May 1, 2018

I had the first two hours off desk this morning. I started my day by pulling books for my biography display. Then I took down the old books, put up mine, made sure all the old books were accounted for in the record set, took the old books off display status, and put them on the reshelving shelves behind circulation. I also pulled several audiobooks to fill out that display. And with the little bit of time remaining, I went up to the cubicle, read news articles, listened to music, and watched a couple videos.

Then I had a walkthrough and spent the rest of that hour walking one of the other librarian's through formatting the monthly report form. She was feeling more comfortable with it by the end so I'll say we accomplished something. And she's ready to go for the rest of the year.

After that I had two more walkthroughs and went up to the cubicle after each one. And then I had yet another walkthrough when I got back from lunch. And I once again went up to the cubicle, but this time it was to call back someone who was wanting a reference for our old assistant. I emailed a reference a few weeks ago but I think that was before the interview process. I found out from the person today that they had offered him the job, assuming the references went well. He was a really good worker, and just a good person, so it was easy to give him a strong reference without having to lie or try to over-sell him, which made it a lot easier. And after that I read a couple news articles and caught up on the staff blog.

I was on the desk for two hours and they were a very quiet two hours. It started with talking to my boss and coworkers about library things. There is a chance they'll actually start construction stuff tomorrow afternoon. None of us are holding our breath. Then I caught up on the local paper. And that was pretty much my time on desk. I answered a few phone calls and did some email stuff, but nothing too exciting.

I spent the last hour back in the cubicle to make room at the desk. I was going to look at the latest personalized reading list request but then got sidetracked. We were in a tornado watch today and my Dad texted me and asked if I had a county map. I always just get online and get the map that way when the weather people start listing off counties I'm not familiar with. But if the power goes out and all we have is a radio, it will be hard to know where things are actually happening. So I figured I would get a map and put it in our emergency binder, that way we'll have it if we end up in the basement.

It was pretty easy to find a map with the counties on it, but I wanted something better, and couldn't find it, so I started making one. The map covers most of the page but beneath it is an alphabetical index of the counties. Then I went through and added a number to each county on the map and got a start on adding the corresponding number to the index. This way, if you don't know where the county is, you can find it in the index, get the number, and then look for the number. It shouldn't take me too long to finish it tomorrow, just in time for another round of bad weather.

On my way home I stopped at Target to get a few things. When I got home I ate leftovers and watched videos for awhile. And then I played CoD: WW2. Most of the games I played were crap because I couldn't get a decent connection and it felt like I was getting 90% hit markers and 10% kills. It was rough, but I completely my orders and challenges, and I had a decent enough escape.

Tomorrow morning I open. I'm going to bed now.