Random Notes

1. My thoughts go out to my niece as she is getting used to her new braces which she got last week.
2. After a six-month hiatus, I finally went to the movies. I went to see No Country for Old Men. I thought it was worthy of its best picture status from the Academy Awards. And in particular, I enjoyed scrutinizing the character played by Javier Bardem, the villain of the movie who carries out his acts in unmitigated violence. I got into a conversation with JG about this movie at work today. While he liked the Bardem character, he wished for an explanation from the movie as to why the character was mean, evil, and ruthless.
3. It was busy this past weekend at the library. Lots of tax form questions. And lots of questions about automotive repair. During a thirty-minute portion of my Sunday, I worked in the audio-visual department (to help cover for breaks). It has been four and half years since I worked in AV. I remember that working in AV can be challenging, especially when patrons come in wanting to load up on movies and CDs and the staff barely gets a chance (and sometimes never getting the chance) to re-shelve any returned items. Sundays are particularly frustrating. I think AV has hit a library evolutionary point where changes need to be made. In particular, the closed-stack system where staff retrieves desired patron items has to come to an end. The library needs to consider perhaps opening the stacks, letting the patrons check out DVDs and videos with the media already in the case, and redefining the service interaction between patron and staff. This change, of course, won’t happen overnight. And if it does happen, it will happen over a gradual period of time. It starts with a vivid plan and input from all library staff.
4. Speaking of library evolution, we are still cutting our proverbial teeth as far as wireless goes. One big issue which was raised by two occurrences is providing wireless for our guests who use the auditorium and the conference rooms. Access to wireless requires User ID and PIN, which usually means a library card number and the birthday PIN. But we’ve encounter guests who have requested wireless after they have taken occupancy of the auditorium or meeting room. And this leads to library staff scrambling to produce new library cards or guest wireless receipts just so they can have access. I sent out an email today to supervisors suggesting we try to be more proactive in room bookings to include inquiries of the guest to see if they plan to use wireless. As I see it, this is no different than asking them if they plan to use an DVD player or a VCR in the room. These sort of things have to be planned for.
5. The King's Singers performed this past week at the Folly Theatre in downtown KC. Unfortunately, I couldn't go this year. I heard that the concert experience was a little different this year. The Kansas City Star reported that one of the singers had to take bereavement leave and return to the UK. Still, the five remaining singers still delivered a good concert. Here's hoping the group returns to full vocal strength soon. This is their fortieth year of singing and entertaining, I believe.
6. Finally, taxes for 2007 are done.