23 posts tagged “library”
At a library conference was such a surreal experience... First of all, this was the first time I have ever traveled alone to an out-of-town conference... Secondly, I had a king-size bed (well, an entire hotel room) all to myself... Believe it or not, I am pretty shy around people I don't really know well, but I think I managed quite well without leeching onto the two people I already knew... Yay! Needless to say, I loved going out to dinner with my former intern (for whom I still have no catchy blog name) and I thoroughly enjoyed both attending and presenting at the conference, but I am more than happy to be back at home with my guys... Later days...
Sometimes, people who are in the Children's Room get quite an earful... Take this for example:
Me: You know, you help my OCD!
Flower: So, does that mean your therapist won't allow you to work with me anymore?
Me: It's not a bad thing... It's good...
::frustrated/contemplative huffing::
Me: It's kinda weird and hard to explain, but my OCD isn't always helpful... Sometimes its more of an ADHD kind of jumping from one thing to the next... You kinda help to streamline my OCD to where it's actually beneficial instead of a hindrance!
Flower: I think that's a good thing, right?
Me: Definitely...
Flower: I heart you [Bee]... That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!
I love my coworkers!!! (How apropo for today!) Later days...
Bringing a toddler to work is *SO* not a desirable thing... OMG... I love Boogie, but I thought I was going to lose it today... But, what else could I do? Daycare was closed... Clark had to go to work (he was moving his office and had an important meeting)... My MIL was working... My BIL wasn't reachable... My babysitter (whom Boogie calls "Lettuce") was not reachable... So, when my library opened (2 hours late), Boogie went in too... Gah! Thank goodness for Flower, Nice, and my intern (I need a pseudonym for her, I think, but I am too lazy to check and see if I have written about her before!)... The three of them helped me to entertain Boogie and made me keep everything in perspective A LOT more than I was likely to do on my own... Right now, though, I am just gonna stop my bitching and get one step closer to relaxing... A couple of stories, some brushed teeth, and a pair of pajamas from now, Boogie will be in bed... Then, I can climb into my own bed and finish my book... Yay! Later days...
Sometimes, I think I can relate pretty well to Cookie Monster... Damn, I wish I had a cookie right about now! More often, though, I feel like the librarian in this classic Sesame Street clip... It's not that I deal with furry blue monsters all day (although, come to think of it, we do have one sitting on top of a display case when you first walk in to the children's room!)... And it's not that I sit and stamp cards while I catalog things according to DDC all day... It's just that some people don't seem to get what the library is here for, you know?!? Some days, like yesterday, I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle... When I have to remind the teens about 50 times that they are not supposed to be having a pillow fight with the pillows in the Storytime Room, I wonder what the hell they aren't understanding... If we are crazy enough to let them hang out in there, despite the fact that many people would rather put up a "no teens allowed" sign, they should at least be appreciative enough that they respect the room and the things in it, right?!? I am about to head out to the teen area for the rest of my shift, and I shudder to think of what I may have to deal with today... I am normally completely ready to deal with the teens, but I am just so damn tired that I know I am getting cranky... I swear, I will probably head to bed right after Boogie tonight... Later days...
So, I hosted a video game program at my library last night, and I had so much fun... I played "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" on expert last night -- for shits and giggles, pretty much... I ended up with a severely cramped wrist and numb fingers, but I somehow managed to actually hit 40% of the notes! Holy crap! That was so awesome... Later days...
I love my teens at the library... Really, I do! But, tonight they are driving me nuts... There are a couple of them who are rather, shall we say, "Socially awkward"?!? And, they have latched on to me as a friend... This is a good thing, overall, since they are finding a way to gain some social interaction... It is annoying for me and Goddess, though, because we have to deal with their clingy, annoying behavior... Then, they are the "hill kids" (so named because they have gotten themselves into trouble by wrestling around, making out, etc. on the hill next to the library)... A few of them looked like homeless teens because they were napping on the benches in the entry way to the library, and I had to literally ask them to go into the storytime room so that patrons would not be freaked out by them... Now, they are all hanging out together and having fun (read: being loud) in the storytime room as they wait for the program to start at 7pm... I love the fact that teens are coming to the library... I love the fact that there are so many of them... But I do not love the fact that it is (sometimes) so exhausting to work with them... Later days...
