Registration Frustation

I am so frustrated with the registation process for this semester! I was planning on taking LS 500 and LS 507 this semester, but then I (along with everyone else) received and e-mail from the head of the school saying that people who enrolled in the library school in certain years are going to be allowed to register for LS 560 and LS 507. Although I understand the reasoning for this, I am also irritated that while registration offically started on the 29th, most of the class in the school on library science are still closed.

How am I supposed to complete my degree in a timely manner if I'm being blocked from signing up for classes that I need? Granted, I do understand that there are some students who are almost finished and need to get their last class in,but my whole thing is if you say students can register for classes, let students register for classes without giving them more hoops to jump through. I mean it's hard enough to be a graduate student working a full-time and having to occassionally commute without throwing any unneccesary obstacles in the way!

Hero to Zero all in the same day

Today was both a great day and an awful day. First, the great part; I helped catch a bad guy! This is what happened. Early this morning, my co-worker got a call from IT that one of our patrons was wanted by the U.S. Marshals for being a child predator, they had tracked him to using out computers and she was asked to keep an eye out for him. Although she recognized the patron's name, she couldn't remember what he looked like but fortunately since he comes in a lot, I was able to give an pretty good description.

Some time passes and a patron needed my help, so I went over to computer 5 to help him. Imagine my surprise as I'm helping the patron on computer 5 and I see that right across from him on computer 6 is,yep you guess it, Mr. Child Predator. After helping the guy on computer 5, I quietly alerted my co-worker that he was in the library and using the computer. She had me double check that it was him and she alerted the IT guy. The IT guy then called the U.S. Marshals who then came and very discretely escorted him out of the library without any problems.

Now on to the zero moment of the day. I had been having an enjoyable work day then my boss tells me and my co-workers that our computer policy has now changed. Before, a patron could only get 1 hour in our department and two hours in another department which equals 180 minutes a day. After a patron used their hour in our department, they couldn't get another hour but instead, they had to use the other computers on the third floor. If they were caught re-logging in after they'd already had their hour, they'd get kicked off the computer.Today we were told that this rule no longer applies and that patrons can re-log on to the computers after their hour is up and we can't stop them.

I think this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard! With this new rule, this means that a person can come and get 3 hours on the computer uninterrupted while others have to wait. Another issue with this is the number of kids we have that come in using myspace, this means we will probably have more complaints because people who need to do homework and type papers/resumes won't be able to cause they'll have to wait for kids to finish myspacing and playing games.

I guess my big question is where is this going to stop? I feel that the library and the powers that be are trying too hard to cater to the patrons.We already had a patron complain about "being forced " into having to get a computer card to access the computers and now this. I'm expecting any day now, we're going to be told not to enforce the no cellphone policy anymore because someone will be bothered by it. Either that or we're going to start letting patrons eat and drink at the computers.

Will this ever stop?

Playing catch up

Sorry it's been a while since I've written-I've was just reminded that I had this site today while I was in my computer technologies class. So much has changed in my life since the last time I've written. I guess this is because I've been busy with work, homework, and just life in general.At any rate, I'll give you the cliffnotes version of what's been happening since I've written last.

First, I got married on June 24,2006 to my wonderful husband D. We had a nice evening church wedding and my mom walked me down the aisle. It was a beautiful day and one that I'll always remember.

Secondly, me and my husband bought a house. We actually found the house, took care of all the inspections and closed on it within a two week period in Feburary of last year. That being said, I am really enjoying having so much space and a chance to decorate the house the way I want.

Third, I decided to start graduate school I am currently enrolled at the University of Alabama where I am taking classes to obtain a MLIS. So far, the classes have been very informative and my classmates have been great to work with. If everything goes as planned, I should be done by Summer of 2009. My goal in reference to clasess are to take two classes a semester for six semesters so that's my plans for now.

Wish me luck!