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

What I'm doing between questions: the ever-popular Dewey updates.
11:00

* We never got today's local paper. Major crisis...
* Patron wants to sign up for computer classes, but they are all full and the waiting lists are immense
[phone] Historical stock quotes
* Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, by Steve Leveen
* State tax forms
* Multiple questions about Olympic Speed Skating
* Stock patron shows up and we can't find historical stock quote for Sears because the symbol has changed.
[phone] High school librarian asking about linking to our databases

1:00

[phone] Real Estate exam [hasn't arrived yet]
* Latin/English dictionary
["Lameness in Sheep" is the subject heading I'm looking at right now...falling OFF the chair laughing]
* Tax forms [why-o-why can't the state get their act together and send us FORMS--we have a million copies of instructions and NO STANDARD FORMS!]
* "I just moved here from Maine..." etc. how to get a library card
* Real estate exam [different person]
[phone] Called high school librarian back with link information

A surprisingly quiet day....

10:45 a.m. - 12:00 noon ; 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

One of our librarians has left us, so I will be filling in some of his hours until we replace him.

What I'm doing between questions: fixing the layout on this blog, the ever-present Dewey changes, and Demand order cards.

10:45

* "Can you help me move the text in this over?" [I hate Word templates; they are so unforgiving]
* Doddery woman asking about using genealogy database; I get her card re-entered into SAM and [gratefully] send her upstairs to the wolv...genealogy section.
* Yep, tax forms are right there
* Stapler [right in front of you]
* No, the 1040A and its Schedule 1 are not the same as the 1040EZ your granddaughter asked you to pick up [same woman who found the tax forms above]
* SAM registration [more genealogy]
[OH MY GOD! Someone actually found the tax forms without asking for directions; he didn't even slow down as he came around the corner in search of them. Some people aren't stupid.]
[Circ person comes out of study room with patron, stops to talk to one of our regular 'net users, and then comes to me and says the woman was able to see that patron looking at some pretty awful websites. She didn't know what to do, so she went to the circ desk (the other side of the library) to tell. HELLO! I'm right-flippin' here in front of you! Of course, the guy was doing something completely innocuous and denied everything when the staff member talked to him. Proof? We don't keep track of what people were doing. Unfortunately.]
* SAM registration
*[phone] More information on journal articles requested yesterday
* Doddery genealogy lady isn't quite as dumb as she seems, but she is having printing problems
* Other genealogist pays for prints; she's back to the 14th century: "Is that good?" [wow!]
* SAM renewal
* [state] Manufacturer's Directory

2:00

* Patron has Dewey numbers but no clue how to find the books [we walk, we find]
* Sales guys from EBSCO; we chat
* Very sweet girl needs help with computer
* Internet newbie SAM registration
[EBSCO guys leave]
[Tech asst. brings me her latest assignment; I repeated a list, so it's already done!]
* "Cigar Aficionado" magazine [we don't have; only three libraries in a 60-mile radius do--too far for her to go]
* "Which tax form do I need?" [pathetic]
* SAM renewal
* How to print in color
* Everybody's Business from the 1980s and 1990

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Yes, I've been gone awhile. It's been so busy when I'm at the Desk that there's barely time to breathe. Plus, we are now keeping a log on paper for the director, so I don't want to keep track of two of them. Call me lazy. Whatever.

Today I'm here because Librarian F is a jerk. That's the condensed version. She's at home "sick" or pretending to be. Whateverwhatever.

What I'm doing between questions: updating Dewey changes.
1:00

* Note left from librarian previous about calling a patron re discussion questions for The Great Gatsby
* Pay for print jobs -and- discussion of why a website he accesses elsewhere won't work here [this from TGWSAMIT]
* Help with uploading photos from his Kodak disc [multiple times]
* The guy who fell last week asks for his headphones back, commenting wryly that he doesn't much look like his ID photo: two black eyes, scraped nose and cheeks. I feel bad for him
* Descriptive videos, for visually impaired people. We don't have any; can we buy? [emailed request to director and took patron's name]
* Woman talking on cell phone...shhhh dammit!
* More help for photo guy; plus he's run out of time on the 'net [I give him a little more time]
* Take printouts of Gatsby questions I dug up to Circ Desk in order to stay awake; I consider eyedrops, then figure it's too much trouble right now
* "Why is it printing this garbage?" [I show him how to copy/paste into a Word document]
* Confused patron looking for October '05 Reader's Digest [it's checked out] and a Field & Stream article cited in another issue of RD [which I can't find, but I did find the book written by the guy in the article, so she's thrilled]
* Pay for print jobs [$4.40!]
* Pay for print jobs (the guy with the garbage issues) [we barter down to 15 cents after I make him feel guilty]
* Photo guy needs MORE time...sigh
* Sweet Trans. is back again...but then, when is he not here?

