Friday

What I'm doing between questions: let's put it this way: I forgot I had a headache it was so busy!

3:00

• The first 4 questions are "how to download ebooks/eaudio" to new (Chrismas present) devices [I sure sound like I know what I'm talking about now]
• Day pass for internet
• I call back a woman who left us a message about 2 hours ago for reserves, and get those sorted
• [phone] "What's the book club reading this month?" [uh...I go find the books and let her know]
• FIRST time I haven't had people at the desk or on the phone: 3:35
• Look up card # for internet
• Books on Richard Feynman [our copy of Surely You're Joking... is gone. Boo! But I find the guy something else and put a hold on another copy of that one for him]
• The woman whose number I looked up fubar'd the computer she was on, and left her banana (and a stack of "Cash for Gold" cards ??)
• [phone] What's a [system name] Computer Catalog PIN?" for downloading Kindle books [yup, we should probably explain that on the brochure]
• Final Journey not on the shelf where it belongs [er, yes, it was..."Dad, we were looking in the wrong place, I think...lol]

4:00

• [phone] Local free magazine doing an article on arranging home libraries [I'm being interviewed, I guess--luck of the draw]
• Help with printing
• Game of Thrones on DVD and books 1 and 3 in the series [all are checked out so I place holds]; also, Pillars of the Earth DVD [that is here!]
• Number-looked-up woman is back....and again she borks the computer when she leaves [sigh]; but she does remember her banana and cards this time [lol]
• Two interior decorating books requested earlier are now on hold outside our system--yes, it's taken me 90 minutes to do this!!
• [phone] New Dr. Phil book [...is only being sold via his son's website, so we're stymied, but I take her name and we'll try to get it]
• In a quiet moment, I refill the printers with paper
• ...which apparently made EVERYONE leave me alone...

Boxing Day Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: checking old items on order, and adding notes to award-winning books. Cleaning up typos...also looking through the other cleanup projects, as usual

9:00

• First person in: how to get on the wifi [I know what HE got for Christmas!]
• ...then about 5 homeless guys
• ....then our maintenance guy is dragged out here to see if he can fix the keyboard tray at the second ref computer, and I check online to see if we can't just BUY NEW ONES (these are 12 years old)
• Mr Ick needs paper and a pen, also wishes me Happy New Year ("even though [he's] not supposed to talk to [staff]"--according to the letter he got last week) [and Librarian T follows close behind him to tell me that he had another run-in with staff on Saturday, so he's probably out of here for another few months--second banishment in the past 5 months for him]
• [phone] Nope, no tax forms yet...
• Paper
• Interim Director comes down with the latest Demand order slips, and says she's not well, kinda nauseous ["are you pregnant?" I joke...]
• [phone] Help with downloading ebooks... [they decide to come in later and get some hands-on help]
• Paper & pencil
• [phone] I.D. checking to making sure phones are working...uh, yeah?

10:00

• Maintenance guy arrives to fix the keyboard tray...sigh
• Fax
• Head of Circ here to ask why we aren't charging anything for our way overdue copy of "Elf" [primarily because the data entry person didn't put in a price on the record, so I do that and she's happy]
• And the keyboard trays are solid again, and as clean as they can be, but still hideously ugly
• Paper &pencil
• I.D. just emailed that she's going home sick: Turducken must not agree with her
• "This is a strange call number; I don't know where to look" [006.7--yes libraries are weird: we start counting at 0]
• And he needs the catalog and a pencil
• [phone from circ] Anyone find a red MP3 player back there? [nope, sorry]
• [phone] "Heat" on DVD, the one with De Niro [we don't own, but I place a hold for it to be sent here]
• K it's 11:10 and no one is here to relieve me....ah, because I.D. was supposed to and no one looked at the schedule...Librarian C and I sort it out....and I get another hour this afternoon....whee (not)

