What a Hectic Week!: From the Perspective of a Reference Librarian
Hi. I’m Emily, and I’m a reference clerk at my local library. And lately… things have been a little hectic for the past week.
For starters, we got a new branch manager at the beginning of October. Our last one decided to become a deputy head manager at another library system because it paid more. So, we threw a little going-away party for her because, while we missed her, we were happy for her. Ever since then, we’ve been functioning without a branch manager until early October.
But that’s not the biggest thing happening right now.
Lately, we’ve been having some lighting issues at the library. So, my branch manager gave everyone a heads up saying that the library was going to be closed from Tuesday October 17th to Saturday October 21st a couple of weeks ago. One advantage of this is that everyone was going to have Saturday off, so that’s nice.
Well, it’s that week now. The library’s closed, and you’d think that we’d also be closed, right? Right…?
No.
We still have to clock in from 8:00 to 5:00, so at least there won’t be any late nights for us. Other than that, my supervisor and I have been going through our inventory and our reference books to get rid of the outdated ones and the ones that already have an online article on our library-approved website.
Let me tell you that those reference books aren’t light in weight. I swear, I feel like I was pushing at least half my weight on a book cart while picking books that are outdated/unneeded. It took me two days to do this, and by the time I was done, I took myself a well-earned fifteen-minute break.
Later on (today), I had to go through some leftover electronic devices and categorize them. After categorizing them, I had to check to see if they still worked. If not, I could just toss them out.
So, I first tested a pair of headphones. They looked like they were in decent shape, so I plugged them in and watched a tutorial on how to connect VGA connectors. They worked, but the audio wasn’t very loud even at 100%.
Speaking of VGA connectors, those were the last ones I tested before I clocked out (today). I tested them on two computers that had black screens. The first one I tested worked beautifully, and a computer that was previously out of service was working like a charm.
The second VGA connector, on the other hand, was a royal pain to plug in. I swear, one of the little twisty things was loose or something because it took me too long just to plug in the damn thing. And I’m not even sure if the computer I plugged that second one in is working because I had to clock out before I could even tell.
Also, I drew another poster for that library-approved website my supervisor wants me to promote, and I need to finish coloring it in tomorrow. I also need to test some other electronic devices to see if they work or not. Not to mention getting rid of all those unwanted reference books that are now at the reference desk. Either way, I’m going to be super busy the next day (or at least on the 19th).
Wish me luck, and I am so looking forward to Saturday! Not only am I going to hang out with my dad and little half-sister, but I’m also going to be able to digitally draw over all the posters I’ve made for that website. Either way, my local library should be back to normal by next Monday.
