So YOU'RE the one!

Absurdly busy first two hours at reference this morning, then two absurdly quiet hours. I'm still debating--would I rather have it like that or just a steady stream?

Saw the man who printed the huge document. Now 100% convinced he's not going to pay for it. Will put it in the recycling or turn it over to my industrious colleagues who make and use scratch paper.

The printer that spits out public internet computer reservations stopped working. This creates havoc as nobody remembers which computer they were assigned, and they all want to hop onto the most recently vacated one. Had to look up a dozen reservations by user's library card number to get things straightened out, once I got the printer working again. A good swift thunking helped.

Helped create an email account and facebook account for a woman today. The deeper into the process we went, the more certain I became that she's 95% illiterate. Need to figure out the local resources for adult literacy. We have all kinds of information about other programs, but I've missed the important one, apparently. Will have to talk to a colleague tomorrow.

Only other interesting one was someone who called to ask about the indexes for a huge reference book series we're thinking about withdrawing. He knew the span of dates for the entire series we've collected, and which volumes had individual indexes in their backs. He wanted to know about the dates of the overall indexes, and how they were formatted. When I mentioned the call to a colleague, she knew exactly who it was who had called. We pretty much agreed that the caller was the one and only person interested in this huge multi-volume set. I guess it's true that one man's treasure is a weeding reference librarian's trash.

Or something to that effect.

~~~~~

No ongoing counts noted in the busy-ness.

Short, quiet Saturday

A quiet day. It was gorgeous out, so I think most people were enjoying the weather. Only had four reference calls all day, and only a couple of questions for finding books. Spent half an hour talking with a regular about his current project, and somehow we got to discussing travel. Found out he's been to every county in the United States! Other than that, only really had two real standout moments during the day.

A regular caller in a nearby town (we all recognize her voice) called in a panic, "Help me identify these bugs in my kitchen! They're red, and they have...how many legs do they have, honey?" "Six!" "They have six legs! What are they?" I referred her to the local college's agriculture and entomology department.

The other was when a man with spiky hair and a freshly knocked out tooth wanted to use a computer. I got him started, and went back to the desk. After a while, I was aware that the printer tied to the public computers was printing...and printing...and printing...and printing. He came over and asked if it was his document. We figured out it was, and the printer stopped. Except it didn't stop, it was only pausing, regrouping before it spit out still more. 160 pages in total! We charge $0.10/per page, so that was $16.00...and, of course, he said he didn't have his wallet. He offered to give us his bank account number, so I explained that that wouldn't do us any good. He asked we'd accept a pre-paid phone card. Uh, no. So, he left his name, and I put the document in a folder. If he does come back on Monday like he said he will, he can pay then and take it home. I think he was surprised at how big the document was, but the whole thing was a little surreal. I give it less than 50/50 odds he'll be back.

~~~~~

Nose Picking: 3 (unchanged)

Boarding Passes: 5 (unchanged)

Toilet Clanks: +2, total of 5. And a full on flush!

Nothing major to report, Sir.

Have done a few short shifts on the reference desk since my last update. Only a couple of interesting bits.

Someone went out of her way to hand me a pencil with no point, and purple sticky looking stuff around the tip. It was so odd, she just walked up to me with it held out way in front of her, almost like approaching for fencing. I said, ever so brightly, "Oh, you're bringing me a pencil?" She replied, "I found it upstairs. It's broken. Someone needs to fix it," as she walked away.

OK, I'll get right on that.

~~~~

Nose Picking: 3

Boarding Passes: 5

Toilet seat clanking from a bathroom upstairs (requires that someone has bathroom door open as someone drops the seat down in order for the noise to reverberate): Estimating 3 as cumulative total since beginning of blog. Gender of bathroom as yet undetermined.

She what?????

Ah, another Saturday on reference. It did not disappoint for weirdness, either!

First, a simple question from me:
WHY is there a broad tipped surgical prep marker in the drawer of the reference desk?

It seemed to be my day for helping people fill out forms online. I gave someone a crash course in email, which really shouldn't be so surprising to me anymore, but it does still amaze me that there are people out there without email. The internet is so huge in my world that I can't remember living without it.

I helped a homeless gentleman apply for a job, sort of. The job he wants is currently filled, but we filled out the form that will notify him if it becomes open future. He listed a job for his experience, but it had nothing to do with the job in which he was interested. I wish this man well, and hope he finds something...but I really don't think he's going to be the next head coach for the local National Hockey League franchise. Dare to dream, though!

The most surreal moment came as I was helping someone find a phone number for a long-lost child. After presenting the information, somehow our chat turned to a nearby impoverished rural community. I mentioned that we have friends who live there, when the customer said, "Oh, do you know my sister-in-law? She castrates sheep with her teeth!"

Umm. What?