2:00

• Kelley Blue Book [we no longer carry it, but I get him the Red Book and tell him that Kelley is now online]
• There is a LDS missionary gang here--no kidding there are about 6 of them--and at one point I have to shake my head and say "BOYS!" lol
• Pay to print x 2
• The people needing help downloading this morning are here, and since they're only downloading ebooks to a laptop, it's all good and easy (if time-consuming)
• Fax
• Catalog
• No Easy Day [checked out and on holds list, so nevermind sez he] and The Lost Boy [here!! what a shock--those are never on the shelf!]
• Found earring? [nope, and there's a note about it in the workroom, so we're all aware of who lost it if it should turn up--they never do...]
• Today's local paper ... x2 [how freaky that they show up within 2 minutes of each other]
• Pretty Little Liars Season 2 [nope, not here, so I do a request for order]
• Computer not opening his external device [doesn't work on this computer either, and eventually he admits that it's not the cable that came with it, so it's probably something there]\
• Complicated fax

Monday

What I'm doing between questions:

1:00

• First thing at the desk, someone's cell phone rings, he answers and it's either got the volume up all the way or it's on speaker--and THEN he tells the guy he's "got it shut on" [fortunately, the conversation, loud as it is, only lasts about a minute]
• How to get to a file on his flash drive [brain burp--he knows how but went blank lol]
• Mom of annoying girls from last week is back looking for a piece of paper she left...[yeah, we do clean up every day, and it probably got pitched with other papers, sorry]
• Borrow scissors
• Help darkening up a copy on the machine
• Pay to print
• Lost and found for reading glasses [YAY! We have dozens of these!]
• Paper and pencils ("I really hate these pencils; can I borrow a pen?) [ok, sure]
• Librarian C has a couple of questions re Large Print books she's double-checking post-processing in the catalog

Friday

What I'm doing between questions: reading news reports about the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, and trying not to give in to despair. Also, placing holds on the material we just ordered for people


1:00 in the children's room

• Quiet. Again. 
• Cleaning guy needs keys to bathrooms (one of which is labeled, ominously, "Needs To Be Cleaned"--presumably the bathroom, not the key...)
• And the keys are back, with the assurance that both bathrooms are "sparkling"

Thursday

What I'm doing between questions: back to those subject lists (I'm basically caught up with cataloging, so this is my life now).

11:00 in the children's room

• Not a soul in here when I start--lovely, quiet, clean...sigh
• But at 11:06 a grandpa (presumably) and his grandson come in
• Storm Runner and something by Rick Riordan about Egypt? [got 'em both, the latter being The Red Pyramid]
• Definitely Grandpa Day in the children's room: two more came in with their kidlets...
• Cleaning guy wants to know how long after the program the dog will be here Saturday...I wouldn't count on it being very long....
• Time for lunch!!

1:00 in the children's room

• Ooooh, there are 3 people in here on the computers when I arrive: a wild crew (NOT)
• ...and it never got busier, and no one needed me...

4:00

• Two very needy little girls and their also very needy mom are making me absolutely crazy; and no, if our IT guy can't fix Mom's new tiny laptop, neither can I
• Red Ink... we don't own, but if we did, it would be in 336.73 so he goes to hang out there
• Now the girls are drawing, and sharpening the golf pencils every 2.43 minutes; did I mention they aren't wearing shoes? And they're loud. OK, the one is only about 4, but holy shit they're annoying, also cute. Dad just arrived so maybe he can keep them in line....
• Guest internet pass for a kid
• Look up card number
• Dude with pink hair has a new look: Eastern European army had and long brown trenchcoat (at least the had covers the pink that is still streaking his hair...)
• Look up phone number for someone in Big City nearby [can't narrow it down for sure by name]; well, there's an email address [so I get him set up to create his own email addy so he can email her]

5:00

• Guest pass kid ran his time out and can't get back in--I tell him to come get me before it runs out next time and reset it
• Patron left about 6 requests here, all with publishers in the author line. One is a journal article, which (luckily) we actually have access to (I found it by googling the title and author when I couldn't find it in Amazon) [Printed it for her, then called]
• Staff: how to find reviews in TitleSource (Baker&Taylor)? [middle of the page for the item...]
• Mom of twerpy kids wondering about a box that popped up [it's just letting her know her time will be extended]
• Pay to print [discussion of how much color ink costs]
• Mom of twerpy kids brings back ethernet cable
• I check in as the new-email dude leaves to be sure he knows how to get on the next time he comes in--he's getting a library card on his way out so we're set
• Pay to print--but when she prints it doesn't work--"could it be because I didn't have to log in to use the internet?" [uh, yeah--so I go reboot that computer and she decides to wait till later to get online and try again]\
• "Is that printer where everything goes?" [yup]

