Thursday

What I'm doing between questions:

1:00

• Circ person brings me a note about ordering a book on CD for a patron...? [well, I can try, but there aren't too many copies of this one available...I call and leave a message]
• Daily guest pass for internet
• Fax
• Yesterday's papers? [and on the way back from finding them, I walk past an intense discussion between two homeless guys...and give them a 'settle it down' look, which they interpret correctly]
• How to access the internet
• Books by Malcolm Cowley [we end up having the one he wants in large print, which is just fine with him]

2:00

• Long-term guest pass for internet
• Guest pass guy (the first one) checks with me before leaving [yes, you can do--no need to check in]
• Historical weather data: last Tuesday's high temp in San Diego compared to ours [yay NOAA]
• How to download books onto her Kindle (which she didn't bring) [brochure to take home]; and how to paint with acrylics
• Look up guess pass number (and renew it)
• Well, I screwed up the ILL sequence for that book on CD request...

Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: watching the snow fall...oh, and working on subject heading cleanup too.

11:00

• New card, no PIN for internet [hmm, they deleted her previous card? how dumb...ok, well, I just go ahead and import her and assign her a PIN (because it wouldn't 'take' her choice--she can change it if she wants]

12:00

• Books on deserts to make a food web, and the unabridged Treasure Island [got 'em both]
• Librarian M arrives at 12:45 to look over the books she's reading for storytime at 1...lol
• Bathroom key, specifically the Elephant One

Tuesday after a long (vacation) weekend

What I'm doing between questions: catching up on what I missed while I was gone (i.e. email).

12:00 in the kids' room

• Cleaning guy needs to tell me about the stuck-on gum. Yay.
• Bathroom key x2 [same kid]
• "Can people really not see the GIANT SIGNS outside about not smoking on library property?" [yeah, no--clearly we serve illiterates as well as readers and I go remind people to keep their butts off our sidewalk]
• Non-English speaker is looking for "The Exorcist" (which is really hard to say properly without a solid knowledge of English and with a Spanish accent)...surprisingly we do own it [I hope she isn't planning to watch it with her toddler later...]
• Storytime folks start arriving
• "Can you tell me what age this group is for? I'm not sure I signed up for the right age" [2-3, and yes, she's at the right one]

1:00 in the kids' room

• Bathroom key
• [phone] Librarian J looking for Librarian K who was supposed to be at Ref at 1
• [phone] Librarian from nearby elementary school asking about new director, and would like to talk to him [I transfer the call]
• Young teen boy walks by wearing a fedora...really
• Actually, he's closer to 11 [he just walked back in]
• Groundhog Day books [guess what the storytime was all about today...] x 2
• Fishtank cleaner arrives just as the last couple kids are leaving the storytime room
• Crying baby and mom looking for First Library Card picture [I try the calm-the-baby techniques I know but she's really ready to crash and fighting it]

Thursday

What I'm doing between questions: catching up on RSS feeds and journals.

1:00 in the children's room

• I'm wearing lined fingerless gloves and my Peruvian shawl today in here...brrr
• Also, at 1:38 I suddenly realized I hadn't even opened a blog post template. Real busy again today. :(
• Yup...not a single interaction with anyone, beyond "hi" or a smile when they walked in.

Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions: watching the snow float down outside...and checking subject headings.

1:00 in the children's room

• Before I even sit down, I go back to my desk and get my warmest wrap--it's cold in here today!
• Confession being good for the soul, I will say that I spent the first 25 minutes of my hour on the phone with my (out of town) spouse and cruising Facebook. The first people walked into the room with me at 20 after the hour. There are now two people here, both adults, on the internet ; it's 1:48
• Cleaning dude needs bathroom keys
• ...and he brings me about 5 books that were stacked on the top of the shelving in the children's religion section : four five about myths, one kids' devotional 
• Pay to print

2:00 in the children's room

• Books about tractors and monster trucks for a toddler [he just wants pics, so dad asks where the older kids' books are; same number, 629, everywhere in the building]
• Bathroom keys are back
• And it's now been 30 minutes precisely since my last interaction
• Bathroom key
• [phone] Werewolf wants to renew book, but it's not due till 2/2, so I suggest she call next week sometime so she'll get way more time...
• So, there are three early elementary boys in here, playing in the play area. One mom is sitting in that area with them, completely oblivious to their goings on; another mom (of one of the boys) just stormed in and shushed them [they're not being bad, but they are throwing shit everywhere and now are moving furniture all over]. Mom #1: still oblivious. ... Hey, she just got up and started picking up stuff from the floor. Or maybe she's stacking up her kid's books.  The kids are cleaning up. Hallelujah!! I'm so outta here in 3 minutes!

