Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Nearly a month ago I wrote about my New Library's problems with: Leaking roof (may be caused by roof windows) Leaking windows Bad door seal, leaking Outside in-ground lights full of water and not working Electrical issues with exterior light programmer Inability to use light switches for a week, due to the fact that the electrician screwed something up when trying to fix the light programmer Dead water softener What's been fixed after a month: Decided to not repair or replace in-ground lighting due to cost, so we've gotten solar powered lights  The water softener computer has been replaced and the unit is up and running. Neat thing I learned, no one has EVER added salt to the water softener, EVER. OMG! Wonder why it's broken!! Still waiting on repairs for everything else. *sigh* 

I have never owned a home. When I lived at the Farm in New England—what feels like a million years ago, and as many miles away--we were wardens of sorts over our cabins and houses. Problems resulted in written “tickets” to the Maintenance Team, who then resolved the problem. The same can be said of all the apartments and house I’ve rented; a call to the landlord usually resolved the issue (I fortunately always had good landlords, for the most part). ChicagoBoy, the homeowner (I guess that makes me a co-homeowner in a couple months?), is a handyman and a Landlord himself, so much more adept at handling problems. And yet it’s me who is stuck with the mounting challenges of a new building. I’ve gotten good at reading warranties—only one problem has still been under warranty—and getting recommendations for service people. I’m learning the jargon of these people, getting better at home to explain the problems. I’ve dug in. In my first 3 months at the New Library I’ve had, and am ...

The hardest part of being the Director in a small library is that we don't have an HR person, so on top of everything else we do we also get to do the paperwork for the new hires, and retires. Thank God for the internet or these processes would take a lot longer!  One of my board members pointed out that though I'd been informed of staff retirements, I had to officially accept them with a letter...I am finding that a paper trail is an important thing. So, I found a short and simple letter on one university's HR website (sorry forgot which!?) and honed it to work for us. Attached is my sample of a retirement letter.  Is anyone else out there going through this process too?

...literally and figuratively. Sticks has gotten so much rain this summer that many farmers will lose portions of their harvest; yard and fields and basements are flooding everywhere. And in my life one stressful thing seems to keep happening  after another. I'm exhausted. Summer Reading: our craziest, busiest time of year; months of preparation and 6 weeks of chaos and happy patrons. It was an amazing year with growth in all of our numbers, and we're pretty proud of how hard we worked and the great feedback we've received! It was an amazing year: 466 people participated 92 programs over 6 weeks with 1,972 people attending Thank God it's over! Work: The Building: I've been talking to our alarm company and HVAC guys more than I talk to my Mom. We've been having loads of weird issues with both our alarm and the air conditioning. Also, going through the process of getting appointments set-up for carpet cleaning, and interviewing cleaning companies as we...

Speaking of building: before I started at Sticks Library an expansion project had begun, before eventually meeting it's demise after a Cleveland-based architectural firm went way overboard and way over budget. The Board at the time put the kabash on things. Fast forward 2+ years later to present day Sticks Library; we've outgrown the space--we had over 1,200 people at our Summer Reading programs and had to do all of our bigger programs elsewhere!--and the Board feels that because of the positive feedback they've gotten since I started (can you say, THAT WAS AWESOME TO HEAR!?) and because I've made such a huge programming push and we don't have the space, now is the time for trying the expansion project again. So, working with Sticks College engineering students who used us as a capstone project, we were able to get a new layout of how best to utilize our current space, while adding on roughly half of our current size. We loved their drawings, and the Board vote...

Last night Sticks Library was honored by our Village's Chamber of Commerce with the "2013 Community Contributor of the Year Award." I was really touched by the gesture--you never know if anyone sees how hard you're working--and surprised! I was speechless when the President stopped by my office Monday to tell me...and making me speechless is not an easy thing to do! The President of the Chamber gave a lovely introduction about the Library, sharing some of our 2013 statistics that I am proud to share here. Prairie Dawn and I busted ass last year and maybe set the bar a little too high, but are looking forward to an insanely busy and fun 2014. In 2013 the Sticks Library had: *125 storytimes with 880 in attendance *120 K-12th grade programs with 3,3,22 in attendance *71 adult programs with 771 in attendance *Visited the 4 Kindergarten and 3 1st Grade classes every week at Sticks Elementary *Visited the local Headstart program every week * Had 419 people signe...