So, you might not think that it would be too hard to spend someone else's money, but I sure do... I hate it when I get behind on ordering books because it is such a crazy process to begin with, and I don't want to make any mistakes just because I am in a rush to get it done on a deadline... My biggest problem is that lots of people seem to write nothing but favorable reviews, so I don't even know what to leave out... If I were to believe everything I see in book reviews, I would need about $5000 more per year (per section)... Sometimes, I swear, I just base decisions on what I do and don't think I will like to read because there is no better system in place... (Bad librarian!)... Gah... I am supposed to be done ordering everything by November 1st, since the board wants everything to get here by the end of the fiscal year... Riiiiiiiiiiiight... The problem with that mentality is the fact that it sometimes takes up to 3 months to even find out if a book will show up or get cancelled -- which puts us after January 1st... I cannot believe I did it, but I actually finished reading all of my review journals and finalized orders for all four of my collections this afternoon... I spent $0.45 more than my budget in one and $0.38 more than my budget in another, yet I have remaining balances of $0.37 and $0.28 in two others... I did end up using some of Nice's budget, though... Teeheehee... Thanks, Nice! Lunch is over... Back to work... Later days...
So, I should technically be at a NYLA session right now, but I
skipped... This is the 2nd one I have skipped this afternoon (and
only the 2nd one I have missed)... I came back to my room after
the YSS luncheon because I was really tired and starting to get a
headache... I planned on missing one session so I could take a
nap... When I woke up, nevertheless, I didn't feel much better,
so I decided to finish my prep work for my table talk and not rush over
to the other session... I do my best to stick with plans I make,
but I think I should probably worry about my health and well-being
above all... Bah... It is really rainy out, by the air is
dry/stale in the hotel, so my lungs are not too happy right
now... Not much I can do about it, I suppose, so complaint is the
next logical step... I am just praying it "stays in my chest" and
I don't end up with a sore throat before my presentation in the
morning... That would suck! In other sucky news, Boogie
started crying pretty hard this afternoon when I was on the phone with
Clark (because he misses me), and I feel really bad about that...
Not bad enough that I regret coming to this awesome conference, but bad
enough that I wish I could do something to make him feel
better... Again, though, there's not really anything I can do
about it... I think I better head over to the annual meeting so I
at least don't skip out on that (or the inaugural dinner
afterward!)... And on the way, I think I will be dropping a lot
of stuff at my car... It's hard to believe how much stuff piles
up when you come to a conference like this, but it certainly
does... Later days...
I know that, as a librarian, I may find authors more interesting than a
lot of non-librarians... But I met an author today -- David Lubar
-- who was just so funny that I think anyone (even people who hate
reading) would like to see him speak... He has a few books that
use the word "weenies" in the title, and he ended his talk with this --
One scrotum, big uproar... Three weenies, nothing... That's nuts!
Teeheehee... For those of you who don't "get it," check out this
article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?em&ex=1172206800&en=5a45a733c02f738c&ei=5087%0A...
Later days...
Cataloguer and I made it safe and sound, and we are now settling in to
our suite... It is very nice except one thing... The entire
hotel is smoke free (very nice), but our room smelled like smoke when
we came in... Cataloguer didn't notice it at first, so I thought
maybe the "stale" air was offending my nose... We opened a window
and left to move my car to the correct lot... When we returned to
our room, she noticed the smell too... She also heard people
talking and couldn't figure out where it was coming from... I
walked over to the window and looked down... As it turns out, the
staff break table (and smoking spot) is right under our window -- and
we are only on the 2nd floor... I really need to leave windows
open for fresh air when I am in a hotel, so this could be a little bit
of a problem... I hope not, though... Bah! I will
post again tomorrow to comment on the actual conference -- just in case
any of you care... ;-) ... Later days...
