Busy as a Bee

As expected, another month or two has passed since my last blog update. I appropriately hang my head in shame.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic at work. A week from last Sunday I almost didn't make it down to a planned trip to the Denver Museum because I had to stop in to the library to help diagnose a network problem. The city IT team had recently switched the all departments over to a new Internet service provider, which ended up playing havoc with any communications from the outside world to us. I ended up spending most of the afternoon at work (with Kate, Tessa, and my buddy Bill just milling about waiting for me) before the City IT guy I was working with said he was giving up for the day. Fortunately, we were able to blaze down the interstate and rendezvous with the rest of the gang at the Museum in time to catch the last showing of the Pirates exhibit (which was stellar cool!) as well as make it to Cinzetti's for a much needed dinner.

I'm still dealing with some of the communication fallout from the ISP switchover. For example, remote access to our subscribed databases don't seem to be working. Also a program used by our interlibrary loan staff is having trouble. I have theories on what's going wrong but I lack the skills or security access to make the changes. It results in a bit of sit around and wait for help on my part.

I did have a few successes. I was able to diagnose a network drop issue that was keeping one of our self-check machines down. A call to a specific network specialist later and it was up and running. I also installed a new color printer for use in the public computer labs. This wasn't as tricky as I was expecting it to be...once the city IT gents installed a couple of new network drops in my computer lab. Now all library patrons can print in color, which has already proven to be very, very popular. This did involve some rearranging of the lab, moving two printers, shifting the position of the copier, and installing a second self-service reservation station.

To top it all off, the library is in a hiring frenzy. I was recently on the interview team for a new cataloging technician that will also work under me in the computer lab a few hours a week. I did some training with the intern working the Childrens & Teen department, who was interested in helping us out in the computer lab. I'm also hiring a new hourly lab monitor position to replace one of my gals whose second job just bumped her up to full-time. Thankfully, she's been good enough to stick around for nights and weekends until I get this new person hired on. I currently have somewhere around ninety applications to filter through over the weekend. All this also means I'm having to revamp the lab rotation schedule to accommodate new availabilities.

I've also been getting pressure to update my section of the library web page, namely the computer lab section. It sounds like I may get tapped to help with the Circulation side as well. And the head of Adult Services/Reference wants my expertise in redesigning our Library 24/7 page. Didn't anyone tell these folks that it's my sister who's the web design expert? :-)

Tack this on to the usual PC maintenance and minor disasters that crop up every other day as well as juggling my scheduled time in the computer lab...and you have before you a severely run ragged library tech.

Still, I can't complain too much. I like being kept busy. I like being challenged. I like that my co-workers consider me an local expert and trust my judgment and ability. I like how I always have something new to work on or try out. It really is a pretty good job that I have.

But that doesn't mean I'm not looking for a nice vacation. :-)