Sunny Saturday

Saturday 27th February 2016

Busy Saturday

Mr and Mrs O

It was a busy, busy morning! Lots of regulars and a few new faces came in. I had a queue at the counter and the phone ringing at one point. Loved it - the time went in a flash.

Mr and Mrs O came in - usually they come in during the week. They have a caravan in Blackpool and spend half the week there - in the warmer months. Mrs O takes a lot of books out each time.

She told me today that she is going into hospital on Tuesday to get a new knee! She said that she hopes she'll be up and about again by the time my last day comes along - as she wants to come to my Tea Party.

Also, she confided that she's worried about the kind of books Mr O might bring her when he comes in on his own. I told her I'll save her some new ones - so she'll get something she likes. She's very into crime - so I know what to keep for her.

Hanging Basket Cases!

My Blast from the Past today are more photos from May 2013 when we had the staff from Biddulph Grange show us how to make our own hanging baskets. I still have the (empty) basket outside. I will have to try to remember what they taught us - so I can refill it for this summer.

You need lots of moss!

I had a phone call from one of the staff at Clayton. She was asking me when she could come over to go through the opening and closing routines of the library. It turns out that she is going to be covering Silverdale every other Thursday afternoon. Clayton is one of our libraries that is surviving with paid staff. That and Kidsgrove and of course - Newcastle, our HQ.

The other five - Silverdale, Knutton, Talke, Audley and Loggerheads were meant to be "community owned and community staffed" except that no groups came forward to take any of them over. As far as I know - no volunteers have materialised to run yet them either. This means the remaining three libraries in our district are going to have to somehow staff and manage these five as well. With a much reduced staff. No-one I have spoken to yet know how this is going to be accomplished. It's only four weeks to the day 80 staff leave the service in Staffordshire. I heard rumours today that at least six more have resigned this week - as most people have not got the hours or locations they wanted.

I really want Silverdale to survive!

Time to Fly Away?

Friday 26th February 2016

Had another lovely afternoon at Silverdale. The Knit and Natter ladies all arrived and I got them some chocolate chip cookies to go with their tea and coffees today.

Before they arrived I set up a new display for them with our latest knitting books. :-)

One lady wanted to share a baby's blanket pattern from a very old magazine with the rest of the group. I carefully photocopied it in colour for them. The copies looked much better than the original!

 It was really busy on the computers too. Two different people were printing out Ryan Air boarding passes (lucky them!) One woman was panicking - as hers wouldn't print no matter how many times she tried! I got her to login on a different PC and it worked from there. She was very grateful!

Messy Co-op!

Another customer asked me to help him apply for Universal Credit - as he'd been told by the Job Centre that is what he needed to do. They just said - "Do it online!" so naturally he came to the library! I got him to fill the form in on the computer - put when he tried to submit it - it just said that he wasn't eligible for it. Didn't give any reason for that - so all I could tell him was ring the Job Centre again. I don't like it when I can't solve people's problems :-(

My Blast from the Past is a photo I took in 2012 behind the library. It is also the area behind the Co-op and they had been letting it get very messy with rubbish and old loaves of bread strewn everywhere. I took this so that I could go round to complain and confront them with the evidence! They did tidy up a bit! Actually, they have a new manager now and he is much better at keeping it clean.

Dante's Inferno

Thursday 25th February 2016

It's frightening how quickly February is flying by! Apparently while I was off on Tuesday the new community librarian came and interviewed a  volunteer in Silverdale. I'm not sure who it was - someone said possibly a woman from the parish council. One member had actually asked me for a leaflet - she is 74 years old and very nice. I'm not sure how competent she is with computers though.
It is all very dispiriting. I had an email from the Chief Executive to say how wonderfully the volunteer project was going and I had to make sure that all the leaflets and posters were very prominent in my library. Also, it is my job to ask every person who comes in if they want to volunteer.
This made me very angry and upset. Am I supposed to say "Oh the council is making me redundant from this job that I love - would any of you like to take over? You'll get a bit of on the job training (although if they saw the manual that is currently being prepared by library staff at Newcastle - they'd run a mile!) but no money Please feel free to jump in my grave!"


When I think of the post- graduate diploma in Library and Information Science at Manchester - while working at Staffs Uni - and then another two years doing a Masters - it makes me want to weep.



Cool Wall Art

Still, it was a happy Thursday. The poets were a delight as always and lots of my favourite customers came in. I think word of my Last Day Tea Party is getting around - I am looking forward to a good turnout. The birdwatchers were in too during the afternoon - some lovely birdsong coming from the bottom rooms. They tell me that they will be on a field trip next week - so won't be in the library.

