Procrastinating

It's been so long since I've written that I think that I've forgotten how to write, and I, like so many librarians, once dreamed of writing the great American novel. But the need to accomplish small everyday tasks (and the need to sleep!) take precedence over turning a "dream" into reality, and it isn't long before that dream dies.

Not that I'm complaining or feeling sorry for myself (not much, anyway). This is the way life is. And the primary aspects of my life - my family and my library career - fill me with joy. But I can't help but think how sad it is that not only do I not write on a regular basis, but when I do have to write, I get nervous and gasp for words. I procrastinate, find other things to do, even when there is so much that I could write about. And eventually I noticed that my last blog post was in August.

Sad.

But enough about that. Here is to a new beginning. I wonder, I hope, no - I will (!), make the time to blog once a week. Even if no one ever reads it. Maybe it's better that way!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I'm so relieved that summer is over. Since I'm not a children's librarian, summer is not my busiest time. Not only didn't I have any programs in August (the one program that I had scheduled - a monthly foreign film - was canceled because our meeting room was painted, and, wouldn't you know it, the slight "audience" of two people who normally attend the film became what would have been twenty! It was a rainy day. But I digress.).

Although my school days ended years ago, I've never stemmed the yearly circle of slowing down in July and August and renewing a commitment to hard work in September. So now that Labor Day is around the corner, I'm excited about my upcoming programs. A quilting demonstration, a Jewish Book Discussion series that was made possible through the first grant I've ever received, a Business Expo, the rebirth of our new Writer's Group after its summer hiatus (I hope that it does well!!!!!!!!), the smaller regular Great Books Discussion Group and foreign film (yes, the film that was supposed to be showed in August!). I'm also busy preparing a display of resources for writers. And I'm just finished a bibliography - "Teach Yourself" Resources - that will go "on the stands" next week.

It feels good to be busy again. Being occupied - and happy with what you're doing - is as refreshing as jumping into a pool on a sweltering day in mid-July.

I love my job.

One More Quick One.....

Not one person has read this blog. At one time I thought that would have been a good thing. Now I'm not so sure. I think that I'm ready to share my thoughts about librarianship (although at the beginning I would have been relieved to have no readers).....Am I doing something wrong, that I'm not attracting attention? Or are there already too many other library-related blogs for mine to get special attention?

When a Reference Librarian is NOT a Reference Librarian!

Normally, I believe that I'm a good Reference Librarian. No, not the best, just GOOD. I have a desire to help people, a love of research, and a passion for knowledge.

But this afternoon my passion, my skills, failed me - so much so that I'm certain that the patron I was assisting (who was really very patient) had the impression that I'm an extremely incompetent librarian. I tried to make up for my blunders (which were rather obvious to me, if not to the patron) with consistent apologies and regular updates on the status of his inquiry, but in the end was embarrassed at the way that I had handled the entire question.

Have a really been a librarian for ____ years?!

It was a simple request, actually. The patron was an actor who needed the sheet music to two relatively known songs - what he called "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Wherever We Go." He came to the library for the information in the late morning, needing the sheet music for a 6:30 p.m. audition.

What I didn't do at the time was verify that these were indeed the names of the songs (mistake number one, something that any good librarian would have done). Instead, I focused on the brief amount of time that I had to get him the information. After a quick search in our catalog showed that our branch doesn't have the sheet music for these songs, I called our main branch to have the songs faxed to us.

There's more to this story, but I won't get bogged down in the details (i.e.- the aisle in which our fake books are shelved was blocked off because of a leak from the ceiling, our fax machine jammed and then decided that it needed a new black ink cartridge.). Suffice it to say that the patron did not receive his information - his fax from the main library - until 3:30 p.m. (When will someone invent a fax machine that can operate as fast as the Internet?). There had been serious miscommunications among myself, the staff members who took over my shift at the desk, and the librarians at the main library. But it all began with my failure to take that extra, simple step: "Let me just verify that those are the actual names of the songs." Because they weren't. And they were both available in fake books that happened to be in the circulating collection - in our branch.

