365 Photos Day 362

362/365

I was back at work for the first time since the Kid went on winter break from school (she works at the library also, and has been working most of the available hours to help pay for her spending money on her whirlwind Europe trip this upcoming spring term). Before I set everything down on my desk, it looked way cleaner.

I should obviously take more time off. You know, all to keep that desk cleaned off.

Or I could just work through everything that's normally piled on it, and actually have a clean desk all the time.

Ahahahahaha...I crack myself up.

365 Photos Day 357

357/365

One of the least glamorous parts of being a librarian is replacing broken books with new books. Today I replaced lots of them, since it's the end of the year and I'm deciding whether to fish or cut bait on my fix-it pile.

Not pictured: the 2 disgustingly moldy books that I had to get the barcodes and labels off of without wanting to take too much of a bleach bath.

365 Photos Day 341

341/365

These guys were at the library to take out that big behemoth of a display case and bring it to another library in our system. After a bit of, "I'm not sure how we're going to fit it through the door" moments, they figured it out and within 20 minutes, it was gone.

GONE.

Yay! Now I won't run into it every time I walk by it.

And they even put the chairs back the right way. Excellent.

365 Photos Day 338

338/365

Not sure how the genetics worked on this one...pretty sure it's taught that dark hair/eyes override every other color. Obviously the Kid didn't get the memo. She's no Mini-Me, that's for sure.

However, she IS getting better at giving The Look, so that's good. When she can make people quail at even the THOUGHT of getting The Look thrown in their direction, well, I'll know my job here is done.

365 Photos Day 337

337/365

And it's SHOWTIME!

This is the middle part of the library with some of the Silent Auction items. There's a whole lot more to the right that isn't visible in the picture, and a whole lot more toward the left back in the far corner.

I think we had almost 150 items, which is down from last year, but like I've said, any is better than nothing.

And we've come a long way from the first Silent Auction. We made about $180 that year, and had maybe 20 items.

Ah, but we're done now.

For another year.

365 Photos Day 336

336/365

Today was the Silent Auction set up day. It's a loooooooong day by any stretch of the imagination. A 12 hour day is not unusual.

I got to work on the gift certificate wall and get it all figured out. We didn't have as many this year, for whatever reason, but any is better than nothing. The rest of the library was overtaken by tables and other items.

This is our 13th year of doing this, so we are fairly efficient in our methods, but every year we have a few moments of, "How do we do this again?" That's OK, though. Maybe there's a better way of setting up or organizing it all that will come up. Or not.

Either way, it's one of our biggest fundraisers throughout the year, and it's fun (after the set up and before the take down, anyway). It's always interesting to see what items are the hot items of the year, and which ones hardly get a bid.

365 Photos Day 335

335/365

One of my patrons asked if I'd read this yet. Nope, I'd been avoiding it because it looked like one of THOSE books. (THOSE books=something that is rather like an Oprah book, most of which make me want to run away screaming)

"I think you'd like it. Give it a try," she said.

"Lalalalala," I said.

Then I got to thinking about it. I recommend books to my patrons, but it really should be a two-way street I think. If I don't value their "hey, you should read this" moments, then they might stop valuing mine. Sure, getting people hooked up with the right book is part of being a librarian, but in a way, it's more a shared love of reading that's the bond.

So, I did what I usually do when faced with a book I just do NOT want to read.

I get the audio. Somehow when I outsource the actual reading it's a whole lot easier for me.


And within the first 2 tracks, I was entranced.

Part of it is the different readers doing a wonderful job (bad readers=forget it, life's too short) and really bringing the characters to life. Part of it is the way it's written--in epistolary format, through letters back and forth.

Or maybe it's the right book at the right time.

In any case, I'll be telling her how much I like it. And definitely thanking her for her recommendation.

365 Photos Day 334

334/365

Tonight Steve made some more caramels for the Silent Auction. He's got his system down pretty well, but asked if I'd help him wrap the cut caramels. "Sure," I said. "I can do that."

Well, no, no I can't.