Tuesday (with new glasses)

What I'm doing between questions: killing people off in the catalog, and also merging several children's orders into one giant order.

1:00 in the children's room

• [phone] Help downloading ebooks to Kindle [I transfer to the ref desk and go back to updating death dates]
• "I have to go POTTTEEEEE" [I get the key out for the mom and point her toward the bathroom]
• Key is back, and mom wants help with easy chapter books
• Meanwhile her daughter has lost her mom, so I wave her toward where I last saw mom and start to get up when I see mom moving to intercept her
• And in walks the director...checking the temperature in the play area

2:00 in the children's room

• [phone] Register for Microsoft Word class [this brings the wait list up to 7]
• ...school's out: people are starting to wander in with older kids
• Recycling bin? [yup]

7:00 in the children's room

• Thirteen by Lauren Myracle [we don't own, and she needs it tomorrow, so she heads off to find something else by her]
• [phone] Librarian B asking me to check her m-i-l's card to be sure she (B) doesn't download the same Kindle books she has checked out
• Books on Switzerland [we have none in here...fail]

Monday

What I'm doing between questions: those ever-popular Death Dates (I'm doing the first pass-through for November's and December's names).

1:00

• Patron reports "all kinds of official cars" down the side-street from us; Librarian B and I do a quick local paper search and (surprisingly) find this:

  The [City] Police Department was called ... at around 7 a.m. Monday for a report of a man lying unresponsive on the ground.... The body was found in the driveway of a rental property in that area. ... The identity of the man and cause of death has yet to be determined or released... [and t]he investigation is ongoing.

  Keep in mind that the high this morning was about 11-degrees F and it's been falling all dayto the current 4 degrees. My first thought is, "Has anyone seen Mr. Ick this morning??" Yes, he's here.  Whew
• [phone] Reserve two books and a video series based on one of the books for patron [video not available in our consortium, so I'll try ILLing it, and she is pushy about getting these guys to speak at our library--yeah, THAT'll be in our budget]; meanwhile I've got people backing up here in person
• One patron goes off to find another person to help; I think his internet session was about to expire
• Pay to print
• Head of Circ comes to take away our extra money and we discuss the dead dude and wonder if we know him, whether he was homeless, whether he froze...because, well, this IS a small town in a lot of ways
• "Can I check this out?" [Texas road atlas. Yup, only if your kind and friendly, though. He says he is but he wants to be somewhere warm...lol...no kidding]
• Pay to print
• Pay to print (and I no longer have ANY change in the drawer, just 1 $20 bill...so I'm off to break that)
• Guest pass [surprised we're open]
• Forgot password
• Guest pass dude needs a little help getting online and also wants to know our food policy [no eating near the computers and preferably downstairs, covered drinks are ok anywhere--and I tell him that if it's good food he has to share with me...lol]
• [phone] Circ says it's someone calling for me, but...I'm thoroughly confused since she's talking about today's appointment with me and the local community theater building manager--whom I don't know except in passing--about....blah blah [I finally stop her and say, "You DO know you called the library not [theater], right?" "Oh My God, I am SO sorry!" Whew. At least I didn't drop the ball on a meeting!]
• Buy a floppy drive [yes, her computer has a slot for them--several of the newer ones don't]

