odd hand gesture he made that he thinks indicates "double spaced"]
• Banking woman stops to thank me
• There is a VERY sunburned woman walking around--it looks really painful and I cringe whenever I look at her. March + sunburn = Very Wrong for this climate
• Wow, the clowns we have coming for the summer program have a very c. 1997 website...YUCK
• Finance periodicals, and books [there, there, and there...oh, and over there too]
• [phone] "Who built my house?" and other details about a house right behind the library....[I'm off to genealogy/local history land to see what I can find]

9 - 10 a.m.; 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: it's a Major Friends Fundraiser Day in the library so it's pure mayhem while that is going on (10-4)

9:00

• Totally POURING rain for the whole hour. I keep praying that the (glass) roof doesn't start leaking today of all days
• Absolutely nothing going on in here (yet): the fish guy came to clean the tank, there are a couple of kids online, but otherwise it's just the pounding rain on the roof

11:00

• And the mayhem is in full gear now: it is NOT quiet in the library today!! Much clapping, groaning ("SO CLOSE!"), and thudding of sports equipment
• Werewolf/Magog Woman is here too, naturally
• "Are there ANY catalog computers??" [when I ask if I can help somehow--he's kinda gobsmacked about all the foofaraw in the building, I think, and cranky]
• Pay to print ; then help printing ["your parking lot is flooding, did you know?" Not a surprise]
• "Nice haircut" [from one of our regulars]
• Discussion of possible flooding with Librarian J
• "I've got a question: who's gonna win the football game?" ["what football game?" ya dorky twerp] "Hah! It was a trick question. You just got punk'd!" [oooooookkkkkkkkkayyyyyyyy]
• Printing guy stops to staple at the desk: he is printing contracts for a music festival an hour or so south of here [hmmm, wonder if it might be worth going to--he leaves before I can ask for details]
• Workout videos...oops, no, sorry, DVDs [different area]
• I see some kids I know; they are hoping to win the car on their next stop [they don't :-(]
• Unstoppable [only she thought it was called "Runaway Train" so thank God a cataloger for the description which includes those words]
• Much more crazy from Werewolf Woman, until she takes one of her kids off to do the sporting stuff
• More people I know sporting their way past the Reference Desk...including our Mayor
• "walk walk WALK WALK walk walk walk walk [two ~10 year olds with large, rapidly moving feet]
• WSJ (and back in 5 minutes)
• Haircut-noticer asks if Librarian T is working today [yes, she's somewhere] 
• Day pass for the internet

12 - 1 p.m

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular Checking Subject Headings.

12:00

• Pencil, er, paper and pen ...  plus another pencil ... plus another piece of paper...and another...and another... [cute little boy comes back every minute or two for the first 10 minutes of my hour]
• I find the children's librarian's blog up on this computer...and send to Greader so I can stalk her [and I tell her so, so I guess it's not really stalking?]
• Can someone explain why the cheap golf pencils are so crappy in terms of actually having LEAD available to write with??  [yes, I know: "cheap"--still annoying though]
• Cat in the Hat DVD [we have it, but it has a funny-looking cover, so she missed it when she looked] ; and then she goes through, literally, every puzzle in the cupboard, looking for THE PERFECT ONE, without luck ... after which she does the same with the toys, and backpack/activity kits ...and then complains that we don't have any kits about birds for preschoolers [wtf--heard of books, ya dingbat??]

12 - 2 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: pinching myself to stay awake.

