10:30 - 12 noon

What I'm doing between questions: weeding.

10:30
* Word proc
* Tax forms [not out yet]
* Magazines (same guy)
* Pay for prints
* Tax forms
* Calendar

11:00
* [phone] reserve word processor
* Books on Social Security hearings
* Word proc
* Word proc reserver arrives
* [phone call from family member]
* How to rewrite in a text box in Publisher [he'd inserted another box over the text box...]
* Local obit from 1969 [I show her how to use the microfilm...as well as someone else who was confused by the whole concept]
* Telecourse tapes
* [phone] Love Story (the movie) [We don't have it]; ok, then the book [We have it! A book, imagine that! AND, it's on the shelf!]
* Now Showing: Unforgettable Moments from the Movies, by Joe Garner [reserve it: it's only at a VERY small library on the western edge of the state. Odd]
[My replacement has arrived. Eureka]

11 - 12 noon

What I'm doing between questions: barcoding new books, keeping an eye on the weeding that I've farmed out.

[We've been closed since last Thursday: there were five carts worth of books in the bookdrop this morning, and people are swarming the building today.]

* [phone] Multipart question:

1. "You know all that stuff going on in Asia? What language do they speak there? Because I thought English was the universal language now..." [well, and thank God you're on the phone, lady, so you can't see my face]
2. "What's the difference between "Crown Prince" and "Prince"? [dictionary.com]
3. "Where does Monaco get all its money?" [WHAT??]

[Circ Supervisor tells me that the pages shouldn't be working together because they're chattering too much; I tell her I'll talk to them. I do: "What did you do to piss off [Supervisor]? Try to pretend you aren't working together..." There; I talked to them. We all roll our eyes and go back to work.]
* [phone] reserve books 5 and 6 in the Lemony Snicket series
* pay for print jobs [although I can barely understand her]
* SAM isn't allowing this poor woman to log back in after she went to the bathroom [the tech is called. Evenually we just delete her and reenter her in SAM and all is well...]
* the copier is saying "1-2-3" and flashing [yup, go ahead and make copies--it's insane]
[the pages have been sent to me because they need something to do; they are all caught up shelving...they can weed, since my slave-for-the-day (offspring) has disappeared]
* patron wants the fish video she returned last night [much hilarity ensues because she's a little on the weird side and the tech and the pages all go into slight hysterics after she walks away]
* [phone] annual CPI for 1999, 2002 and 2003 in Chicago [thank God for the Internet]
* Fish lady wants "Christmas stories" [we go to the 394 section and she starts getting weird again--I leave before she causes me to get hysterical]
* Career section from Sunday's paper [we forgot to grab it out of the paper this morning, so I send him upstairs to look for it]
* three temporary SAM apps in a row [two of them for "I never saw him before in my life" brothers who are absolutely gorgeous]
* patron with wall eyes needs a "big piece of paper" [I get her a legal sheet out of the copier]
* Career guy asks for the state manufacturer's directory, kept behind the Ref Desk
* pay for print jobs and needs a few more minutes [what the hell, why not?]
[pages are leaving, so they tell me what they've accomplished on the weeding]
[Librarian N arrives for his shift--I tell him about the "Asia" woman because he speaks 3 languages. one of them from that region...]

Whew!
Number of books barcoded: 0

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: trying not to pass out. Doing the demand order, and going to Public Library Catalog to see what I missed last year in my collection development sections.

I blew it--it's been a strange morning, full of computer glitches and me not feeling great (dizzy and headachy). Why do I stay? Don't know. Inertia, most likely. Possibly in order to infect everyone I come in contact with...

I've had some wonderful questions, too:

- can I check out some of the ESL/Literacy Reference books [I was able to say yes in response!]
- 2003 tax information/forms on disability
- an old amusement park, now defunct (although she didn't know what that word meant) in the vicinity [after digging for more information, all she could give me was her teenage daughter's vague "oh, within an hour or so of here" response; I told her to pump her daughter and call back...none of our old-timers could think of anything except in the city]
- not a question, just a non-trad student who spends her day here doing research and classwork who is walking 'weird' today: she had a hysterectomy this week and has a paper due tomorrow. Aaaackkkkk! Apparently she's unwilling to ask for an extension.
- "how's your Spanish?" question: I translate a 'come-on' email from a Mexican hotel for a patron. Disfrute!

12:00
* Today's Wall Street Journal
* Bathrooms (where are they?)
* Buy a floppy disc
* VERY nice woman signing up for Internet use
* [phone] phone number for "Darlk" company on M- Road [can't find on 'net or in criss-cross, so I suggest she call the city's Economic Development office and see if they would know]
* Woman gets up to leave, walks away and comes back to make sure she's logged out of the 'net, then leaves for good [she's not logged out--I can tell from here, so I go do it properly for her]
* [ I'm bored. Sue me. I found a funny office supply site. Not sure if it's meant to be funny, but it amuses me. Check out the gallery.... ]

10:30 - 12 noon

What I'm doing between questions: barcoding new stuff. If I have time, I'm going to read reviews, since I haven't ordered anything in my subjects in several months.

