My Job

Hello,

I am totally attached to the computer at work. There are a few things that I do when I do not use it, but even those tasks are dependent on the computer. Our Internet was down when I got to work on Monday. After much fussing, luckily someone else has to deal with all this; it was still down when I left. On Tuesday it was also down, but the tech guy came in and got it going only to have it disappear about an hour later.

We can adopt former methods of check out such as writing down a person’s name and noting the barcodes of the items they are checking out. As you might imagine this takes much more time than scanning the barcode.

I was unable to enter new books because the library software is all online. So I checked people in and out, shelved some books, called a few people about their over dues, and generally moaned to self about the lack of technology.

One observant child commented, “What would happen if all your pens did not work?”  Amazing how we are grateful for that old device. Humble that it is, it just keeps on delivering reliable assistance.

My boss, who is the most tech savvy among us, figured out that we could use the inventory scanner to check in and out. She would then download or upload that data at home.

I had not used this scanner before and I, for some reason, could not hold it consistently at the proper angles, causing a certain level of anxiety. I also learned I am not so good at shelving for a long time. Good thing I am not specifically hired to do that. Also yesterday in the seven hours I worked 150 people entered and left the library. Not all used the desk services, but still that is a lot of people to come through. I was the only staff person there for at least five hours of that time. When I was done I was quite tired and glad for the end.

Paula