I had to chase a request today for a customer. Mr B has been reading his way through all the Patrick O'Brian books in our collections. He wrote the Aubrey–Maturin series, sea novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The first one was Master and Commander and there are 20 of them!  Now, he has decided to move on to Dante's Inferno. I looked through our catalogue - but any copies listed were missing or long overdue. Libraries these days don't have room for much reserve stock - only clean and popular books are given space on the shelves.



I had requested that we buy a Penguin Classics version a few weeks ago but nothing had appeared. I checked again today - and it had been ordered - but never arrived. My boss ordered it again - so I relayed this back to Mr. B via email. He seemed happy to be kept updated at least :-)

The posters we sell in the library are still very popular. I have sold quite a few recently. They are great! I bought the periodic table and a world map one for my new home office. Of course, most are purchased for kids rooms :-) One of my favourites - which I have up behind the counter in order to advertise them - is the Six Wives of Henry VIII. Good to know who they were and what happened to each one - it's the kind of random information that comes in useful in pub quizzes! :-)

My Blast from the Past today is a photo I took of my New Books shelf which accidently had a rather unfortunate juxtaposition books! Oops - Sorry Alfie :-)

Disaster Monday!

Monday 22nd February 2016

I had to turn lots of people away today - as the computers weren't working. My admin one was (in a limited capacity) but the public ones were not at all. According to the emails I got, there had been a power outage over the weekend and the Uninterruptable Power Source had also failed - so two components were completely trashed. This meant the whole website for the council was down as well as many important internal systems.

Mr S and clipboard :-)

Luckily as our Library Management System was via the internet - it was fine. I could also get onto the web - just not the intranet. So, it didn't disrupt my work too much. I was still able to help out Mr. S aka Crossword Guy. He didn't have too many for me today. He wanted to know:

1. Where Bernard Cribbens was born - Oldham
2. What is the title of the latest Rocky movie - Creed
3. Who owns Chelsea football club - Roman Abramovich (I knew that one without looking it up :-)
4. What is a breed of Zebu cattle that is used for dairy farming in Pakistan. (Two words) - turns out to be Red Sindhu

You learn something every day :-) Mr S let me take a photo of him and his clipboard too!

It was also Coffee Tots day - so as usual the place was full of pushchairs and the sound of singing and occasional crying. It was as popular as ever and the health visitors that run it were telling me that they are going to be running another session in the local school as it is so oversubscribed. Their managers are so delighted as no event they have tried before has ever got off the ground.

Landscape with sheep

Mr N came in too today  - he was delighted with his new Simon Scarrow book he took last time. He said that within the first few pages there were heads coming off and blood everywhere - he couldn't put it down. He was looking for a recent Clive Cussler on the New Book stand - but sadly there wasn't one there today. I told him he might see one next time.  "Ah, yes " he replied "As my old dad used to say - you never know your luck with your trousers down!" (I think he comes from a Naval family :-)

My Blast from the Past today is from last year when we held a free Felt Landscape Course and I got to have a go myself. It was an interesting technique - as you had to get lambs wool wet with soapy water and rub it between sheets of bubble wrap to make it into felt. It was quite messy - but fun. I was quite pleased with the sheep on mine :-)

Football tales from the past...

Saturday 20th February 2015

What a busy morning it was - it got to 12.30pm before I could get myself a cuppa! It was a horrible wet day - but there were so many people about. It was lovely to see so many regulars. Mr I. came in and I told him about the tea party I am going to have on my dreaded last day - 31st March. He said he'd come if I put brandy in the tea. It sounds like a good idea :-)

Eeyore loves to see families in

Mrs. Ball came in for her usual Scandinavian crime books but also asked to see today's local paper: The Sentinel. On Saturdays they have a pull-out section called The Way We Were - and she wanted to see if there were any pictures of old Port Vale teams. Her grandson had been asking her about football and Mrs Ball's grandfather actually played and managed Port Vale in the past. I looked him up on the internet and found some information and some very dashing photos! Love the moustache from his playing days - have a look here - Tommy Holford

 The computers were busy all morning and I was needed to help someone print out their boarding passes for Miami, to print out a Groupon voucher for free cinema tickets and upload another CV to a job application. It's good fun because people don't usually ask until they've struggled for a bit and they are so happy when I can help them easily and they go away clutching the document they needed. :-)

It was lovely to see a few entire families in too - mum, dad, toddler and baby. We have quite a few regular ones that come in now that we have the swish new housing estate up by the country park. (On top of Silverdale Mine)

The wonderful Mrs G :-)

My last customer of the day as Mrs G  (sister of Mrs B who owned Molly the collie) She always like to peruse the new historical books on display. She's a big fan of the Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom.
She likes to stay for a chat too.

Today she was lamenting the lack of reliable information about the European Union. She doesn't know who to believe - whether we should come out or stay in. She said something that made me laugh. Talking about the various politicians and particularly the Prime Minister she thought they'd had far too privileged backgrounds to know what was best for the whole country.

"They all went to Eton and places like that - where they are educated til they are stupid!"

The Girl in the Hello Kitty Pyjamas

Friday 19th February 2016

I do get some lovely customers in Silverdale - but also some strange ones too! I guess being open to the public and having a nice warm building with places to sit and things to occupy you we are bound to get a variety of people in.

Pyjama Party :-)

Today I had quite a regular lady who pops in the use the computers and also the scanner. I always help her scan her documents and lend her a memory stick so that she can email them where thy need to go. It just seems a little odd that she comes in wearing Hello Kitty pyjamas! They are very nice ones - it just makes me smile!

I also had another regular who comes in rather the worse for wear sometimes. Today he really did smell of drink - in fact I think we were all reeling from the alcohol fumes by the time he went out. He does need a lot of help when he's in - as he seems a bit reluctant to engage with computers - even though he has to use them for his job-seeking. I had to show him again how to attach his CV to an email so he could apply for a job. I told him he needed to write a message too - to let the person know who he was and what he as applying for - but he didn't want to do that. He said he just needed to be able to prove he had sent it - so it was in his Sent Items - to satisfy the Job Centre!

Even though it was the last day of half-term the Knit and Natterers were in! In fact, we had two new members join the group today. One lady had come in yesterday to ask me about it. She was stuck on the last bit of crocheting a jumper and asked if the ladies would be able to help her. I told her that they loved helping people out with their projects but I wasn't sure if they'd be in today - due to it being half-term and quite a few of them having to look after grandchildren.

Flowers galore!

However - a few of them turned up and made the two new ladies very welcome. There was loads of laughing going on when I went down the with the tea and Twix bars for them. I think the newbies will be coming back next week. In honour of the group I have fished out a photo for my Blast from the Past - it's of all the flowers that adorn my noticeboard and carry on up the library walls and towards the exit. Many done by Tracy when she was running the group. They are a great advert for them as so many people ask me about them when they are at the counter.

Half-Term Hush

Thursday 17th February 2016

It was pretty quiet today - what with no classes going on because of half-term. I missed the poets and the bird-watchers. It was strange not to have to get the rooms ready for them.

When I got in first thing - the alarm had not been set - as it had gone off during the night and was now flashing a warning. In fact while I was asleep (and had my phone on silent) I had been called twice from the alarm company to say I needed to attend. I have done this a few times - had to get dressed and go out in the middle of the night because the alarm had been triggered. The first time it happened I took Nathan with me as I was scared to go out to a possible burglary on my own! The police were there when I got there - and we searched the building and couldn't see anything wrong.

Half-term reading

After that, there were so many false alarms that the police stopped attending - which was much worse because I felt much more vulnerable going over there on my own in the wee small hours! I can't believe they expected us Library Supervisors to do that! Now they have just employed a security firm to attend any call-outs in the night . I only handed the spare keys over to them last week. I guess they can't expect volunteers to come out during the night so they've had to pay this company to do it for them.  I won't miss that part of the job - that's for sure!



Anyway - when I looked around I noticed that the big poster for the wrestling at the Working Men's Club next door - which the promoter asked if he could put up a couple of days ago - had fallen off the wall in the foyer. That was what must have set off the alarm this time! Luckily I have experience of resetting them - so I soon got it sorted. The engineer called later in the morning - but I told him I'd managed to fix it. They charge a fortune if they have to send someone round!



Summer Reading Challenge!

It wasn't too busy today - it was pretty damp and cold and I think that a few families in the village may have gone away for the half-term break. I had a few girls in - but not many kids on their own.

I am looking forward to this evening as we were meeting up with Tracy and hubby Al - in the local pub for a meal and a few drinks. We'll get the chance for a bit of a catch-up!

Today's Blast from the Past is from one of my Summer Reading Challenges - when we decorate the library and try to get the children to read six books over the summer. If they succeed they get a medal and certificate. It has been proved that if children don't read over the long six week break - then when they get back to school their reading age can actually drop. This is a way to try to get them to keep up reading level all year.