10:30
[quiet morning, although lots of people are here surfing...]
*Stapler
*Double-sided copies (I just take it to the staff machine for her)

11:00
*[phone] Have we received Citizen Girl? [yes] She's already on reserve for it and she's really excited to read it. She apologizes for calling [I told her I'm always happy to know someone's excited about a book]
*Pay for prints
*Phone book
*"I thought I knew where the writing and publishing books were..." [I show him--maybe we shifted shelves?]
*Pay for prints and get into discussion of money-exchange rates
*Literay Market Place vol. 1? [Same guy as above. Vol. 1 checked out, today!]
*Regular patron asks for the network connection cable as he starts bringing in his "laptop" (four desktop components) [think of the workout he's getting everyday!]
*Long discussion with patron over getting hold of articles out of two historical journals from the state and Big City (Big City library was apparently totally unhelpful and useless when they asked for help there)
*Why is the fly in the 700s flying in a circle and then just sitting there? [this from a woman with white flecks all over her face...]
*[phone message] phone number for our county's incarnation of The Business Journal; he can't find in phone book [and he's on the phone, so I can't tell him what I found]
[Sleek needs to use this PC and it's noon anyway]

9 - 11

What I'm doing between questions: DDC checking, because that's all my brain can handle this morning....

9:00
* Corporate pilot salary survey...
* [phone] Virgin Queen by Philippa Gregory...turns out it's called Virgin's Lover -- I do an order card for it
[there's a message saved on the phone from OCTOBER 14!!]
* Hi to Sleek
* Job/Research computer
* Look up SAM number
* Where do print jobs go (from Job computer)?
* Circ person passes along message that proctored-test person will be here today at 2 not at 1 as originally scheduled [hoookayyyy]
* Someone waiting to use Internet....I suggest upstairs; he goes, clearly excited at the concept
* Pay for print jobs

10:00
[I'm catching up on my blog-reading; it's really quiet today!]
* The library card spiel (what do you need to get one, the difference between the basic rural card and the full rural card, etc.)
[I complain to Sleek about the minuscule issues left on my PC--can't adjust clock, can't print to the copier...]
* Circ person has a patron wondering why two books in a trilogy are shelved in Science Fiction, while the third--actually the second in the series--is in Young Adult [hmmm....I'll move it when she's finished with it]
* Pencil

[No one is here to relieve me, but I'm outta here!]

1 - 4

What I'm doing between questions: {insert laugh} barcoding new books. But it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so I don't know that I'll get much done besides answering homework questions from panicked students.

Computers are on, printer has been restocked with paper, yesterday's newspapers are collected, pencils/pens/scratch paper bin refilled.... Bring it on!

[Someone--"Tim"--left his 7th-grade spelling contract here; luckily he also has his name on it. I call and Mom says she'll be in to pick it up today]
1:00
* Can he wait for his wife at an Internet station? [sure, why not?--Meanwhile, the other 10 stations fill up]
* SAM registration
* Scratch paper
* Print Word doc
* St. Barbara [...has been de-beatified...?]
* Print payment
* Hi to ex-page, and offer to 'let' him to work today (ha ha ha)
* Word proc. Twice.
* First patron wants to use Word AND the Internet...so we move him after all
* Scott Stamp Catalog has moved? [See, we should never shift the Reference books!]
* Patron has no money to pay for print jobs--we agree, with Mom, to block Mom's Internet use till she pays
* Ex-page stops to chat
* Help with Blogger
* Check on CCTV -- nothing untoward appears
* SAM registration
* Books on Colonial America
* Aphrodite (mythology question #1 for today)
* The Five People You Meet in Heaven on CD [checked out--reserved it for patron's wife]
* What books does previous patron have on reserve?
* Word proc
* World Book article on Colonies (because we "don't have anything...") [!! I find him some books. ahem... we have about 4 shelves, between the adult and the kids' sections]

2:00
* SAM registration
* Purchase a floppy/word proc signup
* Mythology question #2
* [phone] Phone number for restaurant downtown...long discussion of good places to eat downtown and what kinds of places are best for what sort of thing
* ...and #3
* Family member begging for money for booksale....grrr
* Artist information question #1 (Rene Magritte)
* Colonial boy is done with all the books; can he check one of them out? [Yep]
* Trouble logging onto SAM [they're just waiting for Dad to finish]
[Retrieved more green slips]
* City Ordinances and Code for person running for office
* Rubber bands
* "Where do I check out?"
* [phone] Do we have computers to type letters on?
[I suddenly feel sick--can I last another hour??]

3:00
* Chat with mother of child doing Magritte assignment
* Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About [I'm not sure we can order this: our jobber doesn't appear to stock it, but I do an order card for it anyway]
* Same woman: Consumer Reports on hair growth [Nope]
* Mom arrives to get spelling contract for "Tim"
* Headphones--"You close at 4?? I thought you closed at 5!" [No way, not today!]
[I start bundling up the books to be sent back to other libraries]
* Patron says his record shows a book he requested is in....but it turns out to be 'in' at another library--we delete the hold and I will try getting it outside the library system
[closing announcement]
* City sign ordinance
* Adult fiction
* Patron asks about security cameras
* Only one person left and she's done

VOILA!