Because it will sound like a blues song anyway...

[rflong]

Woke up this morning With no electricity

Couldn't even Make a cup of tea

Drove to the office through storm debris

And now there's a leak In my Li-Brar-y!

Yep, the power went at 1am, still wasn't back when I left and isn't according to the ESB. When I got in here I discovered a leak by the door, water dripping down from the ceiling. The disaster plan *cough cough* swung into action. After a frantic few minutes I got some help, a bin and some towels to at least it is contained. We have now got to make contact with the facilities people to get it fixed!

So here I am, sitting here alone, listening to the dripping!

And I typed all this up once (far funnier and wittier, of course) and promptly hit the wrong button and wiped it!

It is definitely one of those days.

The nation had one yesterday too. Day of disasters

But this is my library! Focus people! Priorities! :D

I am absolutely wrecked and it isn't even midday yet! 

It is however, time for elevenses, which I plan to take full advantage of. Yay.

The laptop is settling in well, making friends, particularly with the cat. :D

R

Comments

[kara-gnome.livejournal.com]

Libraries should get a special exemption, and I know it's just a leak, but still...! :-)

I'm an elementary library assistant, and we had a flood in our library which meant we had to get new walls, bookcases, rug, and circulation desk. At least the books were okay, so that's the main thing.

So neat about the laptop! New toys are wonderful.

[rflong.livejournal.com]

I work in a specialist library, with a lot of old and rare books so this was such an unbelievably big deal I can't describe it. I nearly had a fit and spent the first hour of the morning running around sorting it out. It wasn't until 3.30pm that the man came to "fix" it - i.e. tighten the loose bit of pipe that was causing all the trouble and then piercing the ceiling tile several times to create a small waterfall and get rid of the large amount of accumulated water.

We were very lucky as to where is was - as far away from the shelves as possible while still being in the library.

Stress, stress.

Anyway, home now.

Phew.

R

[kara-gnome.livejournal.com]

Yes, those books are treasures.

The books I work with are poor little potato chips, even if they do cost around $15.00. Still, though, three or four trips out the door in five-year-old hands, and they're in serious trouble.

I keep them going as long as possible, though, and am a very quick book-cover-replacer :-). I wish I would have realized how much I like working in a library, as I'd love to be a librarian instead of an assistant. Oh, well, the way it goes.

How long have you been--I think it's an archivist?

[rflong.livejournal.com]

I'm one of these all "books are treasures" people, even if they don't cost a penny. We have a large collection of things like pamphlets that would have been given away in the 40s and 50s (and some earlier) which are now priceless as few exist anywhere else in the world.

I trained as a librarian about ten years ago and worked in public libraries as a library assistant for two years as there were no librarian jobs going. When my contract finished it was the same story so I ended up moving into software development and from there into database design. I got completely fed up with that over the ensuing 8 years! A couple of years ago I decided to do something about it and started looking for a library job again. Things came to a head in my db job and I decided to leave. Luckily I had a very good and helpful boss who was able to offer me redundancy which gave me the cushion I needed to find the job I really wanted. Luckily as well the perfect job turned up a couple of weeks later!

So, I work in a private research library (still a librarian, but also their part time archivist - dealing with papers etc from the 1800s onwards). The books date mainly to the 1500s, although we have one incunabula and one manuscript from c. 1480s. Beautiful things, locked in a safe in a secure room and only taken out occassionally - such is life unfortunately.

The nice thing is that this is a working library, and modern books sit side by side with ancient ones. You get a sense of the whole span of knowledge in print. Now of course we're getting DVDs and online resources too.

There's just me. I noticed I tend to use 'we' which is probably me and the books! :D

I love this job. I can't imagine how I did without it for so long. I was so miserable by the time I left IT that this really was a sanity saver!

R