Bad Moon Rising

I went to work yesterday, Sunday, at the public library where I work on the weekends. It was one of the worst Sundays I have ever worked. Partway through the shift, my deskmate checked the calendar and we were right - there was a full moon.

If you work with the public in any way shape or form, you might want to take note of the phases of the moon. Some of the full moons seem to bring out every crazy in town while others pass unnoticed. Yesterday, we noticed. It was probably a combination of a full moon and nice weather (for New England) after a long cold spell.

I should have known when my first reference question was a patron wanting to know where a nice sunny spot was to read the paper on the first floor. I didn't think much of it at the time as I enjoy the sun myself in the winter. Possibly it was the second question which started as a question, rambled into a long discourse on Charles Darwin and ended with me giving explicit directions on how to find the biography/autobiography section while a bunch of irritated patrons waited their turn glaring. Was the final straw the blind patron looking to see if we had a particular software installed on our computer and working that she had last checked on 3 years ago or the patron who was in library school and came to the library to find classification catalogs that we have, but are not available to the public because they reside in a part of the library which is staff only? I don't know, all I know is it was crazy busy, lines all day and everyone had some personal issue hanging out.

Which leads me to my next rant. Sundays. Now stores and libraries and restaurants and everyone is open on Sundays. They're all staffed but they're not staffed with the regulars who are there during the week. Nor are they fully staffed period. Yet, people still come in looking for all sorts of extras and questions that we are not always able to answer. We had someone from reference call in sick yesterday as well so we were short-staffed and overwhelmed. Yes, we are getting paid to perform a service but not everyone (such as the IT people) are there on Sundays. Many of the questions that were asked yesterday (such as the software for the blind) are only answerable during the week with a full staff and those who are working with the technology. I know the patrons coming in also work during the week (well, I don't really know that but I am giving a number of them the benefit of the doubt) and can't get in at other times, but if they called during the week, the regular librarians might work on the problem and set items aside for them to pick up on the weekend.

For us librarians, Sundays are generally triage. They are busy, they are short, and we are just trying to direct people to what they want so we can get to the next person. We spend the time as we can but generally there is another person waiting and spending a half an hour trying to find the best book, article, or journal is generally out of the question. I know some people feel slighted and many get outright annoyed (their tax dollars at work!), but we're doing the best we can with as little as possible.

In the current bad economy, the library is getting more use, because, as everyone knows, the stuff at the library is free! On the downside, we are certainly going to be getting cut in the budget department as the library is one of the first places the number crunchers cut when things get bad. The reason? The library isn't bringing in any revenue, it is just pouring out money. At least that is the way it seems on paper. If you've never worked at a busy suburban or city library, you wouldn't know the stuff that we do that keeps people going. They can use computers if they don't have them, print stuff out, get dvds and videos, language tapes, books for entertainment and job hunting, book clubs, newspapers, and more. For some though, especially the elderly, we're company. I've had many calling with a question that have wanted, needed, to talk for a few minutes and have done so. Some who come in just want to chat as well. I am not the chattiest person but I have had many talks with people on a variety of subjects just because I knew they needed to talk to someone. You can tell.

So, feel free to use the library (until they close us all down for lack of funds) but be aware of the phases of the moon and try to avoid those full-moon Sundays, because sometimes we all need to take our craziness outside and many people choose the free, publicly-accessible library to do so.