dirtylibrarian

Two things that have made me particularly happy in the last 24 hours:

1)  A patron calls the library and starts the conversation with the question: "How old were you in 1970?"  "Uh, negative two" I reply.  He seems dismayed, but I am convince him to give me a chance as, I tell him despite my age, I am very well read.  So he goes on to tell me that Bill Cosby used to do albums (of which I am well aware) and his son has just completed work on a very fine go-cart, or maybe it is a pinewood derby thing, and he wants to share with him something Bill Cosby recorded on the topic around 1970.  I had the list of Cosby albums up in Wikipedia before he finished telling me the go-cart story, and Googled the correct album seconds later, really it was very simple.  But he was absolutely delighted, and felt compelled to gush about how wonderful am I.   I can't even fake feeling bashful, I love it when my skills are appreciated and I get to help people connect with things that seem silly, but are heartfelt important to them.

2) Driving to work in the dark and fog this morning, there were two instances of oncoming traffic going in a contrary uphill manner that resulted in the beams from their headlights being broken up into wonderful fanning rays.  I wish I could have caught it in a picture, but that whole driving thing does get in the way sometimes.  Ah well...another small thing to look forward to glimpsing again in my commute with luck.

from lisnews.org

Fighting fires may sound taxing, chasing criminals demanding, but a new study says that working in library is the most stressful job of all. The BBC says Librarians are the most unhappy with their workplace, often finding their job repetitive and unchallenging, according to psychologist Saqib Saddiq. He will tell the British Psychological Society that one in three workers suffer from poor psychological health. The study surveyed nearly 300 people drawn from five occupations. They were firefighters, police officers, train operators, teachers and librarians and were intended to cover the spectrum, with the librarians first-thought to be the least stressful occupation.

In a survey of five occupations? Not very wide ranging that one. More stressful than deep sea oil rig repairman? More stressful than high school vice-principal? More stressful than emergency room doctor? I'm sorry, while I certainly do agree that being a librarian can sometimes be repetitive and unchallenging, ennui is not the most stressful of conditions to work under, IMHO.