Push to Select

My Extras review got posted on the new Push to Talk blog at The Seattle Public Library. I hope to have more going up there soon. Make sure to check out the blog and tell me what you think of the layout and content.

Right now, I am cold! So very cold. And now it is warm in here, and I am still cold... The heat wasn't on this morning when I came to work. I had heard a rumor that one had to "reset" the boiler, but I wasn't expecting to be the only one of authority here today, so I didn't think to find out how such "reset"ing was done. So I called around until I found someone that could help. And now the heat is on, but I fear it is too late for my poor circulation and that I shall be dying of hypothermia any minute.

There are a lot of cute young dads with toddlers that come in here. I am sure they are all married, or close enough, so I don't flirt with the dads (unprofessional any-who) but I can flirt with their cute little kids! I have to practice somehow.

A woman came in today that did not introduce herself but dropped hints that she used to be a librarian for this system. She asked me several pointed questions about selection, which I answered. She threw some blame at all the "bad librarians" there have been over the years (certainly not me! ;) and stormed that none of the books she ordered in 1965 were still in our collection. Eventually her tirade came around to her point, that it was bad that selection had been centralised and that we were only given nominal control over our collections in the branches. I sympathize with her, but I also feel that the money and hours dedicated to researching selections are better spent in outreach and patron services. I doubt we could have such rich teen programming--or teen services librarians at all--if librarians spent all their time doing selection. For the sake of quiet and sanity in the library, I nodded and smiled and said I understood and she blustered out the door.