Day in the Life, opus 7*

753 am: Arrive at the FLP, Philbrick Hall.  My ID badge gave up the ghost yesterday, so I can't get into my office.  I worked the Hold Pickup list from the Ref desk, and then realized that the Ref desk printer is bolloxed up, so in a flash of brilliance I sent the job to the Circulation desk.  Short list today, only 7 pages (about 50 items), including one in Russian.  Let's see, the last time that circulated was 2007? Likely it isn't there...

It wasn't--as were a number of items on the list today.  Some days are like that.  I gathered the materials I could find, grabbed a small cart, and put it in its usual place outside my office.

830 am: The teen librarian arrived.  I gave her the choice of "upstairs" (fiction novels) or "downstairs" (romance, mystery, teen, large print--kind of the "mop-up" of the department.  She took downstairs, as she's a little under the weather.

9:00 am: finished my end of the pickup list--dvds, audiobooks, new items (referred to as "MacNaughtons") and waited on my first patrons, both of which needed interlibrary loan assistance.

Interlibrary loan has always been a source of fascination for me.  Where do the items come from? We're in the Northeast Corridor, but items come from as far away as Anchorage Alaska and as close as the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and the local colleges. In addition to books, we get requests for microfiche copies of genealogical records (most recently from the PA State Library), sheet music and recordings, and--in my first week there--engineering specifications for a Phillips screwdriver (those came from Penn State). Our patrons have a dizzying array of needs and interests, and Sandy, Steve, and the crew do their best to accommodate people

10:30 am: Finished my reference shift and returned to slogging through the DVD donations.

12:00 noon: Lunch from Cho Cho San--Shrimp lo mein, egg roll, wanton soup.  Tasty and relatively cheap (it's an expensive yuppie neighborhood, complete with Whole Foods)

1:00 pm: Our teen librarian went home ill so I'm back on the desk.  Phone call from one of our patrons who thinks we're all his personal librarians:

"I know you're new and all that...".
<<<Cringing inwardly...
"Can you renew my one movie (out of 10) for Monday?"

I explain to him our policy (he's well aware of it) about not renewing any items with holds, and that I'm not going to make an exception for him at any time.  He keeps one of our ILL staffers going constantly for obscure movies and tends to treat the rest of us like his minions.

2:00 pm: I head down to the ground floor security office to get my new ID. They print it off for me and I leave.  Works on the elevators and for the rest room--but--not for the offices and workrooms in my department. @#$@#%@#$!!! I went through this with my first ID

3:30 pm:  AF calls with a question on his Interlibrary loan--but starts by telling me that the direct line to ILL doesn't work any more (not true) and that he wants me to process his requests. He gave me his library card #, then I asked for his PIN.

"Never had one" (not true).
Found the PIN and continued where I found out that I couldn't process his request because he was at his limit (and I was getting close to the limit of my patience).  He hotly disputed it and proceeded to yell at me. He took it as a personal insult when I put him on hold or attempted to transfer him.  I finally contacted our ILL saint and she called him.

4:38 pm: Our boss (the patron for whom we're personal assistants) is here over my shoulder but not paying attention to me as I type, Thank God.  Going home in 20 minutes and not a moment too soon.

*--John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967.

O Danny Boy: Welcome Ireland!

Welcome to Ireland, country #63 on our countdown.

Continuing with DVD processing today. Cheers.

*--traditional Irish folk song

Language of Love*: Weeding in the Secret Garden

Welcome to my readers in Estonia heard from this week! As always feel free to comment, agree, disagree, throw brownies, etc.

I was handed a new project today: Weeding world language titles! Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

I made the mistake of telling my supervisor I wasn't busy enough, so now I have the task of going through the foreign language collection, title by title, and checking for condition, circulation numbers, and value to the collection at large.  Never mind my last French class was during the first term of the Reagan administration.  The collection also houses titles in Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

<<<Putting on "patience of Job" hat...

My supervisor says that it's something I can work on a shelf at a time, and that's good, because I'm imagining that this will not be a quick and easy process.  I'll keep you posted.

Onward...

UPDATE: I've finished most of the German-language collection and of the ~200 books in that collection, only three have circulated in the past twelve months.  The others that passed muster for weeding were either by major authors (Hermann Hesse), Nobel prize winners, or whose authors were prolific or members of an important writer's group.  I'm guessing that I've weeded a little over 50% of the total titles. 3/27/2017

*--Dan Fogelberg, Windows and Walls, 1984.