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

What I'm doing between questions: cleaning out old emails (went from about 2600 in my inbox to 2116...sigh)

11:00

• [Librarian J tells me that Mr. Ick has been banned for the day--it's been a stellar week for him with everyone at the Reference Desk]
• [And I call to 'rescue' C from having her ear bent by the boss interminably]
• Local yellow pages: "I found this sitting on a table" [Thank you: we're in the midst of shifting everything in the area where these have been kept, so I actually don't know where it goes now--and wow does the patron smell bad!]
• How to access our wireless [handout]
• Double-sided photocopies? [I take it in back and do it there--way too complicated on the public machines]
• [Director appears out of nowhere to cover since 5 people showed up at once with Double-Side Guy]
• What's my internet password? and Can I print? [yep and yep]
• [much talking ensues]
• [The Director knows where the phone books are now...yay]
• Pencil
• How to access our wireless [he just wants the network names, and the Director goes off with him to help since he's a newbie]
• Pen
• Scratch paper
• [phone] Certified Coding Specialist [of course we don't own, so I do a purchase request...and the Director tells me I should've just told her we can't get it for her since it's not available in-state...it's c2011, so WTF, woman, shaddup! It's my lunchtime, let me freakin' LEAVE!]

1:00

• [phone] How to get into NetLibrary when I don't remember my UserID [I walk through the EBSCO (not NetLibrary anymore) procedure, and find that he's trying to get in using a direct URL rather than through our webpage...wrong...sigh]
• [Call Librarian J's leftover reference patron to tell her the book is here]
• Pay for printing
• And how do I pay for the tolls I missed driving up from [former prison city] last week? [plus he's a native Spanish speaker, and the tollway site SUX....]
• Fax
• Forgot my pin [I look it up]
• Need a visitor pass for the net
• Forgot my PIN [I look it up]
• Visitor pass
• Three visitor passes (dad + kids)
• [FINALLY take book to holdshelf half an hour after calling the patron!!]
• Mrs. Nixon [in processing, so I get her name and find the book for soonest processing]
• [I quietly suggest to two tweeners that they need to keep their voices down a bit while they play some stupid game that involves flying--just looking at it from my desk makes me motion sick!]
• [phone from circ] "Do you have [patron] up on your screen?" [yup the one I had to call for the hold for Librarian J...]
• "Why don't you mark books with the year on the call number?" [Zomg--the extra typing for ONE person? I mean, how many people do actually care what year something was written?]
• Books on iPads [yup, we gots 'em]
• [More commentary about dates on books--it would be great if he knew the title...I suggest a subject search in the catalog limited by date...we'll see if he takes me up on it]
• Stapler
• Not-So-Big House books [got 'em, but of course all she could remember was "something like 'small houses'"--fortunately I've read a couple of 'em!]

2:00

• "I need to borrow the edge of your desk..." [to tear a cartoon out of a printout he just made]
• Fax
• How to start a home-based landscaping business [the good news: we own it; the bad news: it's not where it belongs on the shelf--I show them starting generic business books instead]
• Formatting in Yahoo! mail
• IRS publication #17 [not here, and we couldn't put it out till Monday anyway]
• Pay for printing
• [Chat about New Year's activities with a patron]
• The Christmas Wedding [place hold for her]
• Fax
• Pay for printing [helps if I've got the right number...and she complains about having to pay $9 for 9 pages]
• [...am finally back to my workroom desk at 3:15--thanks for spending 10+ minutes with one patron, Librarian J, while I helped three others after 3:00]

6:00 -7:00 ; 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the catalog for possible book purchases....and checking the ALA Midwinter website for scheduling.
6:00

• Disable pop-up blocking software? [can't, and the website won't process job applications with the pop-ups blocked]
• Now That's What I Call Music 30 [turns out he wants NTWICM39, the one with LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem--which we own but there are holds, so I add him to the list]
• [well, that was worth being out here for an hour...]

8:00

• More time online [can do]
• Calendar? [yup]
• "Do you have a phone I can use?" [nope, his just died, but ... sorry]
• [I do my pre-closing walk to pick up stuff left lying, and find a phone charger...wonder if it would've fit the previous patron's phone...]
• [Basement walk-thru done--and closing announcement]
• [I go make change at circ since all we have are three $5 bills in our cash drawer]

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: prepping to clean up the on-order records for end-of-month stats next week.

