Friday, February 27, 2004

In the Morning:

"I need books on fear, like fear in society like the type of fear which media comes up ..."
Radio dramas on CD.
The copier makes change, ma'am.
Power to the people, by Vijay Vaitheeswaran.
John Adams, by David McCullough.
Stapler.
Sylvia Plath (voices in poetry).
Card tricks and magic.
"How do I get on Google?"
Nearest IRS office.
Local Lion's Club.
Endless printer and copier advice for a clueless patron.
Yesterday's paper.
Has a book come in for her?
The richest man in Babylon, by George Clason, and Spin Selling, by Neil Rackham.
Criss-cross.
The Mayor.
You check out books over there, ma'am.
Diabetes.

In the Afternoon:

Last Friday's paper.
Charles Manson. "You think there's anything on the internet about it?"
I fold some bus schedules.
Printer advice.
Reboot.
Printer advice.
Reboot, reboot and reboot.
Shut up, kids.
Donald Goines books.
Printer advice.
"I can't see. Can you write that out for me?"
Within our gates.
He locked the key in the bathroom.
Tax forms are over there, sir.
"Real life stories about people." She's happy in the biographies.
Computer workshop schedules.
He needs a better word than "done," but refuses my offer of a thesaurus.
Printer advice. Every patron who comes up is stupider than the last.
Catalog advice.
Screenplays. "I've been through this section for two days ..." Stupider than the last ...
To kill a mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
Sorry, sir, we don't tutor middleschoolers here.
Printer advice for the same stupid patron.
Tax forms are over there, ma'am.
Today's paper.
Tax forms are over there, sir.
Pencil.
"I've been searching the net for twenty minutes for this and no one told me that I have to pay for prints. This is important information from the Veterans Administration ..."

Librarian Y please come home.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

In the Afternoon:

They'll make change at the front desk, ma'am.
"I hit something and it messed it up."
A whine about paying for the copier.
Pencil and paper.
A call wrongly transferred to us.
Copier advice.
"Robert Flemming, who invented the guitar."
Where are today's papers?
Investors business daily.
I hate salesman, so I transfer her to my boss.
I leave to conduct a workshop. I come back.
Today's paper.
A US road atlas he can check out.
Printer advice. Cool brit accent.
Printer advice. They mess it up and whine for their money.
Our PR person's email.
A list of college radio stations.
Diabetes.
Tax forms.
Stapler.

In the Evening:

Hamsters.
Honduras.
The woman at the copier just can't figure it out. She calls out to Librarian Q: "Ma'am? ...Ma'am? ...Ma'am?"
A cop tells off a couple of our brattier middleschooler, which makes me smirk.
Another internet policy whine.
The lost boy, by Dave Pelzer. Someone left a copy on our counter. The patron is amazed when I pick it up and hand it to her.
Vikings.
Stop hitting each other, kids, or you're off the machines.
They'll make change at the front desk, sir.
I give my microfilm reader lecture. She calls me by my first name because she read it off my badge. I hate that.
The TV version of Purlie, and Crossfire trail.
The Wiz, but the interview is slowed by his belief that the title is "Oz.".
A bible. "Never mind," says the kid.
Mat wrestling.
Typing instruction on CD-ROM.
"Ferraris." Here you are. "... Lamborghinis." Let me show you how to use the catalog.
Betsy Ross.
Two teenage boys converge on a tiny screaming girl in the stacks. They carry her off to her fate (the parents).
Practical nursing guidebooks.
Now another teenage boy hunts down another tiny girl. At least she's not screaming.
"Who do I put down as the editor of Occupational outlook handbook.
Something about Chrysler being bought out.
She'll settle for just about anyone close to that name living in Las Vegas.
Books by Gordon Fee.
That's not a reference book. You can check it out, sir.
Sorry, we don't give away old newspapers, ma'am.
I hate these four-hour shifts ...

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

In the Afternoon:

Twelve pizzas have arrived.
Computer workshop info.
Get change at the front desk, sir.
The literacy rate in 1890.
The phone number to the Solicitor General.
Books on writing.
Copier advice.
Local drivers licence bureau phone.
"I have some money to give to Alzheimer's"
Donald Goines books.
January 27 paper.
Today's paper. "I'M TOTALLY DEAF!"
Local depart of revenue phone.
1937 obituary.
Reporting civil rights 1941-1963.
Stapler.
Reboot.
Stapler.
2001 yearbook.
He whispers "Someone left porn on a machine." His breath is terrible. And the woman wasn't even naked.
Printer advice.
The five people you meet in heaven, by Mitch Albom. She thought it was six people.
Our porn snitch comes back to report another patron. Again, the woman was clothed.

