like bandaids for papercuts

Two months later.  Absence due to: a rush of education exiting, and lack of internet.  Three cheers for public libraries and internet access therein!  Yes, I am a constant patron to my own system!

I’ve always had my stories, though, ranging from the following synopses:

• I was cited in someone’s paper for finding plays on Broadway theatre on a certain week in a certain year
• I helped a man find a photograph of Pepe LePew.  Of course I was amused, but later shocked to realize it was because he was trying to find an old friend, and name-crossings led him to befriend a woman who was incarcerated for an accidental murder (vehicle crash), and had no one left in her life.  She was making a scrapbook.
• I was told by a regular patron that I like to wear brown, not the same clothes, just the same colors
• I had to file a minor sexual harassment incident report
• Tornadoes took down our subscriber’s internet for a day and a half, leading patrons to get mad at US for not having it ready for them.  Eventually I told people that yes, it was my fault, that during the floods and storms, I decided to cut off all the wire in angst against nature.
• Helped a teen find a CD - with his southern accent, he asked for a rap artist named… “tyahh.”  “what… did you say?”  “TYAHH!”  “Could you spell that for me?”  “it’s a ‘T,’ then a ‘ahh’!”  It took a librarian from Alabama to realize he was asking for “T. I.”  (You’ll have to imagine him saying it with his accent.  It was hilarious, because I couldn’t distinguish “AHH” as “EYE.”)  He later asked for “T-Pain” but with his pronunciations I didn’t understand that either; I asked him to spell it and he said, “it’s a ‘T’, then a ‘Paing’.”  Later that afternoon he came up to me and said “I’m hungry.”

Dealing with a lot of regulars. 

• One lady constantly calls for restaurant phone numbers, amount of trans-fat in fast-food, and when the Andy Griffith show is on.  She’s usually very mean. 
• Another man calls for (the same) motor-related manufacturers/shops, usually in Dallas, Tulsa, or Phoenix, and likes to tell me that he’s senile. 
• There’s another man who comes every other morning and tells me a classical poem relating to the weather.  I think I’ve only ever heard him talk in poems.

There are definitely more to catch up on!
Until the next Janet Evanovich book release (ha.. inside joke)

Most of this week, I felt dumb, mostly due to the fact that I’ve had an increasing number of procrastinator-tax-filers who don’t know what forms to fill. That, and chance. Twice I’ve had patrons try their hardest to make me feel inferior. I must say, on the inside, it worked, but I can’t let them know that too easy.

One boy could have jumped on that bandwagon, but thankfully did not, as we do have an Xbox system that we reference workers must hook up whenever a youngster would like to use it. I had to have him teach me the ropes because it hadn’t been set up that day. He was so nice about it. I wanted to hug him.

Thankfully, the weekend was far more amusing. When I was on my break, I was eating in the cafe, and there was a 40+ woman there who seemed (by her way of conversing and demeanor) she may have a slight mental disorder. Across from me, at another table, were two young college girls, very fashionable, very - sorority-like. One of the girls was positioned so that her left hand displayed a lovely engagement ring. The older woman approached this girl and the conversation was simply:

“Who are you engaged to?”
(the girl said a name)
“Oh yeah? I used to date him once.”

And that situation right there gives me one more reason why I really love people. In my head, I re-enact my witty, sarcastic conversation with her, that you know I wouldn’t have in real life because it would be mean. But the thoughts were funny (out of this context of who the woman appeared to be). “you need to tell me all his secrets!”

That day, I also weeded out a lot of the Self-Help books. It was such a TREAT! I can owe it to the fact that my heart has been captivated by a loving, relational God, that it saddens me to see how people try to fill their lives with temporal solutions. 3-day self-help solutions? How long will they last? It’s as if these authors are pimps of happiness. That’s right, happiness is a prostitute, joy is a wife. [side note: this is dangerous territory. working at a library, I'm "supposed" to be a neutral container, which can get very difficult because I'm very opinionated]. Oh and another thing - why do many self-help books feature the face of the author on the cover? Is it supposed to be a “help yourself be like me”? *sigh* Anyway, some of these HAD to have been some of my all-time favorite titles! NOTHING compares to the first one:

Eventually I reached the morals/ethics section, and it depressed me to have to weed out almost everything because the books were in our collection since late 80s - 90s. What does that say? Collection Development has no interest in growing morals? Or authors nowadays aren’t writing anything? Of course, it could be any number of reasons, but it definitely makes me wonder why we have an increase of self-help books, and not enough morals or ethics. There could be a possible correlation. Possibly.

I couldn’t finish my project because I was also helping a college student research eight Supreme Court Cases. Sometimes I really feel like I go over and beyond. And I’m not saying that in a prideful manner, I mean, I don’t know why I do so much if they don’t need the information, or it goes unnoticed, or they could do it themselves and I could save time.

