Musings

Starting next week I'll contribute to this statistic. Hmm...Signs of Oeconomic Recovery, but Not Jobs

Today's been a busy one. I've got a leak in the library which fortunately didn't do much damage and seems to be drying up now that the sun's shining. (It rained for days). I've moved the journals in that area out of the way. It's coming through a light, and the water is quite brown. When I came in on Tuesday, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Fortunately it is rainwater and not, say, sewage from the bathrooms upstairs.

We've had a lot of nursing students in this week. I've heard their orientation video a lot lately. I had to do a stat fax earlier for one of the libraries in our consortium so a procedure could go ahead. It was also gratifying to see one of my patrons, who has been wheelchair bound for weeks, up and walking today (please note the careful avoidance of any further details due to privacy concerns). I can't explain how rewarding it can be as a medical librarian. It's an extremely challenging field, but you really feel like you can make a difference. I don't know if I'll be able to continue in this area of librarianship--I may have to go with whatever I can make a living at, at least for awhile, and with the latex allergy, I'm not sure how well I'd do in other hospitals. Still, I never set out to be a hospital librarian. So if I had to fall into something, at least I fell into an interesting field.

That said, I'm a little disappointed with the needs assessment forms I've been processing. I haven't done the final analysis, yet, but we've only had about a 10% response rate. Most have been favourable, but...well...I guess I feel like for those who use the library regularly, I'm a really great resource, but a lot of people never get over here. Many feel that visiting the library doesn't constitute as work, I think. I'm going to have to change some minds, if possible, and do some more targeted marketing. And I still think a lot of people delude themselves into a sort of 'instant gratification' sort of mindset, like it's all ready for them online, and somehow free. Librarians can be very important in getting that sort of access, but frankly a lot isn't out there, or if it is, isn't easily accessible, making librarians important intercessors. But it's hard to promote the efforts you go through and make it look easy. It's a hard balance to shoot for.

I'm very tired today. I didn't sleep well last night at all. I couldn't sleep until almost 4am and then had anxiety dreams about flooding hospitals, slavery, and rollercoasters. I don't need a psychoanalyst for the meaning behind those. I did realise I was off track on both my meds and my eating, so everything's been a little off. I'm back on track now, at least, and I'm already feeling better, although I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off and getting some errands done.

I did luck out a bit, though. Due to the holiday, people aren't getting their paycheques until tomorrow and some with direct deposit haven't been credited yet. Mine was in by 10:30 last night, which was great, especially since my first purchase was toilet paper, a definite necessity.

Quote for the day

'Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.'--Voltaire

Phrase for the day:

Diatomaceous earth

We used to use this in the garden as an organic (well, actually inorganic but all-natural) technique for pest control. Apparently, however, most people have never heard of it, and it's difficult to get the non-pool type. For those of you who don't know, DE is a white powder consisting of skeletons of tiny sea creatures (microscopic ones, actually) called diatoms. It's harmless to people and pets, but it dessicates insects much like those packets of silica you sometimes see, and the sharp pointy skeleton rips through the insect's exoskeleton. Yeah, I know, I'm blowing any chance of being a Jainist. I kill few things, but fleas are one. You find it sometimes in food, especially rice or beans, for this reason. I called around yesterday and only had luck at Hillenmeyer's garden supply. The co-op had a nice lady who once I explained what it was transferred me to someone who didn't understand what I was talking about, decided to just say 'no', and hung up. That wasn't encouraging, especially since I'm a cooperative owner. The only trouble with Hillenmeyer's is that it's hard to get to on the bus, but I can, I think. They were very nice, I didn't even have to explain what it was, because they knew and had it in front of them. :) So that's one errand, right there. I plan to wage war against fleas this weekend, getting Frontline from the vet and using the DE instead of bombing because it's safe for the pets and won't affect the fishtank like a fogger would. Wish me luck!