What I Do - Part 1

So...I work in a library. I know, you probably have a mental picture of me now...conservative dress, hair up in a bun. Well, my clothes are pretty plain and functional, but there's no way you're getting my hair in a bun. I work behind the scenes. Not with people but with a machine. And books. Of course books. Some days lots and lots of books. Oh...videos, cassette tapes, CDs, and DVDs, too.

My principal job is operating a book sort machine. You, the patron, drop your book in the book drop, and it makes its way back to me using a series of conveyor belts. Once in the processing room, the book is sent into the book sort machine, sized, scanned, resensitized, rough-sorted to a specific cart, removed from the cart, and finally fine-sorted and ready to shelve. All this to get the books back to their spots, ready to be checked out once again. So, you, the patron can start this process all over again.

Just to keep the days interesting, a myriad of hitches can occur. Because those conveyor belts take 90-degree turns, things can get stuck along the way. Sometimes in the ceiling. We have lots of ladders. Don't worry, I've had the official ladder training. Because the system is 10 years old now, some things just plain wear out. Because the whole kit-and-kaboodle is computer driven, well....we all know about computers and their moods. Because some people don't like to follow directions, bad things can happen. Gertrude (as we've named her) is always thinking of new ways to keep things interesting.

It's my job to keep Gertrude happy--or pull my hair out trying (now you know why it won't go up in a bun). I write procedures for operation and train new folks how to handle those operations. I troubleshoot the issues, fix what I can, and I have learned who to call when I need help. I've become the jack-of-all-trades in library processing. Never in a million years would I have guessed I'd be a book sort machine operator, but it's all good. I actually like my job. Seven years and counting....