Day 67: 11/17/11 - "Man in the Box"

"I'm the dog who gets beat

Shove my nose in s*it

Won't you come and save me..."

-"Man in the Box" by Alice in Chairs

Vicarious Pride: Tonight I attend an awards dinner for students who wrote winning essays for their COR 1203 courses.  All instructors submitted their top two essays for consideration, so there were 102 essays submitted for review.  Out of this, there were only 3 winners.  One of the winners this year was my student!  I was so happy for him and very proud of him, but I think what made me the most proud was the way he received the honor.  You could see that he was humbled by it, as if he couldn't believe that he had won second place.  I know his parents are going to be ecstatic about his honor and I wish they could have been there.  I taped it as best I could from my digital camera and I'll make sure he has that to share with his parents.  I hope this launches him into even greater things!

None Done, So Many to Go: I've got so many things going on at once right now, and I'm not sure where to start, let alone sure how to finish!  I had to squeeze in a meeting tomorrow during my lunch hour since I didn't have any other open slots to work with.  I normally work through my lunch, but nothing too intense - it's usually when I clean up my e-mail.  Tomorrow I'll have to see if I can be productive and actually get something coherent put together during an hour long session where I have to try to eat at the same time.

What The ???  I've received two phone calls from staff members recently where I'm not sure why they needed my assistance.  I'm beginning to see that no matter how much training is provided, how much information is offered, there are some staff members who just won't be able to go that next step and extrapolate from previous experiences.  I was talking to my students about multiple-intelligences today and I think this is what I'm seeing as I work with my varied staff and, of course, the varied patrons!

And It Grows: I'm saddened but not surprised to see that more victims of the Sandusky scandal are coming forward.  All it takes is one person strong enough to weather the storm to provide shelter to others too scared to speak up previously.  Of course, now, it looks like Syracuse is going to get caught up in a similar scandal.  I wonder what the connection is to Penn State (in terms of the security that comes from having someone else step up and speak the truth).  Will this one also grow disproportionately based on the distance we get from the original announcement?  You can only hope that one day it will all. end.

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.