Oh well. I need to make a separate post for Sunday. Else.

A three-year-old girl has been asking her parents deep questions.  Right now, the question is about death.  And how do you explain that concept to a babe? There are some books on that topic, but for that young, we couldn’t think of illustrated aides - perhaps finding a book of “Grandma died,” but how do you explain the concept of “her body’s here, but she is…. no more?”

While my co-worker took care of that, I had the joy of researching the size of the average Caucasian woman during the Civil War. I can tell you this much, that without proper registry with healthcare, women’s stats weren’t as prevalent until the early 1900’s.

I also had a woman who needed me to help her find templates for letters of disciplinary action (HR goodness).  I could really tell she wanted to spill out what this said employee did to the business.  And I didn’t realize how difficult it was to find tailored reprimanding letters.

last night i had the beautiful surprise of working in Periodicals. Alone.
The thought alone initially made me think of how God-privileged I was to do that, mostly because the other two Reference librarians I was with that night, regardless of their MANY years of library experience, have never been trained to work Periodicals. In fact, rarely any of the PT Reference staff have been trained there. Here I was, the 5-month-old baby, trained in Circulation a month ago, and in basic Periodical policies less than a week ago (at least during that time, there were 2 other Periodical staff). Mind you, I’m not speaking out of arrogance - you’ll have to understand me as a person to understand the tone I say that all in. That also being said, at least my initial response was not stark refusal (a past life assumes the fear position).

My adventures were frequent, learning how to operate things as I attempt to hold a facade of confidence, trying to mimic the actions I’ve observed of the real staff workers. It would be unnerving for the patrons to know that the only Periodicals staff at hand had no idea what she was doing.

But now I know. Because of last night’s experience, I had my foot in the door to be trained a lot more in depth during today’s shift.

Let me say, though, that among the interesting situations, I had two guys hit on me, one a teenager who showed no decency in scaling me with his eyes, the other a subtle mid-aged man who poured out his life stresses, concluding with “What are you doing this weekend? Any big plans?” “Celebrating Easter, Sir,” I replied. I also had to search for two obituaries. Having two in one night, I wonder if that’s a frequent task…

I felt bad at closing when a man would not get off the computer, and I later found out that he was deaf and mute. I wish I knew how to sign.

Today a teen girl told our Young Adult Librarian, “Man, all the small libraries are like - cold corn straight out of the can. But THIS library - this library’s like a gourmet dinner!”

I said she ought to be a poet.

I also had a woman call me for the recipe for thousand island dressing.

In Periodicals, they handle all the new materials - it’s like Christmas, and it’s tempting to flip through the fresh pages and put that book, DVD, or CD on your holds list. On the other hand, I had the beautiful task (which is not new to me) of withdrawing books off the US Travel shelf. One by one, scanning and changing their status to “unavailable.” It’s like a circulation of life and death.

Plus resurrection because there’s a gargantuan book sale of these withdrawn books last week of April.

Happy Easter.

God wrote the Best Book of all.

Sometimes I feel like I go above and beyond for patrons.

After searching a medical topic thoroughly (and unsuccessful at that), but still keeping a light-hearted tone and being innocent to his sarcastic jokes, a young man now has a nickname for me.  “Goober.”

A young woman also had difficulties with her paper and three times changed her topic.  That means, do articles, pull books off shelf, print articles, lather, rinse, repeat x3.  poor Pages.  having to reshelve my unloved finds.  when she got to the library to pick up the FINAL materials, she ended up changing her topic.  Again.

And I had a rollover project, also searching for articles for a college student.  I sent her seven articles, pulled off two commentaries, and gave an online site.  Seriously, college kids need to avail of this library resource called Reference desk.  It definitely helps get a few resources at hand.  That is, as long as you have two weeks to prepare for the paper.

Lastly, at the close of the library, a woman calls to ask about Grants because she was one of the Hurricane Katrina victims.  I was sorry to be initially upset for a patron calling so late.

false.  date this was written: march 16.

having been trained in two other departments, i feel well-rounded.

fattening the pig before the kill, i suppose.

the patrons will never cease to amaze me, i hope to never lose my sense of awe at the next question. being tax season and presidential election year, there is a never-ending hum of governmental jargon - like the air conditioner you hadn’t realized it was on until you turn it off, and the room sounds flat and lifeless. before understanding the “stimulus repayment” rebate thing (obviously, i haven’t caught the animal long enough to get its name), i would have patrons equally vague asking “do you have that form that Bush was talking about giving you $300?” “why yes,” i feel like replying. “This tax form here says ‘i am Bush. have some money.’” mind you, i say this all in sarcastic stride, because i can only laugh at my own situation - not enough money to even file my taxes. there’s some truth for you.

