ILL request

One of my duties at PC Library was to supervise interlibrary loan. A few years after I retired I had a dream. This is from a Facebook post in 2019.

Last night I dreamed that I still worked at the Library. We received 6-7 new interlibrary loan requests for.......

DONUTS!!!

I guess there was a donut shop in the Library (or the College).

The requests were for a variety of donuts: cinnamon, glazed, blueberry, cream-filled, etc. So I prepared boxes containing a half-dozen donuts and mailed them off. (I had to answer "no" to one request because we had run out of the specific variety that they wanted.)

Sometime later I thought "Wait a minute. I just gave away free donuts. What was I thinking?"

So I resolved that the next time the Library received ILL requests for donuts I would respond "No, not on shelf."

Modern Day Library

I posted this on Facebook 12 years ago.

The 40-Year Plan

The College has a reception for retirees and service award recipients each May. Retirees are asked to speak for a couple minutes if they desire.

This is sort of what I said:

Three months ago I never expected to be here. I was on the 40-year plan. I wanted to know what the award would be for 40 years of service. [Someone in the audience said "a new car."]

My grandfather worked for 50 years for the U.S. Postal Service. He started in 1912, and was a rural letter carrier in Cumberland County, Illinois. He delivered the mail on his route by horse and buggy.

Grandpa was a "people person," and he enjoyed talking to people. Sometimes he was the only person the families on his route would see that whole week, and he exchanged news from town and among their neighbors with the folks he delivered to. He didn't gossip -- men do not gossip -- but he would tell them stories.

Later he became postmaster of his small town, and he enjoyed conversing with the people who would come to the post office to pick up their mail each day because there was no home mail-delivery in their town.

I think it was the people that my grandfather enjoyed most about his 50 years working for the USPS.

And I think "people" is the thing that kept me here at Parkland College for 38-and-a-half years ... because I am really going to miss Parkland Library's subscription to People magazine.

Power Outage

I was completing my getting-ready-for-work morning routine when I heard on the radio that there was a major power outage at the College, the Internet was down and students could not register and the day care center was closed. It was unclear to me what employees should do. I phoned Public Safety (5:30 a.m.) and was advised that portions of the College were without power. I asked if I came into work would I be sitting in the dark. The answer to that was "yes." So I decided to wait.

I turned on the two local TV stations. I eventually caught portions of reports that the College was without power, but it was still unclear what the status really was. One station did actually say the College was closed. I heard differing reports among the two TV stations and the radio station.

I again called Public Safety and inquired (7 a.m.). I told them the media had said the College was closed. They said this was not true, but portions of the College still did not have electricity. I decided it might be best if I reported in and determine for myself if the Library was one of the areas that was impacted.

I arrived around 7:15 a.m. and it was clear that the southwest side of the campus was dark. This is where I always enter. I went to Public Safety and again asked what the status of the Library was. They said the last they heard, about 45 minutes before, it was expected that power would be restored in an hour. That meant it would be another 15 minutes.

I went to the Library, left my stuff in my office, then got my lunchtime reading book and went to a table near a window near the circ desk. I had read only a little bit when Frank arrived for work (7:30 a.m.). We sat and talked. Closer to 8:00 a couple more co-workers arrived. Then one of the Public Safety officers came in with a message: "Nancy could go home." I asked who had made that decision. He said he'd gotten it about 3rd-hand but he thought it came from the college electrician. We all joked that I could leave and they were witnesses that I'd been given the go-ahead.

One of the co-workers phoned the library director who said "Go home," but listen to see if the Library opens later in the day. Frank and I made signs and posted on the Library doors: "Due to power outage Library is closed." Then I left.

When I arrived home around 8:30 I listened to a phone message from a librarian telling me that the Library was temporarily closed and I'd be called if/when the Library opened. That is a phone call which I'll conveniently miss.

Meanwhile, since the College's Internet is not working I am without email service even through "webaccess." We're also going to miss the catered lunch from Panera which was scheduled before today's beginning-of-school staff meeting. Bummer.