Some of you may know that I applied to volunteer at the Corvallis Public Library, like, oh, months ago. Well, it turns out that I got accepted, and so now from 12:30 to 2:30 on Wednesdays I get to go in and do check-in, which is pretty much a lot of book sorting.
So I get there, and I feed the meter 2 hours worth of change, go in, and get ushered back and given the tour. There's like, a whole floor under the library I never knew existed. Got my parking permit, met a bunch of nice people.
Then they set me up where I'm going to be working. Got a computer, a bar code scanner, and a whole bunch of books. Scan the barcodes on the covers of the books, pile them up, then sort them onto a handy cart. 0-299 nonfiction in one section, A-C fiction in another, mystery/scifi/western/romance paperbacks under the table. Not so hard so far.
It's the little things that get you, though. Book has a dot on the spine or a green label? That's a new book, and they get sorted in order on this other cart. Computer spits out a hold slip? Circle the name of the person and sort in order on the hold cart. Pops up an other branch error? File with other branch books. There's maybe 4 or 5 other little things like that, all of which kind of break the rythm a bit.
So you eventually wind up with a cartfull of books. Wheel it back to these other shelves, where you then take your sorted piles and stack them on the shelves, which is pretty easy except the 600-699 and 700-799 stuff, which has two sections because there's lots of 'em. And then you go back and do it some more. For two hours. And it honestly doesn't seem like two hours, because you're busy. So it was actually kind of fun.
Then I got done and went out and found out I got a ticket in the like 10 minutes between when my time ran out and when I came out. Gah.
Posted by Dwip at January 12, 2005 3:33 PMKind of like my car stereo was stolen in broad daylight in the half hour my car was parked in the school lot. Except not quite as expensive.
Posted by: Whir at January 12, 2005 6:40 PMWe leave our cars unlocked in Fall Creek.
Proud of you, btw, Marius. Good to see you're doing something constructive since finishing your degree. I'll drink to that, actually. Huzzah!
Posted by: Marechal at January 14, 2005 8:11 AMWe leave our cars unlocked in Iron Mountain too. Unfortunately, I was in Marquette.
Posted by: Whir at January 14, 2005 2:12 PMHow's the skiing at Iron Mt btw? Up in your neck of the woods. Cuz we've only got a few inches of crusty ice here in west central WI.
Since we're on the topic, I imagine you've been over to Mackinac a few times, eh?
Posted by: Marechal at January 16, 2005 3:47 PMSkiing, I'm not sure. I'm not a winter person. The largest man-made ski-jump in the world is in Iron Mountain. The world championships are held here every year in Feb. I assume the hills are pretty decent now, though with the temps as cold as they've been, I doubt the conditions are great this week.
I've done more mountain biking on the ski hills here than anything.
Which Mackinac? I've been over the bridge several times, been to the island once. Never been to Mackinac City though.
Posted by: Whir at January 16, 2005 10:15 PMWell, naturally you've been over the bridge. That's a hella bridge, for the record. I was referring, of course, to the island. They've got a great fort and awesome colonial type town there.
Posted by: Marechal at January 17, 2005 11:39 AMYeah. I never checked out the fort. I spent the entire trip in the arcade. And I stole a $5 survival knife and didn't even get caught like everyone else. Maybe I should become a burgaler.
Posted by: Whir at January 17, 2005 4:24 PMSneak level +1. Well on your way to becoming Grand Master of the Thieves Guild.
Posted by: Marechal at January 19, 2005 5:40 AM