What??

Did that caller just say, "Hang on, I'm in class," when I asked for her library card number to place a hold?! You know what: probably. I read to Horoscope Man earlier so I know the full moon is nearly upon us.

A 50ish woman working on an online college degree was shocked - shocked! - to hear that public libraries don't support college-level homework. K came out and eased her way into the event. Later, K mentioned that she's told that woman scores of time she needs a college library or to use our journal database. Sigh.

Just after her, an older man wanted "biographies of world leaders" -- as DVDs. Something about the way he put it -- and the fact that he knew he needed Clinton, Kennedy, and Idi Amin -- made me think he was taking a class, too. Whether this was background info he had missed these last few decades or his actual research, I can't say. Or maybe it is just for fun, or for date night or whatever. I thought of him as I read this.

More Fashion

Beautiful peacock-blue cashemere(?) sweater, nice black pants -- and a sizable black vinyl fanny pack worn more-or-less centered on her tummy.

Fashion

One patron is wearing striped leg-warmers (they match her striped shirt) and sandals. She is unlikely to be a dancer.

Another has a T-shirt with a seal of some sort, and letters arcing above and below it proclaiming Y'ALL UNIVERSITY."

nuff said

In the Arts Section

Nice T-D article about local man, and sometime patron of my lib, honored in the National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The portrait of his father gives us a little more of a regular patron than we like to see, but it is powerful.

I found Blake Gopnik's article in the Sunday Washington Post interesting, too. In short: yeah, nudes in art are meant to, um, arouse the passions.

Ref Desk Random

Helpless Job-Applier is here, again.

I tell overweight woman I will not do anything about the body odor of the man next to her. I point out other PCs available.

HJA

Books she placed on hold an hour ago.

HJA

How to print.

Stormy: Misty's Foal

HJA

HJA

Surprise a 60-something with the news that fiction is arranged by the author's last name.

City map.

HJA

Distinguished Alumnus of this Lib calls; I put him on hold to check something for him. When I pick up again, he notes that our hold music sounds "spacey" -- like Dr. Who. Awesome.

And now, Angry Facebooker is here. . . I'm stopping this list before I cry!

Um, Me?

Crabby Lady: I can't find any of these books on the shelf with the novels. They're for the book club.

Me, looking at list: Oh, book club! Well, this first one is a kids' book we're discussing . . .

CL (with disdain): Uh. I don't know who picked these books.

Me: Well, the librarians make suggestions and the members of the book club, too. I suggested that one.

Many People Are Nice

A coworker, over at the big library, wants to make a point about blogging about good things that happen at the lib. There are too many whiny blogs, she says.

Sometimes, I like to vent. Sometimes, I feel the need to tell a funny patron story. I do feel like I'm teetering on a Professionalism fulcrum. I don't mind reading the complaining blogs from time to time. Some force little practice scenarios into my head: Wow, I wonder what I will do when I get someone like that?

With D as a role model, today I will pause to be grateful for a nice fellow. He was in the middle of the front row of PC, just next to a cell phone-talker. I gave the young woman my pat cell phone phrase -- "Ma'am, I'm sorry, we ask that you use your cell phone outside of the library" -- and she said No, this is important. At the other end of the row, a man needed help: he couldn't get his e-mail by typing MYNAME[at]gmail[dot]com in the address bar. I sorted him out and eyed the woman. She migrated to the lobby.

Nice Man got up from his computer, smiled and said, "That's some tough job you have."

At my lib, random patrons often thank us for trying to rein in mayhem or just for being here. It feels good.

Running Start

At about 2 minutes to opening, the phone rang. Since H had just announced she'd unlock the door, I grabbed it. Ah, Horoscope Man! I didn't recognize his voice, and at first thought he wanted to come read back issues of the paper. When he launched into a long explanation of why he couldn't come in -- naming the car part that needed replacement so I'd know he was for real -- I knew who it was. I'm not much of a reader of the paper, so it took forever to find the horoscopes. When I finally got him off hold, the phone, naturally rang in two more calls! After I picked H.M. up again, I got to read five horoscopes; I only had to re-read one.

Then Golf Guy wanted to say Hi, and I guy angled to borrow some headphones, and then a lady wanted Ginter Park Branch in the city, not us. (I got to test the Delicious bookmarks I'd just created on that last one. I'm not sure that using those is any faster than going to the link I have on the blog for My Lib.) Normally, Firdays are way slower than this!