1:00

• Staff member wants to know why is "Obama next to the euthanasia books" : 179 vs. 179.7 [Of Thee I Sing classed as "Other Ethical Norms"; euthanasia falls in there at 179.7 : "Respect and disrespect for human life"]
• Shelver asks, "Is there a shelving cart back here?" [yup, a full one]
• Boss brings my Emergency Sugar Stash (i.e., Christmas present) to me
• [Why yes, it is actually deadly quiet today, thanks for asking!]
• Witchcraft--"I've read all your books--and specifically on spells for money-making [not much in the system; we seem to have the biggest selection, about half of which is missing or billed forever]
• "I left a pair of earbuds in the library yesterday; do you have them?" [not here, check up front in the lost and found--he asks the same thing almost every time I see him: such a scammer]
• [My family arrives to harrass me, and to return a borrowed-from-a-coworker casserole]
• Incedies [totally butchered the title, but we find it here on our shelves--hah! He is suitably impressed]

10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: cross-checking LCSH changes against our catalog to see if updates need doing.

10:00 (filling in while the scheduled Librarian, M, has a "quick meeting"* with the director re tech stuff)

• "Have you ever done one of these? [a Sudoku--yes, Mr. Ick, I have]
• Circ person looking for some patrons she lost
• "How do I just print the part of a site, not all 11 pages?" [Print Preview to save the day!]
• Minor problem with the printer (same guy)
• Pay for printing [patron is clearly hard of hearing and also not very techy, and wanted her pictures in color, so I walk her through that procedure knowing that I'll have to walk her through printing too since the b&w copies will still be in the printer buffer--she's talking to herself nonstop as she redoes her printing]
• [--and she doesn't have anough money--three dollars--to pay to print....]
• Shelver, who is shifting the Reference books, brings over a 2007 out-of-state business directory that won't stand up [2000-page paperbacks do that] and asks what to do about it; we decide to leave it lying flat for now to straighten it a bit and I'll ask Librarian M if we should/can just pitch it
• [phone] "Do you have Macs?" [after my initial confusion over "Max," I say no and suggest local colleges, and give her the phone number for a nearby public library]
• [* (at 9:34)"quick meeting" my Aunt Fanny --not that I expected it to be]
• Printer needs paper
• [Local paper] and Wall Street Journal [both kept behind the desk]
• ["Islands--Switzerland"??? Isn't that kind of like "Islands--Nebraska"? lol]
• Stapler
• "Stupid computer ain't taking my...." [I get his login information and he walks away before I can tell him what the problem was/is]
• Deaf woman returns to pay and print, and of course it's a nightmare
• Pay for printing
• [phone] Milton Berle's Private Joke Book [this is a kid asking for it, he messes up the title so I can't find it right away...poor guy, like I'd just told him I'd kicked his dog--anyway, placed a hold on it for him]
• [*still not back...Librarian J is apparently covering Hour Two of the Quick Meeting]

11:00 [in children's room]

• [Circ Supervisor is hiding in here because Chatty-Not-Always-Sober Patron is at Circ Desk; at 11:10, I buzz Circ and 'rescue' the staff member whose ear she's been bending for God knows how long]
• [Newly-returned shelver continues to shift picture books--I say hi]
• [Director appears (*meeting's over!), tells shelver she's doing a "great job!" shifting, stops to ask if I need anything--I don't say "a raise," "a dozen cookies" or anything else snarky--and she leaves for the day]
• "Can you recommend any good books?" [14-year-old, already carrying 6-7 YA novels...we wander thru YA and then over to the New (adult) Books--she's read Columbine, so she can probably deal with Nic Sheff--I LOVE THIS PART OF MY JOB!!!]
• Circ Supervisor brings two copies of a Calvin & Hobbes book to ask why one is cuttered CAL and the other WAT; ironically, Librarian T, my co-cataloger, was just talking about this earlier this week, so I dump these on her. Also, Prince of Egypt, cuttered DIS (for Disney)? Not.
• [3 VERY noisy kids run in, directly to the toys in the rotunda...look out, whoever is in here next hour!]

2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: checking the January pre-orders against the catalog, and "other duties as assigned" (mostly watching a few more homeless people wander around, and hitting the bakery...er, staff workroom...for snacks).

