Online politics can be consuming and harrowing, but in general the effectiveness of an administration can be gauged by impacts in daily life. Things were rough for libraries under Bush. Things improved a lot for libraries under Obama. And now federal funding for public libraries nationwide (which pays for research databases, e-books, and Zinio) is on the chopping block, right alongside the National Endowment for the Arts and NPR/PBS. I don't see how any country can expect to be great without valuing the arts and sciences and public education, BUT HEY, WHAT DO I KNOW? LET'S BE A NATION OF FACTORY WORKERS, POLLUTION, AND SHITTY BEIGE ARCHITECTURE.
We had a chance to talk about the impending cuts at Institute Day. Also, we had to do lots of ice-breakers and group activities, which were basically 5-minute long sessions of "you go first," "no, YOU go first" as 500 librarians tried to politely defer to each other. We are not a very wild bunch.
Except for whoever made THIS TYPO
I always like a work field trip, even if the training topics were a bit too broad. Instead of learning vaguely about 'identifying the characteristics of difficult people', I wanted specific, practical tips for deescalation and defense against berserk meth addicts - but evidently it is not considered good customer service to spray our patrons in the face with Lysol.
I thought I was going to doodle comics about my day at Institute
but there were THIS MANY people too look over my shoulder
and see that I wasn't taking notes on mindful breathing
But I drew my cup, because I am a rebel. A rogue with attitude.
"Active listening" is a useful method to calm patrons who are ranting about how we are refusing to look up their library card number even though we can obviously do it in less than 10 seconds and we know who they are because they come in every week and they have their ID right there and the fucking GROCERY STORE can do it, but maybe instead of actively listening to them while they vent we can just change that stupid antiquated pre-computer rule so they don't get mad in the first place ? MINDFUL BREATHING.
"Active listening" exercise
They gave us free lunch, though, so I was on board with it all. I breathed through my belly and wrote down the trick questions and charged the bento line with my lunch ticket like a good solider.
The vegetarian option was fried noodles.
The caterer's theme was "we can't afford vegetables"
Home again home again, 2 hours of driving
This morning, over breakfast, I thought that maybe I should pursue the training I actually want on my own time. Maybe I should take classes. Maybe I should get a uniform and do it properly to increase my strength and skill before I am too old to smash someone's face in with a barcode scanner.* Maybe...
Except I still haven't taken up falconry. We don't actually have falcons here, but we do have owls, and I bet owls would be even easier to train because they sleep during the day and wouldn't put up much of a fight while you run around throwing them. A trained raptor would probably do the job just as well as kung fu and I wouldn't have to spend $100 on a martial arts costume just to get my head pinched between a strange man's thighs. I am a librarian, not Artemis.
Still. Maybe? A small local class where I can kick people on my days off? TO THE GOOGLES.
*okay, I have only ever been manhandled by a customer once, and he was super old, but what I'd really like is to have the confidence and training to stand solidly and not have my hands quiver like a purse-dog when someone flies off the handle about library fines.
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