Day In The Life

After six days off, I anticipated being greeted by a stack of stuff and a pile of emails. It was Christmas and nobody wanted to work. There was a little mail in my box, nothing on my desk, and only a few emails, even less needing immediate attention. A pleasant surprise.

Not that I need someone giving me work. I have plenty. Besides, I work in a large public library. There is always too much to do.

I started the day by listening to music. I'm helping with a digital story about a Sacramento band from the early 90's. I helped film the interview last week. The band member had some records, a 33 and three 45's. This is a test. How many of you know what I'm talking about? I used a record player with a CD-ROM burner to make the music digital. While I was doing this I scanned record covers and images.

Yes, I can occasionally multi-task. But, I'm a guy. It's hard. What I have learned to do, mostly in the Library, is to concentrate on one thing at a time with the ability to set it aside at a moments notice to concentrate on another task. This way, when a colleague or patron asks a question, I don't get flustered or upset. Twenty years of experience helps.

Today, I worked on a digital story; printed a half sheet brochure/announcement for an up-coming program; helped find a Federal Document CD-ROM then helped the patron access the CD-ROM on his laptop; transferred music from records to CD-ROM to iTunes; scanned images to drive, backed them up on a PC, then transferred them to iPhoto; worked briefly with several periodicals questions; tried to find out how much gold was imported over the last few years; helped patrons sign up for programs; helped users sign up for Internet; etc., etc.

Officer just walked through wearing a bullet-proof vest. Just finished speaking with a Census 2010 worker looking for places to hire and train others for the Census. Patron just walked though wearing a huge home-made sign saying something about not forcing people to stand in lines.

Whoa! Days only half over.

Gerald F. Ward