2:00

• [one of our regular, annual, homeless guests stops at the art display board I can see and spends a good deal of time examining each of the items--a brand new insight into his world for me. Watching his face is killing me. He's really taken by some of the artwork and keeps checking back on them as he walks away. (Then again, he might just be drunk or otherwise incapacitated, says the Cynic in my head.)]
• Pencil
• [phone] Killing Lincoln [33 holds; I add her to the list]   
• Pay for printing
• "How do I get a PIN?" [you get to pick your own PIN or password! woohoo]
• Pencil
• [phone] "I'm collecting signatures so I can run for Congress in [city] district; can I do that outside the library?" [consensus of everyone in the building is Ask The Director...who just left the building for the day, of course; he declines to leave a name to call back for clarification]
• [phone] "I'm thinking about buying a Kindle..." [...and so I explain the basics, which is all I really know anyway]
• Painting (walls, not pictures) [698.1]
• [greet another of our silent-but-daily patrons, a quiet, behaved one--have now tripled the # of words I've spoken to him over time ;-)]
• [phone] Contact phone #s for [Giant Nearby City] Housing Authority and [County to our East] Housing Authority [he records my findings--that's a first--because he's visually handicapped so writing the numbers down wouldn't work]
• ESL books [but Ingles Sin Barreras is even better! Plus, cute kids]

3:00

• Apply for a library card? [circ desk]
• [turn down the firetruckin' music, idiot teen playing pot-related online games!!!]   
• [turn down your firetruckin' PHONE, idiot teen's friend!!]
• Pay for printing [from the first guy at 3:00]
• [Local paper] ... and returned in about 20 minutes
• [returning, college-age shelver comes by--great to see her!]
• Headphone splitter [we used to have dozens; now we have...zero]
• Pencil

2:00 - 4:00 ; 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

What I'm doing between questions: hah! School district art show is up, so random people are wandering around looking for 'their' art (or their kids'). Public Library Core Collection 2011 has arrived so I do some desultory checking in my buying areas. Oh, and reading Autocat postings.
2:00

• Yesterday's problem patron (drunk & disorderly) having trouble accessing his internet account due to fines on library card [Circ Supervisor notes that he is making payments but still owes almost $40, so SAM won't let him online--day-pass a-go-go for him...and yes, he's been drinking cheap beer again]
• "Do I have to register to use a study room?" [nope]
• Scratch paper
• Wireless access + "can I use a study room?" [yep, and yep...both these questions from people over 30, probably doing business]
• iPad--ebooks--long, but good, discussion of issues
• Pay for print  [yes we have a color printer]
• Card catalog [the one he usually uses has someone at it]
• [phone] Journey of Souls which I swear I already ILL'd for patron...after much searching I can find no trace of it [I end up thinking I requested for purchase, so I redo that]
• Pay for printing
• Borrow a calculator
• Scratch paper
• How to use internet [card is expired, so she has to renew at circ]
• Pay for printing
• [realize I'm logged in to Librarian K's email by accident, so everything I've sent from this desk has been 'from' someone else--what a dork I am!]

3:00

• Pay for printing
• Fatal Vows [can't believe we don't own this--guess where we are??--but I ILL it for her from one of the many libraries in the area that do have it]
• Second comment of the day that all our ebooks are 'checked out' with dozens of holds....yay [:-(]
• [I save this document now, because last week I did two hours out here and deleted the whole damn (long) post just before I saved it....]
• Calculator returned, and lengthy discussion of the Jim Carrey Grinch movie with a tweener and why it is checked out...still [he asked for it a couple of weeks ago; I eventually check IMdB and find that it will air on ABCFamily on Friday...parents pay for cable/satellite, but he doesn't have a library card?]
• Map from Fpt to Blt [found, printed, done + he paid!]
• Pay for printing
• [text from DH that his cortizone shot is done and he's headed home, courtesy of The Kid]
• Pay for printing [newbie]
• "How much to fax?"
• Pen [last three=same guy]

6:00 [in the children's room]

• [I suggest people looking at the art show panels that they might find what they are looking for elsewhere--this stuff is everywhere!]
• Pinewood Derby designs & patterns [our copy MIA--I reserve a copy from another library in our consortium]  
• James & the Giant Peach [on the shelf! Yay!]
• [Autocat topics under discussion: vodou/voodoo/vodun, discovery (in a technology sense), RDA (endlessly endlessly endlessly), and cataloging an issue of journal as monograph. Who says catalogers aren't fun? Anyway, I'm caught up]
• [Clean-up time in the Land of Toys...]