4:00

• Stapler
• "Can I bring an extra chair into the study room with me?" [I think this makes once that someone has asked before doing it...and then leaving it there; wonder if he'll put it back]
• Restrooms [she's either drunk, high, or a big-ass goof]
• Two youngish people wearing Harley gear looking for Plato's Republic
• Help with finding images to represent Catholic education for a family flag [wtf, teachers?] [I show the woman (grandma?) how to do it, but before I leave, I 'suggest' her bossypants kid/grandson sit and do the actual work. Cuz I'm mean like that]
• Biographies of preachers [wow, MY section]: we find Calvin, Luther, Bonhoeffer, Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis [uhm, not a preacher, but ok]
• One of our regulars just stumps in (well, he does 'stump' rather than walk) with a cup of coffee from McD's. He takes his time getting online, getting his work area set up (??), and finally takes off his coat and he's wearing a sleeveless shirt. [wind chill has now lowered the outside temp to -8 degrees]
• Preacher woman works on trying to convert me--ha ha no dice--and it turns out she lives about 60 miles from my sister in western CO. Weird.
• Stumpy keeps muttering about it being cold--he's having trouble typing because his hands are so cold, and he keeps doing that swimmer thing: shaking his arms out
• My guest-pass guy from this morning is back: "How far to the train station?" [today it's gonna feel like 10 miles, but it's only about 6 blocks] ; also, what time does the homeless bus pick up from there [I call to be sure it's actually 5:30] ; another guest pass [dude

5:00

• Catholic flag images need to be printed [but first I squash them into as few pages as I can] ; and now for Word-Art [yes, she's totally doing this for the squirt]
• Paper & pencil for Stumpy--who is now doing his Traffic School course [yes, I know, because I've done it too, about 18 months ago]
• Guest pass guy and his local friend head off in hoodies for the bus...brrrr
• [phone] Librarian T letting me know she's sending a kid in for a guest pass [which I print off and have ready for him when he arrives]
• More help with flag project
• ...and they're finally done
• Fax
• "How can I look up a book in the catalog?" [those computers there...or ask me? She looks it up herself] -- and after a few minutes, her phone 'rings,' or maybe there really was an invisible horse galloping through the reference area

Saturday

What I'm doing between questions: in the kids' room, I'm reading old RSS feeds, and on those rare quiet moments in the adult area, I'm working on Death Dates.

9:00 in the children's room

• [phone] I returned some things yesterday but they're still showing on my card [yes, we were down for a couple of hours yesterday; people are checking things in right now, and backdating them; maybe check after about 10 and if things are still showing up that you know you returned, give us a call back]
• Librarian M's kids are here today while she sorts out the computer issues from yesterday. They are 8 and 6 (holy shit how did that happen?!) and thoroughly entertaining...and bored. Librarian M comes in to see what's up with them just after they log into the internet: "Why can't they read a book!?" ha ha ha
• "Oh. The dog's coming today. [to be read to] Shoot." [no no no! No shooting dogs--but yeah, we do need permission slips and the room unlocked]
• Bilingual books: chatter chatter Librarian T
• [phone] Son calls to say my cell phone is sitting at home charging and offers to bring it in for me
• "Are these DVDs in English or Spanish?" [probably both, but primarily English -- Spanish-only would be elsewhere, but you can swap the language track on a lot of them...she is really clueless]
• We have a new blue fish in the tank. Yay. [yawn]

10:00 in the children's room

• Bad Kitty books [we find 'em]
• "Do you have any 4th grade books?" [uh..yeah--like what? I find her some Laura books, since she said she liked Little House on the Prairie]
• "How many books can we check out?" [your choice...which is not really what she wanted to hear] I suggest he read a few of the 'extra' books to the dog, and he agrees which is a win for everyone
• Do the games work in a laptop? [uh, sure? but they're old and slowish]
• [phone] Any change in hours this weekend? [nope, we're open the same as usual, including Monday, which surprises him]
• Book is torn [we're supposed to have another copy, but I can't find it; however we have another, very similar, book, and I promise to get this one fixed for the next time they're here]
• Books on José Martí for a 7th grader, in Spanish [we don't have, but there are some in the system]
• Oops, forgot to close the bathroom doors--custodian here to clean them and is buffaloed by the fact that they're unlocked

