Day 12: 9/23/11 - "Shiver"

"Immobilized by the thought of you
Paralyzed by the sight of you
Hypnotized by the words you say
Not true but I believe 'em anyway"

- "Shiver" by Maroon 5

12 Hour Shifts Are For the Young: I haven't had to work a 12 hour shift in well over a year. Last night as I got ready for bed I had this thought that I was going to have to work 12 hours tomorrow. I just knew it. Sure enough, when I got in to work today my staff member who closes had called in sick. So I got to stay and despite my best efforts to be coherent and logical, by the time 8 pm rolled around I was pretty much punch drunk. I'm just hoping I actually locked up everything like I was supposed to and put the keys back up - that would suck if I forgot.

Staffing is Important: People keep telling me that I need to consider whether the staffing I have is what I need or if we could consider hiring students, and I keep telling them "no, students aren't the answer for us here - not the way we have things set up." Then I checked my e-mail, found out that I have a "secret" folder and found a message from a librarian who wanted to tell me that we needed to change our information on our chat entry page because we weren't being accurate about who was staffing the chat service vs. who was staffing the desk, etc. I wanted to laugh at the audacity of this person. Apparently they are on a mission to make us all put that information on our websites so that we aren't confusing the patrons. I mean, we wouldn't want our students being confused about who working in a library is actually a librarian, now would we? And lets insult the people who've been providing reference services for 10 years by telling them that they aren't good enough or smart enough, just because they don't have their MLS. Get over yourself and pay attention to your own library!

Back to the actual rant at hand - the students we currently have now (not in my department) aren't capable of handling any situation on their own, let alone staff an information desk. And what are the odds that I'll be able to find those "great" students who could actually be trained and trusted to provide high quality service? I'm not ready to deal with this and really don't think this is the time for us. I've got enough staffing issues on my plate not to add this to the discussion.

Motivation: Maybe this should be Lack of Motivation instead. I'm seriously struggling to find any passion for what I do right now. I look at my list of things to cover and I simply frown. Not because I'm worried about whether I can or cannot do them, but because I honestly don't care whether they get done or not. I need to refocus and hopefully I will find something I care about soon. I need a boost to my morale and also a kick in my butt from someone or something to make me actually want to do something...anything.