Branching Out

Gidday.
My name is Craig and for the past 8 years or so I've been working in the Acquisitions department of the Palmerston North City Library.
This year an opportunity came up for me to work at the Roslyn branch library for 6 months, so I thought I'd see what it's like to get out of the insular, nutty world of the Technical Services Department and back into a frontline customer service role like when I first started at the Library.
I've just finished my first full week at Roslyn and so far it's also been insular and nutty, but in a completely different way from being in Acquisitions!

In my Acquisitions job I was mainly responsible for buying and cataloguing audio-visual items (so I was also a deputised member of the Cataloguing Department.) No, I didn't get to choose which items we buy, I got given lists and then I did the actual ordering, paying for, and putting records on the Library's computer system so people can find them (hopefully).
This role is almost 100% desk-based - luckily I'm the type of person who gets an inordinate amount of satisfaction from making sure that items arrive promptly, and that catalogue records are useful to people.
Yes, I am the kind of person who goes into a bookshop and puts things in alphabetical order if they have been moved into the wrong place.
I am often in the position of yelling at the TV when they get things wrong too.
I am also the kind of person who gets frustrated when I can't correct spelling mistakes in the newspaper. (No doubt I will make spelling mistakes on this blog- feel free to point them out, or just yell at your computer as if I can hear you!)
All this makes me a pretty good fit in the Cataloguing department (anyone reading this who possesses these traits, please consider this a free career guidance counselling session.)

This year the PN City Library shifted to a different computer system and there have been all the usual associated headaches with getting the Cataloguing and Acquisitions parts working the best way for our library. There's still a long way to go, so part of the reason for me to try a different job for a while is so I can observe what our patrons want from the system, and what can we do to make things as easy as possible for frontline staff.

Oh, if you're wondering why this blog is called Far Flung Outpost - it's how one of the (now-retired) branch librarians used to refer to the branch libraries. She used to be at Ashhurst, so she was slightly further flung than I am, but it's catchy, so I have appropriated it.
OK, I hope to be keeping you up to date weekly with my progress as a Branch Librarian. It should be quite a change for me, and it will hopefully be interesting for you!
And if you live near the Roslyn Library, come in and say hi - I'll be there most days.

Song of the week: Bruises by Band of Skulls (from the album Sweet Sour). Heavy-ish but still somehow folky, with good harmonies from one male and one female singer. Great drum sound.

Blu-Ray of the week: Justified, season one, starring Timothy Olyphant. Has a great lead character, and an even more interesting antagonist.

Book of the week, nay, the year: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. He even had a competition to win a DeLorean in the States! Say no more.