Polar Vortex '14 hit us this Sunday, though not nearly as bad as in other places--rain all day Sunday coated everything in a thick layer of ice as temps dropped and the snow began to fall. Due to the bitter cold -18 with windchill Monday and -8 with windchill Tuesday, and the slippery roads, I chose to keep Sticks Library closed both those days (I can't tell you how nice it is to be in charge and make the call--all of your staff LOVE you when you tell them to sleep in!) I spent two glorious days hanging with Hemmy, watching movie upon movie, reading, and even braving a walk to work to do a few things. Today's high teen temps feel amazing after that extreme cold and left me wondering if daisy dukes shorts count as business attire...then I remembered my chunky thighs already nixed that option. So, we survived and aside from the layer of ice INSIDE my bathroom window and a very, very cold porcelain bathtub, I've got no complaints.The mound of beginning of fiscal year p...

Today was a long day. This summer I was invited to serve on the board of our consortium, today was my first meeting with the group. It was interesting to hear about some of the proposed changes, to get a first hand peek at the new interface our catalog will have, and to ask questions and hear feedback about things that I don't usually hear about until they trickle their way to us directors via the frequent emails. It was nice to have a break from Sticks and be in Columbus for a few hours, and eat some tasty food . Even though we were inside the whole time, I feel rejuvenated just being in a big city. After the 3 hr. meeting, and 3.5 hr. roundtrip drive, and with food in my belly I was so beat by the time I got back to Sticks; had just enough time to sneak home and feed Hemmy, and take a 30 min. cat-nap, before I was back at work, this time setting up for our 6p.m. speaker. (That was a bust because unfortunately no one showed up for her program). At 7:30p.m. I spoke for a local c...

I feel like I've finally caught up. My box in my Treasurer's office is empty. All purchase orders and super blanket certificates filed away; receipts are initialed and filed away; the pile of magazines: Library Journal, School Library Journal, as well as the reviews Forecast , etc., and the pile of stuff: Oriental Trading Company fliers and the like have all been gone through and recycled. I can see the top of my desk again! I've even managed to weed the Adult Fiction section (AGAIN!) while Prairie Dawn tackled weeding the Juvenile picture books, something we've wanted to do since before Summer Reading and also since we pulled out the Easy Reader books. We're getting things ship shape around here. I'm caught up all of my orders for the month, my email inbox is empty, I'm prepared for our upcoming participation at the county fair which is looming on the horizon, I'm prepared for a meeting at the State Library which is also fast approaching. I feel...

Yesterday was my 8 month anniversary as a Library Director, so I thought I would share some of the interesting things I've learned and experienced while working at Sticks Library: Like in life, the Golden Rule should be observed Some days you're the first one in at 8a.m. and the last one out at 8p.m. Vanity be damned: sometimes you just have to wear sneakers with your work pants Staff concerns that seem petty still must be addressed seriously Sometimes laughing really hard with your staff can make the really long days tolerable Smile at EVERYone...smiling's my favorite I think I look forward to storytime more than the kids The process of buying all new computers, software, security, etc. really is arduous and crazy-making There will be lots of interesting surprises along the way, like the patron who sells the best and freshest asparagus in town and always makes sure to stop by and see if you need any; or the 60+ year old who invited me on a weekend motorcycl...

A few things about interviewing I've learned from being on the hiring end of things. 10 INTERVIEW TIPS: Really prepare for an interview by reading over sample interview questions (Google). If you're really an overachiever, have your friends drill you so that you can work on your responses. If you have a phone interview have notes that you can refer to, the interviewer can't see those, so really go to town! Come prepared. Look at the company's website, read newspaper articles about that organization. Find a way to show that you know what that company represents and how they've made an impact in their profession and in the community! Bring samples of your work with you, or offer to send along a Powerpoint or other notes, anything that came up during the interview which seemed to peak their interests. Shoot your interviewer these things as soon as possible after the interview. DO NOT BLOW UP THEIR INBOX! I interviewed one woman who sent 3 emails after the int...

Oh, holy hell. The Children's Librarian starts in 11 more days, thank God. Except that means training. The schedule is approved by all. Now I am figuring out coverage for vacay requests through August. Computer buying process is still back and forth like Pong. The company sends me quotes, I go over those with our IT guy, he tells me what we should ask for/change, and I send it back. As if this process hasn't been hard enough, one of our cataloging computers died last week, another cataloging/CIRC (of two!!) computers is on the fritz (choosing when the scanner or keyboard or both will stop working at random), and I just learned that our barcode scanners and receipt printers are so hold they will need replacing. Every time I think about the cost I hear money bleeding out of this place. Urgh. On the upside: Summer Reading donation requests went out a few weeks ago and we've been getting a good response so far, over $1,000 in our first two weeks! I received word last week...