today i worked on a project using the mircrofilm (!) machines to read 1930’s newspapers in Springfield, trying to find an article about a supposed relative who supposedly tried out for the Olympics and supposedly got 2nd place in track and field. I could only suppose for luck. I suppose. Unsuccessful, because of the various emphases on winners, I could not help but wonder about every 2nd placer, whether they deserve a news story, or would rather hide in caves for what they almost achieved.

that aside, i had a question this week from the same “child labor in Africa” lady (see post #6). questions about how to make the earth greener and prevent pollution. she loved the idea about riding bikes and carpooling.

i feel like this post is really lame but i haven’t written in a while.

there was also a mother and daughter i recognized from a church i used to go to, they live in low-class conditions, and while waiting for me to find a book for the daughter, the daughter pulls out a gift she bought for her mom in the bookstore. “It’s a pendant,” she says, “to show you how much you mean to me, mom.” And she read off the pendant oblivious to me (I rather loved this company), and directly to her mother, in words that sounded like, “You have made so much sacrifices for me, and words cannot express how much you mean to me. I love you so much, Mom.” And they rested in an embrace of affection as her mother replied with returning words of adoration.

an elderly man came up to the reference desk to fill in voter registration.

“hold on,” he says, “gotta call the wife.  she’s got all my ID cards.”

he flips his phone open, puts it on speakerphone.

voice recognition: “please say the name of the person you would like to contact.”

he holds it close to his mouth, clearing his throat, and with an unmistakable tone, he says:

“The Governor.”

Sometimes while working, I will scribble little notations to myself of interesting stories worth blogging. Then I accidentally throw away the scrap sheets.

I haven’t yet written about the tornadoes on January 07, I realized. I simply recall only hearing the warnings as I drove on my way to work. And upon reaching the desk, had the rustling of whispered voices of what would happen. Within 30 minutes, and WHILE I was reading the safety handbook, the sirens alarmed and of course, we had to shuffle the patrons to safe locations. The rise and fall of alarms left us to believe we ought to remain in the hallway, the patrons free to go on their own accord. Altogether I believe there were over 30 tornadoes in the surrounding area, over 70 warnings.

Surely it doesn’t sound like a suspense novel, and it really wasn’t. My only interesting moment was having to cradle the radio, for if I left it, the static would blare. It had separation issues.

After a while, Periodicals decided to keep us occupied by giving us an array of magazines to entertain ourselves, and the Meeting Room Coordinator set up a TV so we could watch the weather forecast, with whatever we could receive with simple rabbit-ear antennas.

I do recall, however, two separate foreign families, who took a while to explain the situation. They made me happy. I wanted to ask them about their lives.

Other than that, every other scare and warning was far from us. And the rest of the night was simple history. “Remember the tornadoes?” “Oh yeah. Remember the ice storm?”

Today, I discovered when driver’s licenses were first required in the state of Illinois.  Look for the year, but I can tell you that it was on May 1.

Truly, a writer will have no problems with ideas if they simply read news stories.  Take, for example, the wait for an Indonesian King (please do read that article).  Or the plan to blow up a satellite so it doesn’t reach the earth, or everything major like the tragic shooting in Illinois… of which I plead dear God for comfort upon the suffering (ps 119.50)

On another note, a woman called because her shift button on her computer keyboard was stuck, and she “can’t sign into Yahoo Messenger.”  She was terribly upset to say the least, moreso irritated that I could not assist her.

How despairing, to be around all this information ready to be had, and yet, still have other responsibilities that take away from a plunge into new things.

Currently:
reading non-fiction: Letters to a Young Artist (Julia Cameron)
reading fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)
audiobooking: Holes (Louis Sachar) and Lemony Snicket
listening to: Uakti: Aguas da Amazonia (Philip Glass)
watching: The Bicycle Thief and I’m Not Scared

hmph.

I wish I could update this while I am at work. I would have an abundance of stories, plus a lot of reviews, comments, etc.

Currently, I am astounded by a forceful phone call by a woman helping her 4th-grade son write a quick homework about child labor. There were two questions, the first I cannot remember (though I remember starkly it relating to Africa and cacao beans, because she did not know what cacao beans were - and I don’t say that to demean her). The second was, why does Africa have the highest child-labor rate? I told her my opinion: it’s probably because they are trying to boost the economy by increasing the workforce, but I recommended she check authoritative sources, like Human Rights Watch. Her response (or supposition) was, “You know, I have to wonder,” she started, “do you think they’re making a lot of kids work because Africa is running out of adults?”

I was startled. Is “startled” too crude of an understatement?