exhaustion
Erika & I worked VERY hard today. (Chris, too, but don't tell anybody. Chris' job was shelf-reading because books were very out-of-order after the interim session voyages. Chris also uncovered many classification errors & location errors in the collection! I told him to email fixvirgo ...) Erika & I unpacked boxes & sorted & labeled new orders & reserves & textbooks & donations, etc., etc. We also had the assistance of Jo, one of the ISE staff, who has just finished library school and was interested in helping out. She was great. She helped shelve all the materials used during the interim voyages (Seminar at Sea & the reunion voyage).
The library system upgrade did not go so well today -- surprise, surprise -- but I got to spend some time in the ship's IT room which was kinda cool. We're connected to the server & that is all good, but the ship's server needs to talk to the vendor's server in order to validate the software & that's failing due to firewall issues. So, the crew is working on fixing that. We're hoping things on that front will be better tomorrow.
The ducking-under-the-bar-to-get-behind-the-circulation-desk-thing, while not entirely enjoyable, is much less difficult than I had thought it would be. Happy news there!
Yesterday's missing boxes arrived today (heavily searched, it seems, more so than the others). But, very happy news nonetheless also.
We had a good meeting (yes, meetings on the ship too), with ISE and UVA information technology staff and UVA administration and that was very productive.
All in all, a very full day.
Our last task today was to move all the sorted books to the floor so they won't fall off the tables when we sail tonight. Below are a few library photos & you'll see stacks of books on the floor. We leave Fort Lauderdale tonight & arrive in Nassau tomorrow, when Sherri will board. There are also lots of orientation goings-on tomorrow too, which I could definitely stand for at this point!
maps, maps, & more maps:
circ desk/bar:
signage is everywhere (as well as the UVA honor notice), this particular one is hanging at the end of the stacks:
