Today was a typical day. I get to work, set up shop for a computer class, teach typing and mousing for an hour and a half, then return to the desk for the coming of the middle school students. Again, our library's property abuts the city's primary middle school, so the path of least resistance is the public library for bored, horny, without-a-drivers-license teens.
Which reminds me of a transaction from the other day. One of these fine teens, a young lady who is fond of fawning over the only male librarian in the district in front of her friends came to ask me for the time. The time was 3:12.
Girl: What time will it be in a half hour?
Me: 3:42 (I gave her the answer within a second or so)
Girl: How did you know that so fast?
Me- I went on to show her how, in my mind, I factor out all the tens and ones. Ten minutes, by ten minutes, by ten minutes equals thirty. Thirty minutes from twelve after equals forty-two. Not that hard. She got some serious cred when she walked out the door, because despite her borderline embarrassing question she managed to say "you really learned, I mean taught me something today." She said that while my boss hovered over me. Good timing, young lady. Next time ask her to give me a raise for showing her math (which I consider myself a weak candidate for instruction of most any kind).
Me- "That's why I'm here"
That's all I needed to say. Hopefully that drove the point home for her. That is, after all, why I'm here. You ask me an easy question and I'll answer in a few seconds.
You can also ask me a duesy. Like today. I had a college-aged patron come in with a typical "I really hope you guys can help me" attitude. She thrust a piece of paper in my direction. On it was a number of typed notations on the meaning of different styles of film montages. She is a film student, that's all we need to know for now.
She wants a film clip pertaining to a particular, highly artistic style of montage. She's looked everywhere or so she claims. Hulu, YouTube, IMdb, etc. I learned a lot about the montage as a form. Her question became complex, but between my boss and I we broke it down and really grilled her. In the end she walked away with her husband, confident that she got what she wanted.
My evening winded down with eating lots of pre-Halloween chocolate, answering a few phone calls, and signing people up for more classes. I still love my job even after a long, long day like today. We see such a wide spectrum of needs.
My hope is that technology continues to address these needs with more speed and accuracy.
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