You know how in the military, it's "hurry up and wait?" Well, in tribal colleges it is "Wait..., wait..., wait..., wait..., HURRY UP!" Two weeks ago, the boss told us there were data forms that needed to be filled out that were due Friday Oct. 27. I asked for the forms for the library right away. Last Friday I got an urgent message saying that the forms were due and needed to be finished by Oct. 27! I asked for the forms again. One is a quantitative data form, the other is a qualitative evaluation form. The Interim Prez asked that all the administrators meet at 2:00 every day this week so we can all work on filling out the forms. He promised me that if I came to this meeting, someone would give me the library forms, so I went. I still do not have any of the forms.

Today one of our staff is AWOL. No call, no show. The other one tried to call in sick, but realizing we were desperately short-handed, came in anyway. She should have called in dead! Neither one of us is burning up the track today. First thing this morning the GED teacher (lovely lady!) reported that the bathrooms were out of paper towels. I gave her the keys to the storeroom. She came back up to report we were out. I told her where to find supplies in the main building. She came back loaded like Santa Claus with toilet paper, paper towels, etc., in a trash bag slung over her back. I gave her the key again. A short time later she came back up saying there was no key to get into the towel dispensers. I told her where the key was and gave her my keys for a third time. In a few minutes she came back up to return my keys.

When I opened the upstairs I turned on the public access catalog computer and found that it had not been shut down completely on Friday. Shutting it off and back on is a pain in the booty! It is in a locked cabinet, so one must remember to bring the key or go back downstairs to the office and get it, unlock everything, turn it on or off, then lock it back up and return the key to the office drawer. I must remember to find out how important it is to turn it off every Friday, and then tell whoever shuts down on Friday afternoon to do it.

The library is full of kids on the computers, so I am trying to do the computer shuffle (timing the people who are on a computer, letting them know when their time is up and negotiating the next user to the right computer). I am trying to download and print catalog records for 50 Codes of Federal Regulations. Nat is trying to print overdue notices and envelopes. There is a slight conflict. The printer is spitting out envelopes with catalog records on them and plain paper with addresses. Heeheeheeheee!

My desk is piled high with compost heaps. Once in a while I turn them over and start from the other end. I have items to order for the Knowledge Challenge--preparation for the contests at the Spring Conference of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). There is cuff accounting to do and catalogs to go through. I have to prepare the next book order. I must document all the time I spend on our various grant activities. And I have a stack of mail on my desk from way last week that needs to be dealt with.

A young boy with a $20.00 fine wants to know how many hours he would have to read to pay off his fine. (4.25 hrs.)

No responses from our ad for a new children's librarian yet.

And that is my day so far. I still have 3 hrs to go, though, so there could be some excitement yet!