Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Thursday, September 02, 2010

A thoroughly library kind of day

Today I:
  1. Worked on a grant that has helped keep the library books updated (my budget mostly goes to keeping the medical journals afloat, leaving little to spare). I need to report on what I've done this year so far, what I plan to do in the remaining months, and I also have to get together what I plan to do for next year so hopefully we can get it again.
  2. Sent a rush interlibrary loan to another library.
  3. Did the data entry work. I actually didn't have a chance to do any insurance verification today because there were some fairly complex things to enter for my regular post-library work.
  4. Took some books back to the branch library I use. I was asked if I was a librarian (all three books I checked out had librarian in the title). So I chatted a bit with the lady there.
  5. Picked up two books and two 7-day DVDs (since I can watch DVDs on the TV again). The books are Crimes by Moonlight, which is edited by Charlaine Harris (author of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, of which I finished the latest novel as of yesterday). It's a 14-day book, so I must remember to take it back earlier than normal. But it's a collection of short stories, so I should be able to read them in that time. There's also Tall, Dark, and Dead, part of a series I've never read by Tate Hallaway. As far as DVDs, I got Whale Rider, which I've wanted to watch for some time, and Flags of Our Fathers. My own grandfather was at Iwo Jima, the subject of the film. I'm hoping to understand more about what went on there through it.
  6. Found the name of a collection of short stories related to the Sookie Stackhouse universe and downloaded that to my Kindle while I was there.
  7. Went to leave and saw the poster to the right. Now, as a good citizen I can see why reporting suspicious behaviour could be considered patriotic and good. But it was a little creepy to see an appeal to inform on others in a library. It seemed to have shades of, well, not dystopia, but some sort of control of the citizenry through information. That's how it struck me anyway.
  8. Found a copy of American Libraries in my mailbox when I got home.
  9. Checked out something online I saw in 'American Libraries Direct'--an e-mail newsletter I get--that is really, really great if you're an HP Lovecraft fan. It's a webcomic that started back in 2008 called 'Lovecraft is Missing'. I've read chapter one, which brings me up to installments from January 2009, and I'm hooked. It's spooky. The art and writing both capture the flavour of Lovecraft's work. And the central character is a librarian whose job is to acquire books so they do not wind up in the hands of cultists who would do unspeakable things with the knowledge.

Anyway, that was my day so far. How about you?

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