I'm fairly intelligent (I'd like to think), but I'm pretty sure I didn't look it. I couldn't figure out how to cut the wax paper to the right size square, and then I couldn't figure out how to wrap the caramels like he did. I tried to take a picture of him doing it, but his hands were moving so fast they were blurry.

I am so thankful for all the help and support he gives the Library Board for the auction. It's fairly stressful enough, but add in cranky husbands and kids, and all of a sudden we gots ourself a ball game. Or something.

This year he made his extremely excellent peanut brittle and the caramels to auction off. Before he's only made peanut brittle, so he's a little worried that the caramels might not go. I'm pretty sure they will, especially since he made extra for sampling purposes--and once someone tastes it, they'll probably go bid on it.

365 Photos Day 333

333/365

Today was the last Storytime of the year. For whatever reason, the number 10 was not something the kids were getting their heads around. "What was last week's number?" "NINE!!!" "Good! So, what's this week's number?" "...NINE!!!!" "..."

Afterward it was time to pack away all the craft supplies until next April. We're going to try and avoid the snowstorms...even though it'll probably snow through May or something. I have 2 big totes that I use, but not everything fits very well. So it was a process of "Does this fit here? No. Dang. Try again."

Eventually, I got everything back in. Hopefully the lids won't fly off anytime soon. I'd hate to have the Back Room of Doom look like Ke$ha was back there throwing glitter and making it rain or anything.

365 Photos Day 332

332/365

My printer is taking a beating this week printing out all the Silent Auction things we need. Bid sheets (seen here), signs, bidding information...it's all stored on my computer. The printer started acting all weird and wasn't letting me print, but I showed it. I had Steve come in and glare at it (he did some computer-y stuff too, but I was doing other things, so I don't know what he did). And then it was working again, just in time to print off more bid sheets.

Yay!

365 Photos Day 331

331/365

Starting the long process of getting ready for this year's Silent Auction. Kim & I worked on the gift certificate wall today. It was sure more fun than I know what to do with.

We used to put out the gift certificates on a table. Now, though, we make copies of them and hang them on a wall with a description so that people can see them, and we don't have to worry about them being taken or knocked off the table, or whatever may befall them.

The good thing is that this is our 13th year of doing the Auction, so we all know what we're doing, and we all work (fairly) well together, which is always a good thing.

365 Photos Day 329

329/365

Today I'm grateful for the job that allows me to go out and shop on Black Friday.

Ahahahaha. No. No marathon shopping on Black Friday for me. No thanks. When the kids were little, sure. Now, not so much.

I am, however, still grateful for the work I do. It's not a job, not most days. I love what I do, and am thankful for the opportunity to keep doing it. I'm also grateful that we don't depend on my paycheck to help cover anything but fun stuff, because I tell you what, I may love what I do, but I sure am not in it for the money.

365 Photos Day 322

322/365

*This was taken by the Kid. That's why it's art-ier than my normal photos.

Ah, Diet Coke and crackers. What this week has been primarily fueled by. Well, these and a bunch of Tums and Prilosec (neither of which I've missed taking).

What a week. Sampling week only comes twice a year, apparently. I think that's plenty.

However, it was interesting (in a bang my head against the desk repeatedly kind of way) to see about how many people come in. If I'dve had to estimate, I would have been way low. But it's also good to do this to see when we really need the double coverage there (Mondays & Fridays for sure) during a normal (not summer) week.

In any case, I'm just glad we're done. For now.

365 Photos Day 321

321/365

Ah, standing order list time. How I (don't) love thee.

It's always a tricky balance between what the patrons want and what we can afford. This year I've been instructed to really hack our list back based on how much each book costs on Baker & Taylor and our book budget.

I usually play the odds that most of the authors won't publish more than one book a year (unless said author has taken to publishing 6 or 7 a year...I'm looking at YOU, Mr Patterson), but can't this year due to the new management.

At least I get to pick our authors, so I'm OK with giving a little to get a little.

365 Photos Day 320

320/365

Today was all about labeling the metric ton* of library books that we've gotten back from processing.