12:00 in the children's room

• Raining outside, kind of a blergh-y day inside as well
• It's 12:35 and only staff have spoken to me, in passing
• A patron who is here every day and never really talks to anyone SPEAKS to me, as in "That was a cold rain just now" [I'm so stunned by him instigating a conversation that I'm practically unable to answer him]

1:00

• Librarian B's cat has a Facebook page so she can teach the next class without "outing" herself; I friend the cat
• Three Internet stations show up as "DOWN", even though two of them are in use...note to IT guy and the rest of the reference staff
• Books on Windows 7, or computers in general, in Spanish [we have "general" but yeah, I need to get more computer stuff in Spanish]
• Pay to print, and needs lots of help
• Today's classified ads [not here, I go check to paper to be sure they've actually been pulled--they aren't with the rest of the paper, so I guess someone else is using them] ; patron says "Call me when they bring them back" [I can't tell if he's joking]
• While checking on the paper, I notice a guy TOTALLY sacked out in a chair, head back at almost 90-degrees and snoring; he looks like he's gonna have some neck pain when he tries to move
• Pencil sharpener is not sharpening right...how do these things break??
• Changing format from Word to PDF added a bunch of text...wha? [we fix it]
• Books about disabled kids [I hand off to Librarian C and head back to my desk]

2 - 3 ; 4 - 5 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking catalog for changed subject headings, in the midst of which I find a that there are several typo'd S.H.s starting with 0 and 1, e.g. 0Mystery fiction, 1Dreams. I fix 'em.

2:00

• Librarian K warns me that Related-to-Magog may be calling back; he couldn't figure out what she wanted when she called earlier....
• [phone] 800 number for Medicare {whew} [1-800-MEDICARE, duh]
• Pay to print
• The Descendents, Young Adult, My Week With Marilyn [I add her to the reserve lists...well, I do an order request for Young Adult since no one has purchased it yet]
• Pencil
• AVP: Alien vs. Predator [nope, we don't have--though we do have all the Alien films and Predator--and he runs away before I can ask if I can ILL it for him] [thank God!]
• Books on shrimp...turns out he wants to know if he can eat shrimp and still follow the Bible. Shrimp are NOT kosher, so...no [and can just say that Jew FAQ is superb! Also, I doubt if this fellow knew he was asking about kosher law]
• Extend internet time
• Pay to print, and she thinks she knows what she's doing...but she doesn't have a bloody clue....
• Director checks in with me--"everything ok?" [well, there are no cops in the building and I'm not dead yet, so...]
• "Can I use the internet?" [yep, she's all set up]
• One of our nice regular guys stops to tell me a [silly] joke -- lol
• Scratch paper
• Reverse directory

4:00

• New sign next to the phone by the meeting room about it being a felony to call 911 'for fun' and that the area is under surveillance [ok, boss]
• Renew time for the guy who called the cops...
• OK seriously??  You want me to run a credit card for $2.50 so you can print?? No. Just...no. Go get some money and come back before 6
• [phone] Is Vampire Diaries Season 2 available for checkout yet [no--not in our catalog even]
• Phone number for nearby library [..and...it's not on their home page...idiots]
• "Can I borrow the phone?" [uh, no--not unless you're bleeding or left here after closing]
• One of our regulars stops to say she's doing research on [something--she's too quiet to hear] and thanks me for helping her "all the time" [she already has her books, though, for this time]
• Farmer's Almanac [yes, we do have an extra copy that circs!]
• Person with no money returns with a $20
• Someone has requested the newest William Bennett book; since it's my section, I get to decide whether to buy it. If I choose not to, I have to call the patron and explain why. I will not buy it, but I have to explain why...lukewarm reviews and lack of money for superfluous [crap] like that at this point in the budget year?
• The kid who wanted to use the phone just got yanked outta here by his mom
• Reverse directory is returned
• EVO motors for Harleys [holy shit our collection SUCKS in this area!]

9 - 11 a.m. ; 3 - 4 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking for long-time-missing books in the kids' room

9:00 in the children's room

• We have HeadStart kids here today for a tour: cuties!
• ...immediately followed by a story hour
• Circ person working in here needs help because she's never done this particular job in here and it's got her flummoxed
• Pencil
• I retrieve streamers for the HeadStart craft
• Holy cats! I wish we could video the storyhour--the children's librarian is hysterically silly
• Bathroom key
• Custodial supervisor brings new person through and asks about the bathroom keys so New Person knows where they are
• ...and HeadStart leaves

10:00 in the children's room

• ...and storytime gets out
• Parent stops to tell me that the train in the play area went under the bookshelf in there...time to move the furniture {{shudder}}
• Discussion of weird children's book--where to shelve it--with children's librarian
• Catalog computer? 
• Chat with former cataloger at another library, here with her granddaughter
• Custodial dude needs bathroom keys
• VERY quiet in here now....

