Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Library

I haven't written much about the library my first week here. It's not that I haven't been doing stuff here. I have. It's just there's so much to do in the library, it can be, and is a little overwhelming at times. That's compounded by the fact that they are doing some construction to expand the emergency exit areas in the schloss.

I have to move boxes of stuff out of the office hallway for storage so that the construction guys can take down the shelves and the wall for the exit expansion. Glad I brought the Ipod. Reminds me of the old Div days. Although it's not that bad.

I have some major shifting to do, because of the construction. As well in the library itself. There's just not a lot of room to grow on the first floor. But the library is a bit stagnant in it's collection at the moment. Luckily I can shift up. I just have to figure out what to shift to the second floor.                                                                  
Then I have cataloging to do. Some groups give books to the library for their sessions. Those materials do get used. I have two ranges of shelves in the law area to integrate into the collection this week. More Dewey decimal. Joy. Well, like I said I can cheat on some of the records.

I found a space in my office to put the to be cataloged books, as soon as I move the session materials off the bookshelf and into boxes for storage. It's not enough storage in the office for all of the books, but it's a start. It's better than when I got here.

And it's easier than trekking them in and out of the library to the office to do. I've been hoping to make this more of a working office than a storage spot for stuff. The boss offered me another bookcase for the office, which I may take. I'm just not sure where it would go!

I've also been making a list of the children and young adult books that the library inherited at different points throughout the years. Some are books I had as a kid. Like Ramona the Pest, King of the Wind, Huck Finn, and the Hardy Boys. Some I've never heard of. The Famous Five, for instance (which is a British series). I wish we could have a book sale. The library needs the money. But most, if not all the books are in English, which makes it more challenging. If they were in German it would be easier to get rid of them. I have a few ideas of where to go for sales. It would be so much easier to set up a used book account on some site. But our problem is that the shipping would outstrip the money we'd get in selling them on the Internet. Once I clear up the YA stuff and make some space on the bookshelf, I'm turning my attention to the desks. There are two. It's got lots of extra bits that can be organized a little better for workflow.

Then the archive problem. God help me.

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