Outa Here

Well library fans.
After many years, I am finally getting out of the library. So this will be the last entry in the Weird Library Journal.
I'll be working at a hospital, so HIPAA laws permitting, keep an eye out for the Weird Hospital Journal.

New Boss

Our current/old director quit and took another director position at a large library.
So our reference librarian essentially got prompted to director. Which is great for him, and makes it so we don't have to break in a new boss. So, it should be a smooth transition.

Old Ladies

Some old ladies should come with suspenders as standard equipment.

One was looking for books in the shelves and her pants just dropped, and she apparently didn't even notice until one of the library workers went over and told her.

Needing help

A question.

Why do people ask me for help when they aren't willing to do what I say to help them?
Them: "I can't get this to work..."
Me: "Do it like this..."
Them: Doing it their way still, "Why isn't it working?"

This happens more that you might think. So, please, if you need help, be willing to accept it when you ask for it.

Smelly Computer Help

First, if you smoke enough that when you walk up to someone and it literally makes them gag, it might be time to cut back a bit.

I was helping someone recently that had that problem, she came up to my desk and it was all I could do to stop from physically gagging at the smell.

Secondly, if you can't setup an email account own your own, you probably shouldn't be applying for a job online. And, no it's not a good password once you tell it to me.

More Bathroom woes

Now we get to flush twice each time, at least until the borough comes in in April and sends a pipe shaver-bot down to remove all the deposits inside of the pipes.
Apparently out sewer system basically has clogged arteries.

Noobs

Yay, it's just about time to start breaking in 2 new desk attendants. I wonder how long they'll last.
We've had some that only lasted a few days.

Fun emails

Sometimes I get some fun emails like this unsubscription email from a Bryan R "STOP SENDING ME THESE STUPID EMAILS PLEASE! I DON'T
LIVE IN PA ANYMORE!"
Looks like we have to be psychic now, and are suppose to magically know when patrons move away without being informed.
On the plus side, at least he used the proper "Unsubscribe" subject. Many people don't get that right.
But, our monthly email newsletter is can-spam compliant, we give the physical address and have a working unsubscribe link.

Myspace is back :(

Well, after a poll of other local libraries, we are unblocking myspace. Looks like noone else has them blocked on all their computers.

But on the plus side, I found this new article
"
MySpace agrees to block sexual predators
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer

MySpace.com has agreed with 45 states to add extensive measures to combat sexual predators.

An official familiar with the multistate agreement said MySpace, the huge online social networking Web site, agreed to include several online protections and participate in a working group to develop age-verification and other technologies.

The official said MySpace will also accept independent monitoring and changes to the structure of its site.

The agreement is scheduled to be announced today in Manhattan by attorneys general from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement hadn't yet been announced.

The attorneys general have been seeking greater controls for online networking sites to prevent sexual predators from using those sites to contact children.

There was no immediate comment from MySpace, a unit of News Corp."
"

So, at least it looks like they will be cleaning up their act internally.

Word Processing woes

A few of our patrons seems to like composing documents in hotmail instead of word.
Why they use email for word processing is beyond me. Then they complain because it's not working right. Of course it's not, hotmail is not a word processor, it's not designed to format and print a resume or letter. And please don't blame me for the way that Microsoft made hotmail work, or at the least, listen to my suggestion to use word for word processing.

Myspace

Do to many violations, I blocked myspace here. And have had surprisingly few complaints, just from the few people who spend heaps of time on it here.
There is just too much questionable content there, and many of our patrons have been abusing it.
Oh well, bye bye myspace. Blogger is still here though, yay Google.

More Toilet Troubles

Big surprise, it happened again.
This time they are saying it's deposits in the pipes, blocking them up, kinda like plaque in arteries.
Is the library having a toilet attack?
Or are the toilets attacking?

Toilet Troubles

Ever since we got the restroom remodeled we have had issue after issue with the plumbing.
This is the second time in 2 weeks that every toilet in the building has backed up, even the sinks are backed up this time.

In all likelihood it's something that the contractor did, but of course they will not admit it and fix it.

Firefighter

I bet you wouldn't think that firefighter is in a library workers job description. But it is.
Yesterday, I had to use watering cans to put out a smoldering fire in the mulch at the library. Some smart person decided to put their half smoked cigarette in the mulch. Hello, wood mulch burns!!!
That's the 4th or 5th mulch fire that I've seen there.

Sorry about the lack of posts

Sorry about the lack of posts library fans.
This blogger has been a bit busy.

Movie Incident

We had an incident at one of our recent Friday night movies, showing Happy Feet of all things.
Here is the report from the night tech.

“A verbal fight between parents broke out during the showing of happy feet on June 8, 2007. First warning signs came when an infuriated parent came up to loudly complain about the behavior of other children in the movie. She was irrational and upset, breathing hard and not in control of her emotions. Ginger [our Friday night desk attendant] went into the theater to try and solve the problem. After multiple parents came up complaining about each other and their kids, and Ginger going down multiple times, we decided that it was best to pull the movie altogether, it seemed that people were not mature enough to handle a G rated movie.

When I went in there, parents were yelling at other parents, and their kids.

To restore order, I felt it necessary to raise my voice and clap my hands together loudly. I turned on the lights and shut the projector down. At this point, most of the rowdy parents left. After several minutes, it was clear that everything had calmed down. The patrons that were left were all level headed and it seemed that no further commotion would break out, so the movie was resumed, but the patrons were warned that if any excess noise was heard from the theater, or of any further complaints were lodged, that the movie would be shut down for good."

DVD Repair

I am repairing many, many DVD's tonight.
Just got done one that was sticky, and Troy is not a kid's movie.
Come on people, treat rented DVD's like you'd want someone treating your favorite DVD.

It's easy, hold the disk by the sides/hole, do not touch the data surface(shiny side) esp with sticky stuff, do not put it down on anything rough or dirty, preferably do not put it anywhere other than the case or DVD Player's draw.

Thank you

Wifi issues?!?!

Oh goodness yes, I was helping someone here with their laptop wifi access to the library's (I work at a library) hotspot. He got all indignant and questioned my networking skills, while I was trying to figure out what was going on. Of course he wouldn't do exactly what I asked him to do. Then he mentioned that he got a virus and recently reinstalled the system from the restore disks himself. Which made me think, right well there's the problem right there. The problem ended up basically being that his hard drive was dying.

Well, of course he was right, his computer dying means that our wifi didn't work right. Or was it that his laptop was dead.

I probably could have fixed it for him, but with his attitude, nope.