Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Info Desk Blogging

Nice warm day. When the wind kicks up on a late fall day here in Berkeley, as it did when I was pushing my way to a cafe for lunch, one worries about fires. The 20th C saw two big ones. One in 1923, another in 1991.

I was here for the 1991 fire. A friend and I were headed to the Berkeley Marina for a picnic. An ugly plume of smoke began to rise to the southeast. By the time we got to the Marina we could see the flames, tiny in the distance but obviously leaping over the houses on the hill.

I'm sure nothing like that's going to happen today. Have had some power fluctuations in the building, which crashed the database program, but things seem to be up and running again. Just now I was trying to access one of the Electronic Resources the library links to. I've been attending trainings on how to use this new stuff so I try them out whenever I have opportunity. I was trying WorldCat, which has listings for the holdings of libraries all over the place. WorldCat was very ... very ... slow. I didn't get a response till the inquiring patron had to leave. Tsk.

We need new maps! The map that was produced for the grand opening is getting more and more out of date. Maybe one of the new hires will be assigned to produce it. Lots of hiring going on. The library wasn't hiring during the budget troubles so when people left (retired, moved, etc) they couldn't be replaced. Looks like replacement time has arrived.

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