11:00

• Return local paper
• Staple
• Discussion of creating a new bib record with Librarian T [no]
• Staple-on-the-run
• Leathercrafting books [which, naturally enough, are called "leatherwork" by LC; had I looked for that, it would have been the other way 'round--and THIS is why I do See references!]
• Pay to print [werewolf paying with chilly, slightly damp dollar bills...]
• Wheat Belly [all copies are checked out with holds, so I add her to the list--and her card's expired, so she heads off to remedy that situation
• Change for a dollar
• [phone] Catching Fire [all checked out; I place a hold for her after checked to see if the ebook is similarly unavailable (yes); and tell her to bring her new Kindle in and we'll help her get it set up]
• Vikings [werewolf]
• Help logging into Yahoo! [dude, if you have a number in your ID, you have to type it in! I get him set up eventually]
• Circuit Breakers Form [no longer exists] ; FUNNY patron, dealing with her mom: "If the library decides to close on Monday..." [I'll be right over to deal with your mom, I finish ; and I print a bunch of senior service stuff for her]
• Scissors [C.B. woman tells him not to run with them...OMG lol]

12:00

• Living wills and trusts
• "Good morning, or afternoon, or whatever the hell it is!" [from the usual guy; we decide on "day": Good day!]
• Scissors are back
• Paper and pencil
• Update expired internet pass
• "Heroes" season 3 [checked out, now on hold]
• Have I mentioned that we have a Dee Snyder look-alike here? He's taken, since Christmas, to wearing a long trenchcoat and often a man-skirt. The latter is quite unusual in this area at this point. Oh, yeah, I have: he used to have his long blond hair sprayed red-fading-to-pink. He absolutely is our most interesting patron; also slightly weird--he never speaks to us, just comes in, uses the internet, and leaves....  Why, yes, he did just walk past me in a long man-skirt, and coat and combat boots
• Two requests left at circ are now on hold for the patrons (1 DVD and 1 book)
• Pencil
• Friend stops to chat
• [phone] "Are the computers working?" [yes, dude who calls the police, they are back; I'm sure he'll be here in the next half hour]
• Are you somebody [is here, she's happy]
• Keri Arthur and Elizabeth Estep books [we don't have the series he's looking for, although some of the other titles have also disappeared from the shelves, as in MIA]

Thursday

What I'm doing between questions: trying not to yawn.

1:00

• Little guy...and his nanny...awesome
• Pay to print

Well, this was a worthwhile use of my hour.

Wednesday

What I'm doing between questions:

10:00

• I'm warned by Librarian K who's been here since 9, that it's been non-stop
• Dude comes and takes away the whole job folder [I keep an eye on him so I know where it's disappeared to]
• "Do you have a cgweur I can use?" [a wha? Oh, "calendar"--yup] "I'll bring it right back" [he's online--clearly he doesn't realize he can pull a calendar up on the internet--old skool]
• How to get into the header portion of the paper she's written
• Calendar is back
• How to navigate the [state] tax site [hmm, could they make it more complicated...?]
• ...and how to print from it [success!!]
• New Director strolls by, rather startling me [the former boss was hard to miss: high heels and hyper-quick movement--new one is calmer and quieter...(no commentary)]
• So at the four computers I can see from here that are currently in use, I can see Farmville planting being done, a foreign-language video being viewed (with headphones--and no, I canNOT hear it), another guy bopping between Facebook, Yahoo, and other windows he's got going, and the local paper being read online. I can also hear another guy--admittedly, nearer to me--listening to loud
• Pay to print (with some weirdness...complicated)
• Ethernet cable

Monday

What I'm doing between questions: trying to look professional in case the New Boss shows up.

2:00

• Patron here for one-on-one help with Librarian B online (seems to be actually a Word doc, but wevs)
• "But there's no number for this book..." [it's a Western, filed in the fiction section under the authors name; yeah, your 4th grade teacher was wrong--not every book has a number]
• Last weekend's WSJ not on shelf...? [possibly checked out--he didn't know that was allowed] ; and Consumer Reports
• [phone] Into the Fire [on the shelf, now on hold for patron]
• Pay to print ["did you get taller?" just wearing high heels today "hot date?" no, impressing the boss]
• Custodial guy goes by and stops to chat (of course)
• Reset time
• Tax forms [he was just back here looking...no really, that's all we have so far]
• Librarian B is finally done with patron who is beyond grateful
• Nope, no tax forms for you either
• SAM says she's still online, but she's not, although someone took her seat while she was in the bathroom [no, he's using his card...how odd; I log her off 'officially']

