May 4, 2017

 This morning I woke up one minute before my alarm went off. Pretty much perfect timing. I then ate a bowl of cereal and watched YouTube videos for awhile before getting ready for the day, eating lunch, and heading to work.

Today was another one of those strange days. I spent a good chunk of it designing a certificate for the Oregon Trail workshop. The idea is that people will get them for their accomplishments (or lack of accomplishment) in the game. Examples being the first person to get dysentery, for trying to ford a river, the first person to die, the first person to lose everyone, and the person who makes it the farthest. I think it's a pretty fun idea and the certificates look pretty good. And there are now people signed up for the class, so I can justify spending the time making the certificates. Three of the people are a fellow librarian, her husband, and her sister, and the fourth person is in his mid-80s. It should be interesting.

And speaking of tech stuff, there are now seven people signed up for the resume workshop. That's pretty exciting. It is my first program partnering with someone outside the library that didn't have a somewhat guaranteed audience, like the genealogy classes. I was worried that no one would show up and that the lady I'm partnering with would be scared off from doing any more programs with us. But we should be good. Also, older gentleman who is signed up for the Oregon Trail program is also signed up for the resume workshop. I'm not really sure he needs to touch up a resume but I'm not one to judge.

I talked for awhile with the librarian who I'm taking over the summer reading program from because she's moving. I told her than I felt like the program was a moving train and I just barely managed to grab onto the back as it flew by. Other people are easily having conversations about it because they have been involved since the beginning and it also isn't their first time planning a summer reading program. This is my first time working on a program like this and I joined late in the game. It's a little stressful. But I feel better about it after talking with the other librarian today. It is all still a bit confusing, like walking into the wrong classroom and trying to figure out what is written on the board, but I'm slowly getting more comfortable with it all.

I had a few good reference questions today. One was straight forward, a guy looking for books on the pricing of coins and stamps, and I was quickly able to walk him over to those books. This was good because he walked up while I was in the middle of looking up books for someone else who I had left in the stacks. That person was wanting a book that could easily visualize the expansion of Christianity. I eventually managed to find some books with various maps, which she may or may not have found useful, but I also suggested she check in the Children's department because they may have books that are filled with simple illustrations, which sounded like what she wanted. That was an interesting question because it started as wanting a map of the Roman empire but after asking a couple different questions I found out what she actually wanted. The last question was from a mom and her kid who wanted a book on the history of a small town in the state. We didn't have anything but I did find a book in a nearby town. I believe they are going to drive there in the next couple days because when I asked when they needed the information (to see if I had time to get it through ILL), the mom said the paper was due on Monday, to which I replied “That sounds about right”, and we both laughed. Whenever kids come in with their parents, especially near the end of the week, it's almost guaranteed that their project is due in the next few days. I'm still a procrastinator so I know all about last minute projects.

I learned how to make coffee today. Not being a coffee drinker, the need to make coffee has never come up. We are doing a study “event” the next few days, however, and it involves coffee, and because I closed tonight, and I'm closing tomorrow, the need to make coffee may arise. And now I know how to make coffee. We didn't get anyone at the “event” tonight so it was two pots of coffee down the drain, but hopefully it won't go to waste tomorrow.

When I got home I clicked around the internet and watched YouTube videos for awhile before writing this. And it is now after eleven o'clock. I'm going to record my audio journal and go to bed. I'm looking forward to another full night of sleep.