This week at the library, or, Welcome December

 Like many, I am waiting eagerly for this year to end! I only had one virtual school visit this week, our school is temporarily virtual but will be going back in-person (not counting those who opted for virtual) next week. Normally this would be a very busy week, getting ready for the annual Christmas parade and Santa reception, which is hosted at the library, but they're doing a drive-in at the fair this year instead. I worked remotely two days and this is roughly how that went.

Wednesday

• Got up around 8:30 (honestly b/c my brother called, I probably would have slept later if not)
• Turned on my computer around 9:30. Answered emails. Teacher sent a big request so I put aside my other projects and worked on this. I had the initial list that I've built in previous years and it only needed a couple hours of work to update, BUT placing the holds was a nightmare. Our remote catalog does not work well and my internet cuts out constantly, so around 1pm (I had grabbed some breakfast a few hours earlier) I screamed in frustration and sent the list to my associate at the library to place the holds instead. Then I took a break, ate some lunch, went for a walk, and got back to work.
• I finished updating all the lists and sending them to my associate to place the holds. That was approximately 100 books I researched and selected and then between us we placed approx. 400 holds.
• I organized the book club books into a google form for tomorrow's book club.
• Worked on some collection development - building an Amazon wishlist and looking at orders for next year. I wasn't really watching the time. I know I ate some dinner at some point and I think I stopped working around 8ish.

Thursday

• My brother did not call me today so I got up closer to 10 lol. The computer went on a little after 10 and I started the day with emails. Lots of little things - staff reviews, adding new virtual visits, looking at some collection development for next year, writing content for newsletters and website, making assignments for staff.
• Took a break and walked down to the local library to pick up a book for a teacher at MY library.
• Manager's meeting - joined virtually - I had a lot of connection issues, which was frustrating.
• 2:30 back to working on projects from this morning, staff evaluation, then a schedule issue, then newsletter blurbs.
• 4:30 was supposed to be my virtual book club, but nobody was able to show. This actually was good because my internet (which I get from a hotspot from work) has gotten extremely spotty. It doesn't matter for my regular work if it drops in and out, except for things like trying to place holds.... but you can't hold a meeting with a flickering connection! Another thing to fix. I spent forever fiddling with it and looking for workarounds. At 6 I went back to working on content for the library website and finished that project, then put together Facebook posts. I stopped working around 8 again.

I don't know that these were typical remote work days - the internet issues caused a lot of problems, which was frustrating. I had a lot more work I'd hoped to do, but wasn't able to get to which was annoying. I have only a few hours working remotely next week but maybe I'll get to it then.