~~~~

Nose Picking Count: 2

Boarding Passes Printed: 5

Two firsts!

Only filled in for an hour on reference today during someone's lunch break, but, as usual, it was pretty interesting.

I got my first stumper: How long can an email be? Not how big an attachment, but how much text can be put into an email before the email service can't handle it. Stumped me. Kept getting different answers, then realizing that the number was related to attachment size. Passed it along to the librarian I was relieving.

And I had my first angry customer, lucky me. I'd heard her all the way across the library, talking loudly to someone at the circulation counter. The word, "Hold" kept wafting across the library. She appeared at the reference desk a couple of minutes later, and asked how a book can go from, "Being available in one day to having a thirty day wait, just like that!"

I looked up the book, and saw that it's on loan, not due for 9 days, and that there are two people with holds. My unhappy customer was the second. I'm only vaguely familiar with the hold portion of the software, so I wasn't able to figure out when each hold had been placed...but that probably wouldn't have changed anything.

She wanted to know if the book would be returned promptly on the due date (as if I had any control of that?). I told her that I'd been looking at overdue bills earlier, and had found someone with $115.00 in fines. (BTW, how the HECK is that even possible?)

Well, that set her off, and she had a full head of steam going. She essentially proceeded to tell me that that people now-a-days had no consideration for others, the younger generation has no respect, etc. I really wonder how old she thought I was--I'd pegged her as 30 years my senior.

Anyway, she was miffed, and was going to stay miffed until someone handed her a copy of the book she wanted, and did so NOW. Ironic bit? The book she wanted was titled, "The Happiness Project." www.happiness-project.com

SRSLY.

Not a Saturday, but worth noting

Someone brought in a book (printed in 1919) about a local politician who once sought (but did not receive) the nomiation of his party to run for President of the United States. The donor, who had come across the country on vacation and made a special stop to see us, was slightly crestfallen when we said we had the book, but cheered up when we offered to give this copy to the local school named in the politician's honor.

Also in the envelope were several photographs of the politician--all very dignified with a massive beard and stern profile.

In addition, there was a folded document on heavy paper that, at first glance, looked like a diploma for a law degree...but why was the text not in English or Latin? The name on it was not that of the local politician.

After the donors had left, I transcribed the document, and searched some key words. Turns out it wasn't a law diploma, but the membership certificate for a Danish organization devoted to the study of ancient Scandanavian languages & texts.

Oh, and it was from 1834. And it's beautiful. And it connects to absolutely nothing in the collection.


~~~~

Also, I should like to introduce my first ongoing themed count:

Nose Picking Count: 1

The Joy of Saturdays on the Reference Desk

I've recently started working Saturdays at the Reference Desk at my local public library. Less than half the usual staff is on duty on Saturdays, and only one volunteer is scheduled. Already, I can see that this one shift of Reference is going to be the most interesting 4 1/2 hours of my work week.

For example:

• My fortune was read--without my prompting. I was told that I'm in the 6th year of my 9 year cycle. The 6th year is the year of everyone demanding my time and attention. My 7th year will start on my birthday, and it will be the year I declare that I need time for myself--and I take it, which will lead to a spiritual re-centering. The 8th year is when my ship comes in, and all my hard work will pay off. I can't wait!

• In the middle of asking for help in making a reservation for a public internet computer, someone told me that the valuable lost thing I've been looking for will be next to something green. (My grandmother's anniversary ring is missing, so I'm hoping...problem is that it's probably lost in a purple bedroom...)

• I had to look up the musical notation for "repeat this phrase" for a customer...and describe it over the phone.

• A guy in the computer center yelled at a couple behind him for talking too much. 20 minutes later, I saw the same guy being friendly to another man in the computer center, one who talked to himself non-stop all day. Mostly conspiracy theories.

• An aggressive or impatient young man demanded help in finding books in Arabic...by leaning over the balcony and yelling down to me. Turned out he wanted books about how to learn Arabic. Later, on my way out the door for lunch, he came to me and demanded I call the police, that we rewind the security monitors and see who stole his iPod. He went so far as to grab the phone off the counter and dial 9, but I hung up before he could complete 911 and dialed the non-emergency number for him. When I got back from lunch, I was told that his iPod had been found...on the upper balcony, not the lower one where he was looking. Also with the iPod were his other pair of socks.