Never mind

First, a patron asked me to help him play a DVD from our collection on one of the library computers. I got it started for him, but about 15 minutes later he came back and told me that the movie had abruptly stopped. I looked at the back and, sure enough, it was pretty scratched up. We can resurface a scratched disc, but it's sent to technical services and they get to it when they can; it's not an on-demand kind of service. While I explained that to the patron, I looked up the title of the DVD in our catalog, thinking maybe we had another copy in the collection. We didn't have a physical copy at our branch, but I saw it was available through our streaming video subscription. He hadn't used that before, but I convinced him to try it. To get set up with the service, you have to sign up with your library card number, email address, and a password. At first he said, "I can't do that stuff. You'll have to do it for me," but in a laborious five-minute process I helped him enter his email address, password, and card number. We then easily borrowed the video and were automatically taken to the 'watch' screen. At that point he said, "Actually, I don't want to do this. Can you show me how to get to Craigslist?"

Friday challenges

Security escorted from the building a man who had been taking drugs in the restroom on the second floor. He started for the stairs, but Barney the Security Guard said "Sir, you're not in any condition to walk down the stairs." Then he wouldn't let the guy push the buttons in the elevator, either. Later Barney comes back to check in says, "Yeah, he had blood all over him."


A woman wants an autobiography (maybe a biography? She says "I know he had a hand in it") by "the journalist Peter O'Reilly," about how he overcame alcoholism. We can't figure out what that might be. Damn.


"This computer isn't accepting mouse commands"--sounds like when a patron says "the computer turned off" when they really pressed the monitor's power button, or a similar kind of problem, but in this case he's actually telling the truth.


Woman wants books about the Bauhaus school of architecture/design, but she can only stand still for about two seconds and she never lets you finish a sentence, so it is very difficult to help her. I turn away for five seconds to get her an encyclopedia, and she's completely gone when I look back.


Help my counterpart process weeded books that are going to the Friends of the Library book sale. I'm not sure that we should really be ripping RFID tags out of books right at the desk; it might give patrons some bad insight into theft.


Librarian hurries out of her office to grab the walkie-talkie and warn security "that guy who you escorted out earlier is heading down to the checkout desk."


Guy who earlier wanted my help getting an "Obama phone" wants my opinion on his resume--I am not a resume expert! I work two part-time, low-wage jobs without benefits, for goodness sakes.


I can't teach an angry woman to copy and paste because she just clicks and clicks furiously and never stops to listen. Grrrrrrr.

My first fan

...is a man who is trying to advertise his photography business on Craigslist. Most of his questions are text-to-speech issues. Fortunately he, unlike many aspiring small business owners at libraries, is not a big fan of  questions like "What do you think I should call this?" "Do you think it looks good?"  and, the worst, "Would you buy that?" Also, he has gmail and I've seen him log into it once unassisted, so he's at the high-functioning end of the technology spectrum, too.


Today he wanted to add a location to his post but he had forgotten how to edit it. Then he wanted to change the title to something more exciting. Then he saw that other photographers have included example pictures in their posts...it could be long afternoon for all of us.


Anyway, if you need a freelance photographer in the central Michigan area, you can find at least one on Craigslist.