beep beep beep beep

I'm not normally one to blog about work stuff cos frankly it's boring but today I was on stocktaking duty, and the beep beep beep of the scanner coupled with the totally mind-numbing task that I was up to, got me thinking about the blog and so I decided to post about it.

The thing with jobs is that most of us don't really know what any of our friends do. If challenged we'd have one of those moments like in Friends where they have to answer what Chandler does and they all look around wildly throwing random guesses into the air. For instance, I know that Fizz does something that is I.T. related, it involves talking on the telephone to customers, and it's some accounting thing. Doesn't really reveal much does it? Tizz on the other hand fixes people up when they come to her for repair cos she's a paramedic, slightly easier that one. But my job? Library stuff - one of life's mysteries. Everyone thinks that all I do is stamp books all day. And strive for my twin set and pearls and tweed skirt image that I try so hard to maintain...

So I'm going to reveal one of the library-world mysteries: the stocktake. This pretty much does what it says on the tin. We're finding out what stock we have. And to do this we scan the books, register their barcodes and check with logs. Dullsville central. But the scanning stuff is fun! Picture it: dusty old store, rolling stacks, kick stools, beepy thing that resembles one of those old brick mobile phones, Dizz up on said kick stool, scanner in right hand, books off shelf in left hand, grotty old barcodes that don't scan, scanning anything with the crazy red laser line but the book including my left boob, stomach, and thighs today (hope that didn't cause any damage by the way). Is mad. And there's a certain technique to the scanning that involves shielding the barcode from the light, kind of like when you used to hide your answers at school. Or tipping the book upside down. Or tipping yourself upside down off the kick stool. It's a workout in itself; who needs the gym?

And today, in the hour and a half that I was over there for I scanned 640 books! Wooooh! Apparently I'm the leader so far, but then it only started today so not sure how that board is going to play out.

So there you have it. Next time someone asks you what happens in library world you can tell them that we not only stamp books but we scan them as well :o)

Ta-ta x