Monday, April 28, 2008
grrrr
There's nothing like the feeling when you're told to do something right away 'cause it's an emergency & time is of the essence. Never mind that you brought it up in the first place, asking for direction and stressing that it should be done soon...in an email that you sent two months ago!!!
Friday, April 25, 2008
What turned out to be a good week
I was heading off to bed quite awhile ago but instead what do I do? Change my blog a bit. And then I figured after all that I'd better do a post too...
I'd been fretting endlessly for the last week or more about a situation at work. A local group who rented the library a couple of months ago called & wanted to book it again for next year. I was really not comfortable making that decision and tried to pass the buck up to management but they passed it back down to me. We finally agreed to meet to discuss the last event. Then, as I kept stewing & losing sleep over this, I compiled (with help) a list of all the things that happened during the last event. These people came in, took over the building, brought in tables & chairs, caterers, floodlights, dance floor, etc etc (while we were open) and it was just an unpleasant experience for the staff. There was no way I wanted to put everybody through that again. Plus this group only gave us $1,000 which I thought was pretty paltry.
Anyway, turned out after I forwarded this list to management, that they knew nothing about it! EGTB had organized the whole thing & didn't tell them. Well... there has to be a contract, a 300% price increase, they have to pay the staff's wages to stay & move equipment etc., and they can't set up until after the library's closed. Thank God. I know it's impossible for this group to get ready between 5:30 and 8:00 so I think we're off the hook for 2009.
You know what else I learned this week... EGTB's parting internal voicemail message: "it's been a pleasure working with some of you"! Can you believe it? That woman sure knows how to burn bridges.
The other good things this week were the Ask a Genealogist Day last Saturday which was well-attended despite the snow. And on Wednesday night the BC Book Prizes Tour was in town. I had the pleasure of introducing the group and really enjoyed their readings - and of course had to buy all the books!
I'd been fretting endlessly for the last week or more about a situation at work. A local group who rented the library a couple of months ago called & wanted to book it again for next year. I was really not comfortable making that decision and tried to pass the buck up to management but they passed it back down to me. We finally agreed to meet to discuss the last event. Then, as I kept stewing & losing sleep over this, I compiled (with help) a list of all the things that happened during the last event. These people came in, took over the building, brought in tables & chairs, caterers, floodlights, dance floor, etc etc (while we were open) and it was just an unpleasant experience for the staff. There was no way I wanted to put everybody through that again. Plus this group only gave us $1,000 which I thought was pretty paltry.
Anyway, turned out after I forwarded this list to management, that they knew nothing about it! EGTB had organized the whole thing & didn't tell them. Well... there has to be a contract, a 300% price increase, they have to pay the staff's wages to stay & move equipment etc., and they can't set up until after the library's closed. Thank God. I know it's impossible for this group to get ready between 5:30 and 8:00 so I think we're off the hook for 2009.
You know what else I learned this week... EGTB's parting internal voicemail message: "it's been a pleasure working with some of you"! Can you believe it? That woman sure knows how to burn bridges.
The other good things this week were the Ask a Genealogist Day last Saturday which was well-attended despite the snow. And on Wednesday night the BC Book Prizes Tour was in town. I had the pleasure of introducing the group and really enjoyed their readings - and of course had to buy all the books!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Two, count 'em, two jobs at once
Well I'm just such a busy beaver these days. Since EGTB left I've been acting branch head which has been kind of fun, and kind of a pain in the butt. There's nothing like just starting one job and then a few weeks later getting appointed to another one as well. So I'm trying to do both, neither one very well I think. But since there was no training for either one, I don't feel too responsible. I'm just muddling along as best I can.
This past Saturday (you know, that day when we woke up in mid-April to SNOW!) we had organized, in conjunction with the local genealogy group, an 'ask a genealogist' day. It was pretty successful I'd say and I'm sure that if it weren't for the weather we'd have had even more people. Lots of fun though.
Wednesday this week the BC Book Prizes Tour will be here in town. The 4 authors and one illustrator will be doing readings at the library in the evening. I don't expect much of a turn-out for that. The Book Prizes people were supposed to do the PR and I haven't seen a thing. So the Friends of the Library had sent some stuff out; we'll see if it has any effect. I have low expectations but there's not much work involved either.
Of course I screwed up a few things in the preparation for both these events, but what the hey, I didn't know!
Other than work I don't really have a life these days. Very looking forward to the scrapbooking retreat in a couple of weeks and then a couple of weeks after that I'm off to Vancouver for the Canadian Library Association conference. In between my friend Marjory will be in town. So I guess I will have a social life in May. By then I'd really like to think we'd have a new branch head but I won't hold my breath.
Speaking of which, EGTB did not clean out her office when she left; you should see all the stuff in there! Everything from soup to nuts (and that's practically the literal truth...)