A couple of years ago, we decided that in order to help us look brilliant, we'd label the order of series with sticker dots on the spines of the adult fiction books. This has been a big hit with our patrons, and it makes seeing if the next one in the series is on the shelf super easy.

Of course, this means every time that new books come in, we have to check if they're part of a series, and if so, which one, and what number. A little extra work for us sure helps our patrons, though, and that's who it's all about.

We've started doing the same to the teen/junior section with the addition of a "Teen" label on the appropriate books. Parents can then see at a glance if that book is OK for their kid to read...well, at least as far as we've gotten (roughly to the J's).

*estimated weight based solely on eyeballing the amount of books and how many carts they took up when unloaded from the delivery boxes. Not a scientifically approved measurement.

365 Photos Day 319

319/365

This week's Storytime number was 8. So, we read stories about spiders and octopuses.

One of the little guys really doesn't like bugs. REALLY DOESN'T LIKE. And tells me so whenever we have a book with any kinds of creepy crawlies. Our first book was "I Love Bugs", but after I said the title, he said, "NO! I don't like bugs. AT ALL." On every page, as the bugs were being described, all he had to say was, "EWWWWWWW."

Mental note to self: no more bug books for awhile...

365 Photos Day 318

318/365

Oh, yes. It's sampling week at the library this week. I can't remember when I've had less fun at work.

Since I can't find the numbers from the last sampling week, mainly because I think that the old head librarian (my old boss) probably just made them up, what we count this week is what will stand for this whole year.

Whoo-hoo. So, no pressure, then, to make sure I count every person who walks through the door; every reference transaction; and every electronic usage that happens this week.

Nope. No pressure.

It's going to be a loooooong week, I think.

365 Photos Day 280

280/365

One of the best parts of being a librarian is getting new books for the library. As of now, I can still choose our books all by myself. This may change soon, so for now I'm enjoying it while I can. You know, making hay while the sun shines and all that.

365 Photos Day 279

279/365

As I was sitting outside today, enjoying the lovely, gorgeous autumn day, and ruminating on the situation at work, I saw this in our yard.

Yes, we could use to do a little bit of "Weed and Feed" yet this month, but that's not the point.

This made me think of a picture I took while studying abroad in Scotland:

I took this on the hike back DOWN Arthur's Seat (I tell you what, that is one BIG hill). It seemed to sum up Scotland quite well (it is one of the national symbols), with it's tenacity and rugged beauty.

I thought about how Scotland seemed to be a prime takeover target of England for many many many years, and although England did win in the end, the Scots put up one heckofa fight along the way. Even now, it seems like Scotland still maintains a separate identity; it's as if although they are part of Great Britain proper, somehow Scotland has been able to preserve some of it's own identity (which hasn't always been the case, I know. I was a history major with my concentration in that part of the world). Part of, yet separate.

This all reminded me that although our library is now under a bigger library, and indeed we did fight the good fight, it is possible to maintain our own identity and ways of doing things. And maybe someday, we too can get some Home Rule going and be able to do our own thing again.

Hopefully it doesn't take over 200 years, though.

365 Photos Day 278

278/365

"Sorry, it's not in my job description."

"Sorry, it's above my pay grade."

These are two phrases I have never thought of in conjunction with my work at the library.

After yesterday (Wednesday), I'm rethinking many things.

With the retirement of my boss, and the denial by the library system of our city's appeal to retain our own head librarian (even though we met ALL their criteria), things have been very...unsettled at work.

I get the feeling that the person who is now our head librarian (she's the head librarian of a bigger library the next town over, but she's now our head librarian too) is a "play by the rules" kind of person. This is not bad or wrong, in fact it probably works well in her library so there's not a bunch of chaos. And she said something about "well, in your job description, it says 'under the supervision of a head librarian'".

I'm happy I still have a job. I'm happy that I still get to do (some) of what I love to do. I'm less happy about the way it's all shaking out right now. And I have the feeling the s***storm has just started. Apparently I'm still "the face of the library", which is super and all...but when our patrons get really unhappy about the changes (and they will, indeed they will), who's going to bear the brunt of it? Um, yeah, that's right...me.

But maybe that's all just above my pay grade.