3:00

• Card doesn't work to log on [it's expired]
• Pay to print
• Computer froze [hmmm--I have to restart it, and then he has to be logged out here and he finds a different computer]
• Pay to print
• Still no tax forms [lengthy far-reaching discussion ensues; this is the siphon question dude from a few weeks ago]
• Help with W-4 form
• Value Line inserts swapped...oops [siphon patron again]
• Quiet, non-English-speaking girl asks about making her "a cart library here" [I send her up front where they make library cards]
• "Hello! How are you today dear?" [from the same middle-aged former homeless, formerly-always-drunk guy who asks me that every day I'm here when he comes in. It's really hard to not cheer up when he asks; he's always so perky as he borrows a pencil]
• Wow, nice dreads. Seriously, nice.
• Expired patron has been online for half an hour, but now comes over to ask why she has to give out her credit card [I show her how to use Win-Way and she starts over with creating her resume for free]
• Not-proficient-English patron is back [looking for ?someone? and she wanders off when the phone rings]
• [phone] Dexter Season 1 [checked out, so I place a hold for her]
• [phone] Same person also would like Homeland Season 1 [we've ordered it to purchase, but it isn't here yet; I put her on the list]
• Pay to print

Friday

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular Death Dates*

2:00

• My son arrives in full meltdown-from-bad-grades mode...counseling and thrusting books in his hands ensues
• Mouse not working...
• And...mouse not working and screen flickering on my screen [these two computers are back to back; both had loose cables]
• Pay to print
• How much for color copies
• Staples/paper clip

3:00

• Son finally leaves, with a completely different stack of books than he started the trip planning to take home
• Pay to print
• Tax question approacheth: no we don't have (most of the standard) forms and have no idea when they'll arrive [stupid revenuers]
• Pay to print
• Pencil and paper
• Uploading to Nook [she takes a form, but doesn't have a laptop with here to do the ADE download]
• Tax forms [well, actually, we do have the EZ form...but no instructions...and nothing much else that she needs]
• Diamonds for a report [we have surprisingly little] * patrons sister snickers at my list title, thinks it's a joke, but still Made of Awesome when I tell her what it actually is {--geek love
• Pencil returned
• Stapler
• Pay to print [she just walked in, logged on while saying, "...if he doesn't like it my middle finger is up and he can sit and blow..." NIIIIIIIIICE and loud] Our favorite cop-caller takes about 90 seconds to shush her
• Librarian C comes out of the workroom with a double stack of materials--about 15" high, two standard book widths--and a paper plate with a piece of cake balanced on top. I start giggling and she fake-sternly says, "I have my priorities straight, ok?"
• Pay to print (and more stapling)
• How to draw manga, and did we find a cell-phone charger cable? [yes, and no...OH, an SD card from a phone? Yes, we have some of those....and he takes one of them he's sure is his]
• Pay to print [loud phone-talker]

Monday

What I'm doing between questions: review journals

1:00

• One of our regulars, as he's snagging some scratch paper: "What's the word today, girl?" [I got nothing, and say so, and he tells me that's a good way of keeping my ass out of trouble, to which I reply that my momma done taught me that same thing] 
• Pay to print
• Guest pass (has overdues on out-of-city card and she's waiting for the next Free Fines day in her town
• List from The Wife--I find two on the shelf for her--and Theodore and Woodrow is just about processed so I ask if it could be finished soon, and then report that it should be done in 10-15 minutes [and this is why I love smallish libraries, in a nutshell!]
• [circ] Did I pick up the distance book drop over the weekend? UGGGGHHH, forgot to write it in--haven't done that in awhile!!
• Do we fax? [yes we do] Can you take the money off my card? [yes I can] ; Do you have a stapler? [yes, I do]
• How to get a PIN [you make it up]
• [phone] Are tax forms in? [nope....sigh]
• Golf pencil has no lead [surprise...not]

Sunday

What I'm doing between questions: ha ha ha, on a SUNday?? And it being a Sunday, I'm not promising I'll get every interaction posted.