Tuesday

What I'm doing between questions:

6:00 in the children's room

• Anti-imperialism [uh, yeah, you should probably hit up the adult desk on this one...]
• Sad little boy doesn't want to leave; his mom says it's cuz he loves our big chair [I promise him it'll still be here tomorrow or whenever he gets back here]
• Books about counties [which ones?], any of them [ok, so they range from 940ish to 999, and eventually he picks Australia and heads off to Scouts]
• How to print
• "What's my password?"
• Looking for Alaska [so annoying--I can't find this anywhere: in YA where it belongs, here in the kids' room, back on the weeding cart, shelving carts...and was used yesterday according to the record in the computer, so .... dammit! Where is this book? I place a hold for another library's copy, but still!]
• How to get back in after locking the internet [Num Lock was on...]
• Why, oh WHY, do people walk behind this desk to get to the books behind me? I understand the desk is a semi-circle, and it's easy to do it accidentally, but to stare me in the face and saunter past me is just really freakin annoying....
• YA fantasy books [we have a long convo since nothing she wants is currently on the shelf]
• Alaska is now reserved for patron

Monday

What I'm doing between questions: feeling sick, generally.

1:00

• Fax
• Four leftover email questions we didn't do yesterday
• Two sort-of made-up words--how are they spelled? ("trailering" and "remodeler")
• Miss W asks me to proof a letter to the City Council et al. about a plaque being installed at the big winter fest
• One of the regulars needs a Spanish dictionary (not Spanish-English, just Spanish, and after I find one he didn't like it so he finds the one he wants--begging the question...why ask me if you know where it is??)

5:00

• Printer needs paper [and ink--though it's just low, so we're ok for awhile]
• The dictionary guy needs more time online
• "What's my password?" ["What happened to your foot??" and I give her her password]
• ...good Lord a bunch of stuff happened that I can't remember....
• Fax
• ...more stuff I don't remember

I'm totally going home now.....

Thursday

What I'm doing between questions: award lists. I'm down to the last 4: Book Critics Circle Award, Pen/Faulkner Award, Pulitzers, and Man Booker Prize. Of course, a couple of those are also the most convoluted. I'm still trying to figure out how to easily make a list of the Hugos....

1:00 in the kids' room

• Who wrote Half-a-Moon Inn? [got it]
• From the fish tank: "That fish looks like Tebow! Yeah, Tebow!" Grandma says "Tebow? Or Nemo?" "TEBOW! See he's orange and white. Tebow."  [I am totally cracking up]
• Chat with one of my son's 3rd grade teachers, and a current friend of mine, who is now retired and tutoring
• Kid at the computer nearest me has been playing a game the whole hour, without headphones on. I've enjoyed listening to him talking to and generally interacting with the game [quietly, but intense]

Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: not much, don't feel good, probably going home as soon as  this shift is done.

11:00

• 11:30--first interaction: today's classifieds
• Metallica's "Reload" [yep, it's here, yay]

Monday

What I'm doing between questions:

11:00

• [phone] Hildebrand's Unbroken [two copies on the shelf, so I put one on hold]
• Guest pass for internet
• Pay to print 
• Complicated question--intro'd as a "dumb question"--involving the siphon effect and its limitations
• Fax
• Last week Sunday's NYTimes Style section [we forgot to get this week's out, apparently...]
• Value Line update (for the siphon guy) [I check the mail and find it for him--he's confused because one is updated...ah, because this is Monday and the other one came Saturday...the physics stuff has melted his brain]
• Help with logging on to (I remember from last year) write the annual Christmas letter [the question is : WHY do I remember this from last year??]
• Help getting online for the first time in eons.....
• Pay to print

1:00

• Fax
• Twilight movies
• Pay to print
• Jean Shepherd books
• Fax
• Help with printing
• Pay to print
• discussion with admin asst. re auto-comp time (something new)
• Pay to print
• Reserve some new books for a guy, including ordering the new Clancy book for him, and an ILL for an old CS&N disc
• Forgot password
• "Is the typing program off all the computers it used to be on?" [not that I'm aware of...shoot]

3:00 in the children's room

• No headphones on my computer [find another one to use, we don't have extras anymore)
• Child in play area commences full meltdown, screaming, throwing things, shrieking...ack
• Bathroom key
• Junie B. Jones books...