Not much time

I have roughly 10 minutes to sum up everything I've been doing since the last time I've posted. This is an unattainable goal. Though right now, a lot of what I'm doing SEEMS unattainable, so I'll just assume it's a theme and roll with it.

I'm still ordering Teen books, though I've slowed down on the quantity in that arena, as I've finished ordering all of the BBYA booklist books, and big name authors/series to create a basic core collection of teen books. And they're going out! Teens are reading them- heck, adults are reading them (they're good!) so that has been a satisfying portion of my job. Also, I've done some shifting around of the collection because for SOME reason, most of the books I ordered were written by authors who have last names that begin with letters A-S....and the S-Z portion was a little bleak. At any rate, the shelves look great, the books are shiny and new and being used.

We've successfully finished most of the renovations in the Teen area, Homework Help Center and Children's Department. I have to say, I love it. The color on the walls make it feel warm and inviting even though we're sequestered to the basement of the building. Patrons oooh and ahhhh when they walk in and see the new furniture and decorations, and it is incredibly satisfying to witness that as well.

I'm still working multiple service points, "wherever I'm needed" as I say. This is good because while I'm up in the Adult area, I've been giving the 800s to work on and WOW talk about overwhelming. The oldest book I've come across was copyright 1916. But many many old dusty books have sat on these shelves without circulating for 15 years or more. FIFTEEN YEARS! I've forced myself to go shelf by shelf, scan each book, and make decisions that way. Initially I was going all willy-nilly towards the old looking stuff and realized it just wasn't the way to go. I guess it seems more manageable this way?? I added question marks because...

At times I still wonder if I really know what I'm doing. I think I do- and I try to abide by the best practices of other forward thinking organizations I've worked for...but sometimes I still ask myself...."Who is trusting you with all of this!?" I'm sure it's just self doubt and a pathetic conscience but I can still hear it, sometimes.

I'm also helping to rebuild the nonfiction Juvenile books that we aggressively weeded and re-filed with oversized books.

And most recently, I suggested to someone that we apply for a grant and now I've found myself attempting to write one, in only a few days (of course the deadline is Dec. 1st). I've always wanted to learn how to write grants and now I'm pissed that I don't feel like I have the time to do it properly or thoroughly enough to meet my own expectations. I guess I'm giving it my best shot but MAN I wish I had more time.

Don't we all? Wish we had more time?