4 - 5 ; 6 - 7 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: looking for dead people in our catalog.

4:00

• "Can I go to da baffroom?" [I actually do say to him, "I don't know; can you?" He doesn't get it, so eventually I have to say, "Do you need the key to the bathroom?" "Ohhh, sorrreeee."--he's a regular and a pest]
• And, there's a blind grandad in the storytime today, so the head of circ walks him out to where the kids have run off to
• Very cranky little guy in here with dad and older bro
• Key returned, and he goes off the pester the storytime staff
• [phone] Sales call for Librarian M [I transfer him]
• Remember that Beavis & Butthead laugh? Yeah, that's what we got here now that Pest has been joined by his best friend....sigh...thankfully EVERYone else in here is nice and normal and boring so they both leave. For now
• [phone] Renew books
• Pest 2 leaves with his brother, et al., and the original kid has disappeared into the adult area, I hope
• Pest 1: "Do you have a calculator?" [nope; Librarian C happens to passing and suggests the adult desk: "She won't let me use it"--yeah, we've got your number, kiddo]
• Free Willy [got it]
• Bathroom key...and HEY! That's my BRACElet!! [yay--it's been sitting here for a couple of days]
• "Where's the Young Adult section?" [over there...]
• "I take tissue?" pointing at Kleenex [sure--she takes 5...]
• Books on Krakatoa...true ones [yeah, not 21 Balloons, got it, lol]

6:00

• Holy crap! I get slammed by a sweet 12-year-old who wants (let's see if I can remember) Samantha Who? Season 2 [got it], Family Matters Season 2 [checked out], Good Times, anything but Season 1 [don't have it], Secret Life of the American Teenager [actually, she's too young to check it out...], Glee Season 2 Volume 2 [I place a hold], books on drawing [got 'em], books on cooking [got 'em],  The Princess Diaries vols. 3 & 4 [got 'em both], books on Mercury (the planet) [yup] [WHEW]
• Meanwhile, another cutie wants all the Mother Goose & Grimm books in the system reserved for him; we only have one [done, and I'm rewarded with a GIANT smile]
• The kid at the nearest internet station is giggling his butt off at some video he's watching; too funny
• Bathroom key comes back
• Little boy wants the bathroom key, but Mom says, "You can go in our bathroom, across the street! [hee]
• "What's going on the story room?" [storytime for Spanish-speakers in a few minutes, she doesn't speak Spanish]
• Holy cow, there is one really obnoxious one-year-old in here, screaming and running, being chased by his sister, the story-time girl...I eventually figure out who mom is...she's clueless about how annoying her son is
• Catalog computer
• Books on soccer [yep]
• I find one of our puppets on the floor, MILES from where we keep the puppets; wonder where the bag is
• The 6:30 storyhour starts 
• Obnoxious kid + family leave, thank God!
• I ask the catalog computer dad & son if they need help; no, but we eventually end up talking about the Peeps diorama contest next month
• Bathroom key: "BOY!" he insists (barely speaking English) [they are the same, unisex--wth kid?] and I have to help him unlock it [he's been here since I was out here last time, about 4:20]
• Mom starts to take her toddlers out to the adult bathrooms then sees me waving a key at her: "There's a bathroom in here??"  [yay!!]
• [phone] Vi's husband
• One key back
• And another mom, from the story room, needs the key
• Beginner readers, for the Peeps guys [yeppers]
• Both keys are now back
• I'm off to clear up the play area, which is dumb since there are kids in there, but off I go...
• There are two child-bottom-sized wet spots in there...ugh...
• How to print
• Ring around the bookstacks: two little girls who are way to cute to get mad at....story time is over, and so's my time in here