Sigh. It's Friday afternoon. I'm going home. But I'll be back tomorrow.

A Quick One....

I've been too busy at the library to jot down my thoughts. I suppose that, in a way, that's a great thing. It's terrific to see so many people using the library, to be answering reference questions and checking out materials and to rarely have the opportunity to ask "How can we get even more people to use the library?"

But I'm going to be leaving this life for a week. I'm going to be moving from a townhouse to a single-family house, and I know that will occupy all of my time and my thoughts. I won't have a moment to think about the library.

Which makes me think that, having been away from it, doing something completely different, I'll return as a better, stronger librarian, more than ready to work with the public again.

One of Those Times.....

We all have those moments in which we feel the need to go "above and beyond" for a patron. These transactions usually result in self-satisfaction, in knowing that you did your job well. Sometimes they also result in a remarkable amount of gratitude from a patron, and that adds to your own sense of pleasure at having been able to help him.

Late last week, I had just such a patron. I'll call him Joe.

On Friday, Joe, a man who was probably in his early seventies, came in to use one of our computers. It was not long before closing, and it was obvious that he'd need some assistance in sending an e-mail.

Ordinarily, I'd have explained to Joe that he would need to make an appointment with one of our student volunteers, who could spend an hour assisting him one-on-one.

Ordinarily, I'd have looked at the clock and shaken my head politely but firmly, explaining to Joe that we just didn't have the staff at that particular time to assist him. He would need to come back.

But it was not an "ordinary" situation. Joe was typing his wife's obituary, and wanted to e-mail it to a local newspaper for publication in the Sunday edition.

The staff who worked at the Desk before me had told me about Joe. They had set him up on the local newspaper's website, showed him how to click the link to send the obituary, and let him type. He was typing the document when my shift began.

But Joe didn't have an e-mail account. And that is where the problem was. He had spent a great deal of time typing the obituary, and came to get me when he needed assistance sending the document. When I went to him, I discovered two issues: first, that he had typed the obituary as a standard e-mail (rather than as a form, which can sometimes allow a person to contact a business electronically even if he doesn't have an e-mail account) and second, that the obituary contained grammatical errors.

With Joe's permission, I corrected the grammatical mistakes. Then, I tried to send it. Sure enough, it asked for the sender's e-mail address.

Joe tried unsuccessfully to call a friend to ask permission to use his e-mail account. Then, thinking quickly, I typed my own work e-mail address. But when I tried to send it, a window that asked for details about the server appeared - questions I could not answer.

Because it was growing ever closer to five o'clock, I told Joe that I would retype the document using my own e-mail address early on Saturday morning. I would send it, print a copy for him, and notify him that it had been sent. I also cautioned him that I couldn't be certain that it would appear in Sunday's edition.

So that's what I did.

Later that morning, I looked up from my computer to see Joe standing before me. I gave him the copy of obituary, now sent (and confirmed, thanks to a question that I had received from the newspaper staff about the billing address. I didn't know, nor was it stated on the paper's website, that obituaries have to be paid for). Joe asked me to type in his address, which I did.

Then he thanked me. And the thank-you was a big thank-you, filled with heartfelt emotion. He told me that, without the service I had given him, he would have driven to the newspaper office himself - and that office is a long drive away.

It was one of those times when I was glad that I was the librarian at the Desk.

Why Here, Today?

I love my job - usually. But today, when the sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky, the humidity is low and the trees are blowing gently....today, the perfect summer day, I don't want to be here.

And why on Earth are patrons here? If I were free, I'd be at a park, a pool, a beach. Not in a building, even a building filled with books and magazines and DVDs and computers.

Those who want or need something quick (like an item on hold) are a bit easier to understand than those who are determined to spend the hours typing away on the computer, surfing the Web rather than the waves, as if the beauty outside doesn't exist.

Why?