I think this is what some of my friends think I do all day. Lol. I feel like I've heard gray hairs happening this week. Last week meant 12 hour days four out of five days, this week has been a little better, but barely. I did interviews last week for our Youth Services Librarian, and yes, we hired one! Thank God! What a process! I could never work in HR. Prarie Dawn (this will be her blog code name) begins in April, which gives us enough time to get her acclimated for Summer Reading, which begins in early June around these parts. Btw, I still want to share some things to do/not do during the interview process. It was really interesting experiencing it from this end. As I was wrapping that up I had to begin reconfiguring our schedule to reflect an increase in the Library's hours (levy monies from last year are coming in and we are able to go back to our old schedule). That sounds easy, right? And maybe it is for others, but it wasn't for me. At all. I was so stressed o...

Days never work out the way that you think they will. I have a page long to do list that I wanted done by the end of the week, but it looks like it will roll into next week; some days end with me puzzling over where the day went. This week we introduced a Music Collection to Sticks Library. I am more than a little proud because A. we've never had a music collection here before and B. it's gotten good press locally and C. we got our first hold placed for a CD this morning! Creating the collection was as simple as deciding to set aside some money within our existing Audiovisual budget, and now because of so much e-music and iTunes. many people have already offered us their collections and that is really helpful and FREE! :) I've learned as a Director to never say, "no," but rather to say "we'll use it if we can, if not, it'll go in our used book/DVD/CD sale and the funds benefit the library, so you've helped us either way!" We've begun ...

For all my Dad's faults, some things I really valued in him and have tried to replicate in my adult work life: 1. Work HARD. 2. Look people in the eye. 3. Don't bullshit people, be honest. With that in mind, at a recent Board Mtg. one of the board members offered to break some news to my staff which I knew was going to be met with less than enthusiasm, but  I knew I had to do it, this is why they pay me, right? It can't always be easy or fun, and it's important to not bullshit people and avoid the tough stuff--people respect you more for doing it. So, I did it. And I didn't enjoy it, but trying to gracefully make it through something uncomfortable makes it easier for the next time, and makes you stronger.

Remember the Silent Auction we just finished? Well, the total is in, and as promised, I want to share it...drum roll please! We made $1,300! I am so proud of our small town! Go us! And for our first try too. I am beaming...just a little , a nd planning ahead for some great ideas for next year! Now I am getting excited about possible ways to fund raise! This particular fund raising event was fun because of the community involvement piece, but what next?! I have also been applying for grants; I applied for two grants in November and a County grant the other day...what great heights we may achieve!

I haven't been posting much lately because things have been so crazy busy! Tomorrow is the last day of our silent auction; we asked businesses and community members to donate something that we could auction off, with all proceeds going to the library (hopefully toward new computers!) Stay tuned for our final $ count! Tomorrow is also the end of our holiday fines-sweep-clear for those patrons who donate new winter gear for kiddos.  Weeding still goes on! I weeded out the most tattered and gnawed on kids' board books--bought a batch of new ones to replace the old; weeded the adult non-fic, taking out anything that hasn't circed since 2004, with some exceptions. Funniest find? An old VHS manual from the early 1980s. Building maintenance issues arising with the boiler and a broken drain. Still meeting with people in the greater community and college to see how we can help each other out! Storytimes out the wazzoo!! I used to feel beat at OHCity when I did two a week as n...

Remember when I mentioned that book challenge on my 2nd day at Sticks? Finally finished the book, will review soon; going to scout out some articles/reviews online tomorrow and do some more researching before I call the mom back. It's staying on our shelves, I just want some other opinions and reviews to reference in our conversation! Fight for your right to read!

You know how you have that list of about 20 things to do at work, and you start the day with the first thing on your list thinking, "I will have all of this done by lunchtime." Yeah, thing 1 on the list took over 4 hours, 3 calls to SEO, and finally the SEO IT guy going into our account to fix things. Thank God for SEO!! SEO is: "The SEO ( Serving Every Ohioan ) Library Center, located in Caldwell, supports a consortium of 87 Library systems at 198 physical locations throughout 45 counties across Ohio using the OPLIN network. The power of this consortium resides in resource sharing among consortia members allowing small and rural library systems to have access to millions of items for their patrons free of charge. SEO Library Center houses, maintains and supports a centralized shared catalog database that includes over 6.9 million items with a patron database of 905,000+ borrowers. The SEO staff provides technical support as well as...

I narced a kid out to her Mom today, telling the mother that her daughter has been with a group of kids that has been smoking outside our building recently. The girl is only about 13 years old and I am sure is going to get an earful, but I was trying to do the right thing. Hope I did. On a good note, met with members of a city group that I will be joining--it will help me get to know the city better and make good community connections. Also, met with a college prof from a local college to discuss her students' future commitments to our library, as a way that they can meet their Education program hours for the semester. So excited for that, though we are in the very early planning stages!