In the Evening:

DC area businesses that make over a million dollars.
Can I help you? "No."
Tax counseling is downstairs, sir.
Phone number to a local parochial school.
No, she wants the phone number to the church that runs the school. Sigh.
Tax counseling is downstairs, sir.
Books on appliques. She refuses my help.
A book called "Black Year," but I can't find it anywhere ...
Angela Davis and the Black Panthers.
Last Wednesday's paper.
Sigh. Last Thursday and Friday's papers.
You know how to make me feel so good, by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
2002 newspapers.
Chesapeake Appraisals phone number.
Jelly Roll Morton.
Baby names.
Harriet Tubman's family.
My back is killing me.
Amelia Earhart.
Pencil.
No, kid, you can't plug your scanner in here.
Don't run!
To search for the obit, sir, I will need a last name.
Get with the program, by Bob Greene.
Another whine about our computer policy. My backache is creeping into my head.
Printer advice.
I leave to conduct a workshop. No one comes. I return to the desk.
Left behind, by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
Rubber band.
Online catalog advice.
They'll sell you a disk at circ, ma'am.
The history of Harlem, which leads to a discussion on gentrification.
How to spell "Rosa Parks."
Printer advice. She demands her dime back.
What year did JFK die? She then proceeds to tell me where she was, how the nuns were crying, etc.
Scissors.
The GI bill, by Milton Greenberg.

No Signup Required: 8

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

In the Morning:

"Books on the 1980s television musical shows."
"Homestead tax credit forms."
Verdi's Requiem on CD.
Computer workshop info. She's way too nice for so early in the morning.
More workshop info.
The sunday paper.
The spelling of a businessman's wife's name.
Wholesaler's phone number.
Copier advice.
The writing of business proposals.
Computer workshop info. He's going to show up at one of the workshops I teach, I know it.
Valueline.
Spanish instruction tapes.
The phone company won't give him a phone book.

In the Afternoon:

"How much does it cost to get a library card here?"
He's got twenty windows open and he wonders why the browser crashed.
Staying sober, by Terence T. Gorski and Marlene Miller. I accidently hang up on the patron, but she was nice about it.
Valueline.
Printer advice.
All the GED books are gone, sir.
Books by Daphna R. Moore.
You check out books over there, sir.
Study room.
City directory.
Printer advice.
Sir, this is the staff stairway. You want the other one.
I leave to conduct a workshop.

No Signup: 8

Monday, February 23, 2004

In the Afternoon:

Copier advice.
Copier advice.
Reboot.
Printer advice.
Today's paper.
"The difference between the University of Illinois and Eastern Illinois University."
Would I lie to you by Trisha R. Thomas, and A hustler's wife, by Nikki Turner.
Friday and Saturday paper.
8 minutes in the morning, by Jorge Cruise.
Books by Andre Dubus.
"I need the number to the school." Which school, sir? "That's a good question."
Copier advice.
Notarizations, yearbooks, all sorts of stuff all at once until I get free for my workshop.

Later in the Afternoon:

He wants to put up a flyer for a Bix Beiderbecke tribute. He tears away his coat to reveal a Bix T-shirt like he's Superman in a phone booth. "It's all we talk about!"
Lost notebooks returned.
The bearded man says to the two girls in matching pink coats: "These are the reference librarians. They're the gentlemen you need to speak to today." The girls don't look too sure.
Frederico Garcia Lorca, for the class's south american authors project? Where are these teachers coming from?
Milk in my coffee, by Eric Jerome Dickey.
Ebony magazine from 1963. Actually all she wanted was MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Gwendolyn Brooks.
Achondroplasia. The handwriting and spelling is so bad I thought it was another hispanic author name.
"I can't get onto Yahoo."
Garret A. Morgan. "He was a black male who invented something."
"Is aluminum pounded steel?"
Pit bulls, or Staffordshire terriers.
Baby names.
A child sharpens a pencil way too thoroughly.
Dostoyevsky.
Yes ma'am, that's scratch paper.
Copier advice.
"I need to write a report on gay people." His friends snicker behind him.
Don't run!
Business plans.
We close at nine, kid.
Holds are at the circ desk, ma'am. No, we're not circ. That's over there.
Stapler.
I kick several kids off the internet machines.
The 258s are the sex books, the kid insists.
Printer advice.
Thomas Jefferson.
Mysteries of the bible.
Animals of Australia.
No eating in the library, sir.

Times I say there's no internet signup: 12