This past Saturday (you know, that day when we woke up in mid-April to SNOW!) we had organized, in conjunction with the local genealogy group, an 'ask a genealogist' day. It was pretty successful I'd say and I'm sure that if it weren't for the weather we'd have had even more people. Lots of fun though.
Wednesday this week the BC Book Prizes Tour will be here in town. The 4 authors and one illustrator will be doing readings at the library in the evening. I don't expect much of a turn-out for that. The Book Prizes people were supposed to do the PR and I haven't seen a thing. So the Friends of the Library had sent some stuff out; we'll see if it has any effect. I have low expectations but there's not much work involved either.
Of course I screwed up a few things in the preparation for both these events, but what the hey, I didn't know!
Other than work I don't really have a life these days. Very looking forward to the scrapbooking retreat in a couple of weeks and then a couple of weeks after that I'm off to Vancouver for the Canadian Library Association conference. In between my friend Marjory will be in town. So I guess I will have a social life in May. By then I'd really like to think we'd have a new branch head but I won't hold my breath.
Speaking of which, EGTB did not clean out her office when she left; you should see all the stuff in there! Everything from soup to nuts (and that's practically the literal truth...)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Another tiring weekend
Another garage sale weekend. For some bizarre reason, last week when we did no advertising and had only 2 signs, we were much busier than we were today when we had an ad in the paper & lots more signs up around the area.
Everybody is downsizing, nobody wants to buy other people's old junk (even when spelled junque) anymore. However I did sell some old scrapping stuff yesterday: some stamp sets & ink pads in garish colours. So today I brought out some more and only sold 12 pieces of paper! It's really not worth all the work. And the shortage of sleep.
Shame on those of you who accused Mark of sending threatening emails...! Of course it wasn't him. He was away from work but it wasn't because he was arrested; he was just sick, like the rest of us. We all had a bad stomach bug which was not a result of the potluck last Friday, although the way it spread through the staff made it seem like a possibility.
And just to show that you can make art out of anything... LED lights in the backyard.
Everybody is downsizing, nobody wants to buy other people's old junk (even when spelled junque) anymore. However I did sell some old scrapping stuff yesterday: some stamp sets & ink pads in garish colours. So today I brought out some more and only sold 12 pieces of paper! It's really not worth all the work. And the shortage of sleep.
Shame on those of you who accused Mark of sending threatening emails...! Of course it wasn't him. He was away from work but it wasn't because he was arrested; he was just sick, like the rest of us. We all had a bad stomach bug which was not a result of the potluck last Friday, although the way it spread through the staff made it seem like a possibility.
And just to show that you can make art out of anything... LED lights in the backyard.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Who said being a librarian was boring?
Yesterday was my first day as Acting Branch Head (EGTB's last day was Friday). And the day started off with a phone call from the RCMP about a threat made from a library computer. I told the person on Reception to forward the call to HQ. The Executive Director is the only person who can allow information to be given out about people using the library. A few minutes after that, another RCMP officer comes in the building, wanting similar information. Once again I referred him to HQ (and he was not a happy camper!). The Director was in a meeting in Vernon so there was much to-ing and fro-ing between management, her, and the RCMP and the curiosity was killing me but I never heard anything more.
This afternoon on Castanet I saw this story:
Threatening email leads to arrest
by Kevin Berar - Giant FM - Story: 38549
Apr 8, 2008 / 3:40 pm
The South Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver and nearby elementary schools were in lock down Monday due to an email threat.
Staff at S.O.S.S received an email from an unknown individual saying they were a student at the school and were going to bring a gun and shoot everyone in their path and then shoot themselves.
S.O.S.S notified Oliver RCMP, who investigated and arrested a homeless 33-year-old Kelowna man.
The man admitted to sending the threatening email, as well as a second email to a school in Westbank.
The man faces two counts of uttering threats and remains in custody pending a psychological evaluation.
So happy to see the library doesn't come into it at all (at least until I posted this!) but still very curious (and wondering if this is somebody we'll recognize!)
This afternoon on Castanet I saw this story:
Threatening email leads to arrest
by Kevin Berar - Giant FM - Story: 38549
Apr 8, 2008 / 3:40 pm
The South Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver and nearby elementary schools were in lock down Monday due to an email threat.
Staff at S.O.S.S received an email from an unknown individual saying they were a student at the school and were going to bring a gun and shoot everyone in their path and then shoot themselves.
S.O.S.S notified Oliver RCMP, who investigated and arrested a homeless 33-year-old Kelowna man.
The man admitted to sending the threatening email, as well as a second email to a school in Westbank.
The man faces two counts of uttering threats and remains in custody pending a psychological evaluation.
So happy to see the library doesn't come into it at all (at least until I posted this!) but still very curious (and wondering if this is somebody we'll recognize!)
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