[email] Peanuts 1955-1956 (book) and a DVD about Baltimore's Memorial Stadium [I place ILL for first one, and find the second in WorldCat, but all copies are out of state, so I'm going to hold off on ILLing it till  I doublecheck with the ILL person]

Forgot my card #

How to use Powerpoint, and help with it [I explain how to get onto the computers with PowerPoint on them, but don't hold out hope for extensive help with the program since I've used it, like, ten times total]

LOTS of parents here to see their kidlets' artwork since it's going away tomorrow (yeah, thanks for waiting till the LAST DAY)

Two people needing help getting ebooks [and I spend over an hour with them, total]

PowerPoint woman is back needing help; I go get someone else on staff who knows what she's doing

I spent the next two hours helping a Nook user and a new iPad-mini user setting up to download e-material, interspersed with short questions like putting money on SAM accounts etc. Thank God there are two librarians here on Sundays now!

The PowerPoint woman and son didn't save their stuff before the computers all shut off, so after three straight hours of work...it all disappeared... :(

Saturday (Day One of 8 Straight)

What I'm doing between questions: death dates list, 

9:00 in the children's room

• Finally take the time to look at all the school district art that's displayed in here; as usual, some really fun stuff
• At 9:30 I hear a quiet cough from one of the out-of-sight computer stations...how did she get in here? I thought I was alone!
• At 9:43 a mom and her teenaged son walk in to use the computers
• At 9:49 a mom and her preschooler walk in to use the computers

10:00 in the children's room

• More kids and parents come in; holy cats, it's practically busy! ...zzzz
• Bathroom key
• ...is returned, and I find the last Clorox wipe in the building and thoroughly wipe down the wooden fobs and chains and keys having just read this morning about the spike in flu cases in the county [yes, I did get a flu shot, but apparently the number of people who did this year is way down]
• [phone] Librarian B. asking for us to save "a few" copies of the freebie local papers since her daughter's team picture is in it
• Another new walker stomps by at full speed...sigh
• Cleaning dude here to clean the bathrooms..and regale me with stories of his life in college...and remind me that the doorstop in one of the bathrooms is on life-support via frequent applications of duct tape. [note to maintenance guy]
• Keys are back

11:00

• Clean up of counter [yes, Librarian J has been out here for two hours and ignored EVERYTHING that's not right next to the computer she uses--she hasn't even logged on to the other one!]
• Pay to print --and for some reason the PDF bank statement won't print her name/address, which is clearly on the screen [she finally figures it out]
• Librarian T comes out from the workroom and twitters around about stuff, unhelpfully mostly
• I finally get this computer logged on and start dealing with the piles of stuff
• Pay to print
• Circ person comes to show me someone's card number before she deletes it; for a former now-passed-away staff member :(
• [phone] Eat to Lose, Eat to Win [we don't own it, and she can't use books outside our library so I do an order request for it]
• [phone] The Round House by Erdrich [on hold, so I add her name to the list, and also update her phone number and email info]
• Help with printing, then pay to print [this is the werewolf, on her second round of printing today] ; also a book on Richard the Lion-Hearted
• Forgot password
• Help with connecting Nook to wifi with no success [weird--it won't access the net even though it shows it's connected]

