Thursday, September 8, 2016

restoring that fuzzy lava feeling


After a holiday the library can get a little bit... How do I say this politely?  

The library has a tendency to be a little batshit crazy after a holiday.  We are very loved, and my heart simply melts into fuzzy lava knowing that people miss us so much.  

However, we have a million things that were returned while closed, and all those things need to be processed.  Plus everyone gets a little spacey so we have a lot of what we call 'mismatches,' which is code for things returned without all their pieces.  

Oh and if I have a holiday and I'm not going out of town I like to do a bit of housecleaning, get caught up, that sort of thing.  Apparently we all feel this way because there's usually a wall of donations awaiting us.  

People also find items that were lost in the 60's and and naturally expect refunds.  

Other folks use the extra time to learn new library resources like databases and ebooks, and when its unsuccessful, need some help ASAP when our doors open after the holiday.  

Fines from ten years ago are discovered and must. be. paid. now.

Everyone's a little cranky because we have to go back to work.  Even people who work in libraries! WHAA?  

And added to all of this holiday mayhem is the fact that we are missing 25% of our staff due to promotions, moving, etc.  A lot of turnover.

So, today, on my day off, I am going to clear my mind, go for a walk, do a little yoga, and listen to as much music as I possibly can.  Tomorrow, I will greet you with only patience and a heart full of music when you need me to learn how to use Publisher in 5 minutes so I can help you make a graphic or you hand me a Walmart bag of pennies to put towards the fines on your six kid's accounts.  

Or if you accidentally returned an empty six cd set because you put each of those cds in unrelated cases that were on your grandma's best friend's account, I will nod understandingly and smile, even as I hear a thousand things fall on the floor in the backroom because the tub is overflowing.  

Yesterday a lady, who was at least 80, ducked her head in the back room.  
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"I was just following the sound of that beautiful music."
I was a little mortified because I was playing this:


Thank goodness it wasn't Big Pimpin'. 

4 comments:

  1. You can’t even return things to my local library during holiday weekends because they would often clog up the conveyer belts and people would end up stuffing things in so hard that they would damage them.

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  2. It's funny to hear a behind the scenes take on life at the library. The library has always seemed like such a tranquil place to me. It seems that a lot of work goes on that the public never sees or appreciates. After reading this post, I want to march straight down to our local library and begin handing out hugs and or cash to those sweet folk:)

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    Replies
    1. We definitely take hugs, but really all we need is unabashed liberry enthusiasm.

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