Two things I forgot. The day before yesterday a man that had to have
been in his nineties climbed the stairs up to the second floor
looking for the most recent issue of the newspaper on microfilm.
That isn't how microfilm works so my boss had to tell him that he
could get the most recent issue down at the circulation desk. He
looked a little wiped out from climbing up the stairs so my boss
suggested they take the elevator back down and she would show him
where to get the paper. He told us that he was told never to trust
elevators so he didn't use them. They slowly walked back down the
stairs. That was fascinating.
Also, yesterday the PR lady gave me a really cool glass-handled dip
pen. Awhile ago she gave me two small bottles of ink she got in
Italy and never used. She bought the pen at the same time and
figured it should go along with the ink because she knew she would
never use it. That is really cool of her. When I have the time I
need to continue working on my penmanship so I can write her a Thank
You note with the pen and ink. She also gave me the documentation
that came with the pen, which included a few pieces of stationery
that I can use to write the note.
This morning I woke up and eventually got ready and headed to campus
to help out with orientation. I parked and walked across campus to
the library and once inside saw that the gate was down because
apparently the library wasn't opening until one o'clock. It was
sometime before eleven o'clock. A student came in at the same time I
did and mentioned that he needed to print something. I asked if he
knew about the twenty-four hour room and he didn't so I walked down
to the first floor with him. It has changed a bit since I went to
school there but the general idea of the place is the same. What he
wanted was on his iPad but it wouldn't connect to the printer. He
found an open computer, though, and was able to print from that. I
hung around until that happened and then headed back up to the second
floor to wait for my supervisor.
She said she was just leaving her apartment and would let me know
when she parked so we could me on the backside of the library where
she could use her card to get us inside. While I was waiting on that
I wrote down some book display ideas and briefly said 'hello' to one
of the librarians I interviewed because he was up on the third floor
and saw me sitting down on the second floor. He was there walking
laps inside the library with one of his friends because it was way
too hot to be doing it outside.
When my supervisor arrived we went in the back door and then up to
the office I'm supposed to be working in to pack up the trolly and
head across campus to the union. We got the table set up fairly
quickly and then we waited for the students and their parents to show
up. Across from us was a table for housing and dining and they had a
VR headset so the incoming students living in the new dorm could see
what their room will look like. The dorm is still under construction
so there aren't any tours but they got a 3D rendering of the rooms so
the kids and parents were able to use VR to look around the room.
That was a pretty cool idea.
The tables were open from noon to four o'clock. In that time we had
39 interactions, which seems pretty good. I think the rowing table a
few tables down did way better because it seemed like they constantly
had a group of people waiting to talk to them. But 39 is pretty
good. The library poster had a game component to it which I think
was great idea because it gave us a way to get people over to it.
There were four pictures of various places in the library and then
four clues that the students would read and try to match to the
picture. If they got them correct, or correct after a little help,
they got a cup with a drawing of the library on it. There were a
couple times when my supervisor went to fill up her water bottle,
leaving me at the table alone, but I was able to get a few people to
stop by the table. One time it was two girls and I asked if they
wanted to play a game. One of them it sounded like the movie Saw
when I said that, which I admit was the first thing that popped into
my head when I said it. I promised the game wouldn't be as difficult
as Saw and they got a cup out of it. In another instance I
was able to answer the question of one of the parents because of the
tour I went on earlier in the week. The librarian said an
interesting tidbit about the stacks and this parent happened to ask
about just that thing so I was able to talk about it.
It was a long four hours standing in the same spot but it was also
kind of fun. My supervisor is enough of an extrovert that we were
able to keep random conversations going throughout the time there. I
was also able to get outside my comfort zone on multiple occasions
and get people to come over to the table. I'm not great at smalltalk
but I'm getting better.
Other tables started packing up their tables really early but we
waiting until maybe a couple minutes before four o'clock when all the
students and parents had left. When we made it to the elevator there
was a family in the stairwell that seemed lost trying to get back to
the parking garage so we got them on the elevator and told them what
button to push. We weren't entirely sure what button to push but
after the elevator came back empty we got on and pushed the same
button we ended up in the right place. And the family wasn't there
so we assumed they made it out.
By the last hour or two the air conditioning in the union got
noticeably cold and near the end my fingers were starting to get
cold. I think it was cranked up to compensate for all of the extra
bodies so when it started to thin out the temperature noticeably
dropped. It was still ridiculously hot outside but it felt good for
about five or ten seconds after freezing inside. The same thing
happened when we made it back to the library because the air
conditioning felt great when we first got in but then it was just
freezing.
We dropped the stuff off in the office and then parted ways. That
left me to walk back across campus to the parking garage. On my way
I saw a dad and son looking at a map in their brochure and a big
standing map next to the sidewalk and they looked vaguely lost. I
had gotten slightly used to talking to strangers after helping the
kid at the library and then getting people over to the table in the
union so I stopped and asked if they needed help finding anything.
They said they thought they had it figured out but they thanked me,
so that was nice.
I didn't accomplish much the rest of the night because I was
exhausted after my day. Standing in the same spot for four hours,
spending a lot of time walking in the hot weather, and social
interaction with strangers wiped me out. I was able to do my laundry
and come up with some ideas for book displays. I think I had one or
two originals but most are ones I saw on Pinterest. A few days ago
my account got suspended but I sent them an email saying I thought it
was a mistake because I hadn't posted anything or done anything that
went against their Terms of Service. I didn't hear back from them
but today I was able to get on as if nothing had happened. Weird.
But I'm back in and now I can look up library stuff.
The raccoon was back tonight and I actually got to see it this time.
I was very cautious at first when I turned the flashlight on it but
then I watched it make two attempts to climb up on the rail of the
deck, achieving success on the second attempt. It them ate out of
the bird feeder for awhile before it got spooked by Alfie. I've
never seen one that close for such an extended period of time.
Raccoons are pretty cute.
Now I need to go to bed because it is nearly 12:30AM and I have been
tired since eight o'clock. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in but then I
need to do school stuff. I dropped the ball on that stuff this past
week with the whole new job thing and practicum stuff.
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