12:00

• Books on exercise, stretching
• Can't log off SAM [I click around and eventually it closes--no idea what I did]
• "No, I'm fine, just needed a flat surface for a second..." [lol]
• "Why is the mouse zooming around? Someone has reset the speed" [uhm, no....and he argues with me, but it's the same speed as the one on this computer and the one at home and the one at my desk...though it is a newer, differently-shaped mouse--regardless, I can't reset the mouse speed as that's all locked out except for the IT guys]
• Downloading to Kindle [ah, but this particular title (The Fountainhead) has to be downloaded to a computer first and then uploaded, first time I've seen that with a Kindle! She is coming back tomorrow with her husband and the Kindle and iPads for hands-on help]
• Classifieds
• Look up password for internet
• "Check these out at the front desk?" [yeah, and dude: stripes on top with plaid on the bottom is a Very Bad Thing, no matter how stoned you were when you got dressed]
• "It says I can't....see the librarian" [lol] [well, she owes over the max fine so she can't log in]
• Pay for printing
• Classifeds are back
• Fine woman doesn't have enough money to pay down her fine AND print off the book report her kid needs to turn in Monday, so we give her a break and a temporary pass
• Librarian T is making me CRAZY chatting today [either find some work to do or come out here and do reference so I can do some work!!]
• Family member IMs me to bring home an eBay book [only one reasonable one is actually here--most everything else is checked out]
• Renew time [high fines woman--which leads me to believe that she's not JUST printing out her kid's book report...]
• The school district art show always brings in people who've never stepped foot in the building...makes me sad, and sorta smirky, but mostly sad
• [phone] Librarian T saying to give myself a hash mark for a reserve [sigh]
• Headphones

Thursday

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular Death Dates list...

12:00 in the kids' room

• Help custodial guy move the craft-room table back (he just mopped)
• Amelia Bedelia books
• Bathroom key, and a "warning" that she'll be back to ask questions because she doesn't know how to find stuff without the cards (i.e. card catalog)
• Duct tape crafts
• Card catalog woman is actually not looking for kids' stuff, so I send her to the Adult Reference Desk (and call to warn Librarian J that's she's got a dinosaur on her hands)
• I do really adore watching new-walking kids...thump thump thump go the feet, with the butt sticking straight out and the top half of the body waving all over like a gyroscope to keep balanced
• Good series books for a 12-year-old (with dragons) [Oh how I love booklists!!]

2:00

• Borrow a highlighter? [we actually have one in the drawer!]
• Scratch paper
• Help with photocopier
• [phone] Walking Dead Season 1 [thought we owned it, but we don't--nevermind, she 'needs' it tonight]
• Look up pin for internet access
• [phone] My Brother Sam Is Dead [checked out, the ebook too...guess what: it's an assignment!]
• Pay to print
• Books 3 & 4 of the Kauffman Amish bakery series [we don't own them, so I place them on order from the libraries that do] ; also, did anyone turn in a silver flash drive in the past couple of weeks? [no, but I've got black, orange and blue in the box--at least they are all dated now]
• Where are the current magazines? [in the reading room]
• When is the new George R.R. Martin book coming out? [uhm, probably at least 3 years yet]
• Human anatomy [612]
• Help with ProQuest
• Help with printer

Post New Year Weds

What I'm doing between questions: checking shelves for fubar books (mostly things that don't exist, never did, and were badly coded), and going through the cleanup lists as usual.

9:00 in the children's room (covering for a sickie)

• So far today, what I had planned to do has blown up: sick staff, and our email is down, OCLC hasn't updated death dates for over two weeks
• [phone] Renew book
• Dragonology [checked out, but we do have Monsterology on the shelf, which will serve till the dragons return]

11:00

• Paper and pencil
• Massive pile of requests which we don't own
• Pay to print
• Help with iPad downloading, help with Nook (two unrelated patrons)
• [I call for backup as there are now 4 people waiting]
• Internet day pass
• Help with Kindle
• Pay to print
• Print off more "How to download with Apple/Kindle/Android" brochures
• Help with iPhone downloading
• Print more "How to..." brochures, this time for Nook, etc.

3:00

• Native American rugs, collecting, prices, etc. [nothing in the building, but I find a website with some info]
• How to wallpaper
• Media card reader returned
• Pay to print
• [phone] Book for a book group
• "Can I use that computer?" [gang tats a-go-go--yes]
• I have to go tell a very sweet girl with a lovely voice that we can all hear her singing cuz the study rooms = not soundproof
• Phone book for [county]; map of [city] [I go ahead and tell him the street he's looking for is one block south...if he follows that toward the outskirts of town, it changes names to the one he's looking for. This city is weird]
• Classifieds
• Help with Zoosk (oh dear GOD!)
• I.D. asks me to look at Director Evaluation questions and see if I can find a way to make nice even (lower) numbers instead of 14 and 6
• Several new DVDs on hold for patron