Thursday, August 27, 2009

Improvements

The imaging project continues, and actually seems to be working! I can see that life will be absolutely wonderful once all public internet computers are re-imaging themselves each night. Four express stations are complete; I added 3 more this morning. I think I'll move to the teen computers next. There are just 4 of those but they are part of the reservation system, which adds a little complication. These will be an easier test than the 12 adult computers.

Even more exciting this week: our internet service has been upgraded! We've been living with a nightmare for months: sometimes the network would run along smoothly, then suddenly slow to a crawl. We suspected it was one or more wireless users hogging the bandwidth but had no way to determine this. Our service was a donation so we didn't have much power. But now the router has been upgraded, and service is incredibly fast. It will amount to a $200/month cost, but I'd be willing to sacrifice that much from my salary for dependable service. We've joked about putting a tip jar at Computer Services ("did you enjoy the internet? make a contribution!").

Of course, now school has started and we aren't as overwhelmingly busy as we have been, so it really isn't a fair comparison. But I'm not complaining!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Drill Team Update

The Drill Team marched in the parade this morning. It wasn't too hot, and it didn't rain, so we were pleased! We started out slow but by the end of the route were moving along a quite a clip. Crowds loved us, as usual, even without the book carts. I had hoped we'd get some video on the library's Flip camera, but when it was returned to me I didn't see any video.

The Library was fairly quiet most of the day, until an incredible thunderstorm moved in. Then we became the safe haven for the festival crowd - we expect that will really run our numbers up for the day! The sun is out now, and things are quiet again.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

August already

So glad I mentioned the heat in my last post - it's been a little on the chilly side ever since, and we're afraid we've missed summer completely. I'm holding out for a warmer August.

Just when you think it will be a dull, ordinary day things happen. This morning we had a man with a dog wanting to come in the library. Service dogs are perfectly fine, but this one had no paperwork or tag to verify the owner's claim. I'm afraid some staff may have over-reacted: for some reason police were called. As the ADA coordinator for the building, I checked on regulations and found that service animals (and their owners) aren't required to have documentation with them. I visited with the patron and police officer, who suggested it might be a good idea to have that available in the future. Two more officers arrived - we had to suspect it was a slow day for law enforcement, especially since the first officer had already reported everything was fine!

Not long after we saw a long (really long!) black limo parked outside the Library, with a red carpet extended. This turned out to be a 65th birthday celebration for a woman, who had planned a day with friends (10 of them, who all showed up for pictures). They had champagne and looked like it was going to be a fun time.

My feel-good moment of the week: a young British tourist asked why the iPhone doesn't work in Montana? He was traveling the US, had just come from Idaho, and needed to call the person in town he planned to stay with. He asked about a pay phone, and I directed him to the one in the lobby. He returned a little later saying he couldn't hear on that one, and that's when I realized he was watching my lips carefully and had hearing aids; he did have the speech associated with deaf people who learn to talk but I thought it was just his British accent. The cell phone number he had for his local contact was a long distance number. It seemed like he was out of options, so I called the local person - we don't usually make calls for people, and long distance requires a special code. But the person on the other end was happy to hear he was in town, and came right over. He was very pleasant to visit with, and we had a discussion about how the At&T network isn't everywhere like you think! Every so often we have stranded travelers, and it feels good to help.

MLA board retreat this weekend - guess that will count as my summer vacation this year.