The Shape of Today

A Secret Shared

A peaceful Sunday morning; some showers passed through in the night and cooler weather will be around for a couple of days. The laundry has been started, and I'm contemplating today's project...which is actually a work project.

I have been wanting to use Publisher to create a three-panel handout for some time, specifically exhorting patrons to make use of the "list" feature. Much about the catalog software is clunky and exasperating, but the "list" feature is great, especially if one is a fan of series like "A Song of Ice and Fire". One searches the catalog and finds books like A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and so on, then places them in a list created for them. So when the time comes to read the next book in that favorite series, it's a cinch to put them on hold or find them in the local library. Someone went to the trouble and expense to include this in the catalog's software package, so the feature should certainly be utilized.

There's more to this than simply sharing a great feature. The library's management is aware of my interest in creating this handout and have encouraged me to work on it. Also, I'm hoping that by doing so I can showcase my enthusiasm for creating library material in this fashion, and maybe one day become the "go-to" person for such projects. It's a feather I can put in my librarian hat that can serve me well in the future. Plus, it's fun.

The one caveat is that I'm not supposed to be doing this on my own time, officially, since it's library "work". The only problem with that is that my "off the desk" time at work usually means shelving, shelf-reading, or some other project that is often interrupted by the ebb and flow of library peak times. So the plan is to get a portion of the handout created, then send it to my work email and pretend I've been working on it all along.

Sssshhh, Writing.com. This is our little secret.