2:00

* Copier repair guy needs keys
* "You got a book on display cases." [Fortunately I overheard the previous librarian talking to this guy on the phone and walk back to where we're holding it at circ]
* SAM registration
* Display case dude can't find the instructions for display cases in the book. He opens it here and, voila! there it is [God, I'm good!]
* Copier guy explains a bunch of stuff about the drum in the copier needing to be broken in...(blahblahblah). He's about twenty-teen and puppyish, and I couldn't possibly care less about the repairs. But he's doing his best to be helpful, so multiple points to him for that
* Scissors
* Stapler [same guy]
*[phone] Golf Digest for last month (Dec 05)
* Chessboard
[there is a guy sitting 30 yards from me with music on so loud I can hear it from here--he's the guy who never talks so I think I'll just have to let him go deaf with no intervention]
* Yesterday's Wall St. Journal, and the NY Times, which isn't here...hmmm...
* Scissors are back [I swear he already brought them back--I'm losing it]
* Renter's rights in [our state], and change to make copies of what I found
*[intercom] "Where is that Golf Digest you pulled?" [right there, I promise]
* "Numismatics" [we find some books on coins for him]
* Renter asks me to look up how much money she owes in fines [$1.90]
[At what point did I really think wearing a wool sweater to work today was a good plan?]
* The rest of the Scott Stamp Catalog for this year? [to be shelved]
* Photo guy thanks me on his way out and says he "enjoyed my help" [I'm now officially creeped out]

I'm free, I'm free!! Librarian K is here. Back to the batcave.

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: filing order cards and doing three ILLs for myself.
2:00

* Spanish-English medical dictionary [which she needs tomorrow!]
[return call from system headquarters asking who our Internet Provider is and whether we have a T1 line--shouldn't they know this??]
* Books on San Quentin [I find him the Tookie Williams book and he's quite happy]
* SAM registration
* Bindery for his falling-apart confirmation Bible
* You have to tell it twice to print
* Printing from an Adobe document [different patron]
* Pay for print job
[Librarian F is pissing me off, so I'm going back to my cataloging cave]

11 a.m. - 12 noon

What I'm doing between questions: hah!

* Dictionary [Where is it?? I find one in Reference for her]
[phone] Any information on how much the Spring House cost when it was (re-)built in 1976?
* Pay for print jobs (x3)
* Criss-cross directory
[I call back the Spring House guy and tell him what I found...]
* Circ person brings dictionary out from back room...and takes away the stacks of singles we've accumulated
* Eagle and the Rose [I order it for her: Rural patrons can't ILL books]
[Why is the old printer printing? I thought we had turned it off when the new one arrived...]
* [New] printer needs paper [...but the old one is still printing...]
* Local classified ads [which we are now keeping behind the desk because people were stealing them...]
* Patron turns in state ID she just found in a book; I call patron to tell her it's here
[phone] How many women over 50 in the county
[Tech comes to question a couple of stupid mistakes I made in cataloging this week: 822.3 instead of 822.33, Arthur Clarke is SF not Mystery...duh! And then bugs me about a different copy of Hamlet that she says is cuttered wrong--like I care right now--which we then can't find in the catalog. And I still don't care!]
* Jobs PC
* Stapler

11:00 a.m. - 12 noon ; 1:00 - 2:00 and 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: demand order, Dead Deweys (pulling them, finally!).
11:00

* SAM registration for an online test
* Patron needs more time on SAM and help with margins on Notepad. [I reset her timer and it logs her out. OK. Gonna be one of those days.... I can't figure out how to reset it from the Ref Desk because we've been upgraded and nothing looks the same. Luckily she's not furious. Just annoyed.]
* Patron asks if the 'net is "working better" than it was when we opened.

[I notice a funky/half-loaded Start screen, and just give up trying to figure it all out. Call Sleek the Wonder Tech--he's here today, for a change--who says: "I have no idea what you're talking about" among other lippy/snotty comments. Yes, I am an idiot; get your MENSA ass up here to help me, you lousy snot! In spite of my not saying this, he still doesn't bother to show up. Putz!]

* Another patron needs more time. When I reset her timer it works fine. [grrrr...]
[I'm now in an even worse mood than I was when I came out here. Sleek is a jerk.]
* Patron asks to use Internet; I start signing him up and then ask if he's done this before. Yep [could you mention that to me?!] [See I really am cranky]
* Original time-deprived patron returns for WordPad help [her computer doesn't blow up this time!]
* Directions to courthouse for out-of-towners [who are nice and partially restore me to a better mood]
[Family member arrives to hassle me]
* Genealogy question [guess what: the page she wants won't print! Shocking]
* More time on SAM
[I call Sleek and tell him there are at least 4 other PCs with half-blank screens; he finally deigns to make an appearance]
* A multitude of 8th-grade students show up for research, just in time for me to head to lunch

1:00

* More kids (different class):

I chat with the teacher, who looks 8 months older than the kids [I'm old]
is there a cart with books on my subject....? A-hah
hunting
stapler use
look up card number [nope]
old newspapers (the card number girl)
piercings
curfew
solar energy
diabetes

* Out-of-state tax forms
* Where to send tax forms (different guy)
* Do you have to reserve the study rooms or can you just go in? (non-teen) [I tell him to jump quick before the kids get them all]
* How much are copies? [10 cents] Can I make change? [yes, but the machine takes dollars]
[order person comes for cards--she takes only the AV ones]
* Kids leave
[where would the cards for "Hotel Rwanda" and "Spanlish" be? {shrug}]
* How come we can't connect to K's extension? [circ person. We need to call the phone people....]
* Paper for printer
* Tape
* Stapler
* Circuit breaker form [this poor woman needs loads of help, more than I have to give]

3:00 -- backing up Librarian F

* Story from 1997 about missing teens; old newspapers [I spent 30 minutes finding the date the story broke, in the process of which another computer blows up. Sleek hates me]
* Calculator [and patron stands at desk and figures out his taxes]
[now a circ staff member wants to know how to access the Microsoft calculator]
* Guy who needs out of state forms arrives for help [I set him up online]
* Middle school kid arrives and hangs about pestering us
* More technology problems
[ I can't deal I'm going far away from computers now! ]