Friday, July 30, 2010

Again on the library

Ha! I bet you didn't expect me to blog about the library this far into the summer did you? Well, the truth is, what I'm going to tell you actually happened before I created the blog. When I did create it, there were a couple of things I just had to say first. By the time those were out, I had all but forgotten about this little event.

I started working in the library because it just peeves me to see books that are left lying; books that fall behind the shelf and nobody picks them up; and books that are so obviously out of their section, it's hard to believe it was done by accident. In short, "Hey there, library folks, I'm perfectly happy to reshelve books. Pay me to be happy, will ya?"

Except that, as I have explained, reshelving books is the last priority for the library. I really don't mind having to tend to the course reserve, dish out study cubicles, or look after the computer terminals. What really gets on my nerves is things that don't seem like library work at all.



On Saturday, May 15, I was asked, if it wasn't too much bother, to open the door so a truck could leave the library. In addition to that, the library bought a couple new shelf racks, so they are literally moving all the books from one to the other, making the job more akin to lifting weights than arranging books. The only part that still fits the "librarian" description is that whatever order the books had on the old shelf rack, they must retain that order in the new shelf rack.

To make matters worse, some of these books have been gathering dust for decades, requiring us to wear breathing masks and gloves to deal with them.

Well, that's enough ranting for today. I have to get to the library.
"What? but it's summer!"
Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm taking Statistics as a summer course and need to check out the textbook.

2 comments:

  1. Breathing mask and gloves? I never realized library work was so hazardous.

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  2. It gets worse: the theses from the university's founding years have fungi growing on them, but we can't throw them out because, well, where are we going to get a replacement copy?

    And by the way, I wrote this back in May, so the "I'm taking statistics" bit is inaccurate.

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