New Library!

So, after the grand opening events and a week of being open, I finally got a bunch of photos of Clyde in the new library! To explain a little bit, we're now a joint-use library, meaning the community college collection (and reference desk and classrooms) is upstairs and the public collection (with the children's room) is downstairs.

This is in the children's room... this installation is SO MUCH FUN!

At my spot at the reference desk, ready to answer questions!

Self-check-out station (which might work better if you had some books, Clyde!)

This booth seating may look like a restaurant, but it's part of
our downstairs computer lab (you can see the computers in the back)

The upstairs computer lab (what I see from the desk)

Some of our comfy new seating

We've had lots of people literally walk in, their jaws drop, and they go "wowwww..." I love going to work!!!

Finishing Touches

Well, the new library is open, and I couldn't take photos at any of the big events, because I was working. But even though we're open, any new building has finishing touches to add for a while.

We discovered that people standing at the self-check-out stations were mistaking the slots for trash (like unwanted receipts, etc) for book returns. So I offered to add decals to make it clearer, and Clyde helped!

It looks a little crooked there, Clyde... might need to fix that...

Tonight, I'm teaching the FIRST library instruction class in the building! (I plan to make a big deal out of that when I retire someday.) Lots more fun things coming up soon...

New Office!

The library has successfully made the move into the new building, which means... I have my own office! I've never had my own office before. It's very exciting.

I'm also particularly excited about the standing desk (adjustable) in the back

I chose the LotR desktop to inspire my greens-and-browns color scheme (forthcoming)

I also have my own book cart!!!

We are going to have SO MUCH FUN with my new office!

New Library

For work, I needed to go take some measurements and photos over at the new library. Clyde happened to be in my purse, so I took a few photos of him, too:

School and city seals on the floor at the entrance (it's a joint-use library)

Clyde hiding behind an endcap (what I was there to measure)

I love these windows! There's a repeating theme of marshy grasses in the decor.

Bookmobile

Our new library was originally supposed to house the city's Bookmobile (and we have a space designed for it because it was in the original plans) but plans changed, and it won't live in our library. But, for some reason, it was parked on campus today when I showed up to work, so I took a photo of Clyde with it:

It wasn't open, as you can see, but I had never even seen it in person, so I thought it was pretty cool. That's the new library behind it. Maybe I'll be able to track the Bookmobile down when it is open, and we can see inside it!

Norfolk Excursion

Norfolk and I have a deal. I stay out of it; it doesn't make me get lost. But I had a health sciences librarian certification thing to do at EVMS (Eastern Virginia Medical School) which just so happens to be in Norfolk. I promised Norfolk it would be a quick in-and-out situation; I would take the most direct route from the interstate, and get right back on it at the end of the day. In return, Norfolk allowed me to know exactly where I was the whole time I was there!

It was a two-day class, so after a successful trip to Norfolk yesterday, I got a little cocky today and thought I could stop by a few neat places to take photos. Norfolk guffawed heartily at this plan, and conjured a combination of traffic and parking situations that made those plans impossible to carry out.

TL;DR version: I didn't get all the photos I wanted in Norfolk. But here's what I did get:

The library at EVMS

One of the many beautiful churches in Norfolk; this one was walking distance
from EVMS, so I strolled past at lunch

Remember the Virginia Beach dolphin? Here's a Norfolk mermaid!
I know it's hard to see Clyde under her arm, but it's even harder to see
the Caduceus on her - ahem - chest

Okay, this was my last-ditch effort to get a photo of the ENORMOUS
Carnival cruise ship (what looks like a building on the right)
in the port next to Nauticus (a museum). I tried to park
in the roundabout in front of Nauticus, but there was security guiding people through
because of all the cruise passengers, so I couldn't stop.
So this was from a red light, through the back of my car, further down the road.

I'm sure I'll find another time to go into Norfolk and get photos of the other things I wanted to see (most notably, the battleship at Nauticus, and some of the neater Norfolk mermaids).

Week 6 Challenge: Where's Clyde?

(I skipped last week's challenge, "Numbers," because I had no good ideas, unfortunately.)

This week's challenge is to take a "Where's Waldo?" type photo where you have to hunt for the LV. This one isn't the best, but it serves two purposes...

So, do you see Clyde? (I took a photo of my last LV, Peanut Butter, with this sign, but he was teeny so he fit inside the circle logo on the left...)

That's also the sign for the Portsmouth campus of the school I work at. But I'll only be working at the Portsmouth campus through the end of next week. I'll be using my maximum hours (I'm a part-timer) at the Virginia Beach campus (which means less driving, more money, and more hours in a professional position as opposed to a paraprofessional.)

Empty Shelves

All the books are out of the old library! We had a staff day today, and we got a thorough tour of our new library, but I didn't bring my camera to that part, so no photos of that. I did, however, take a few pictures in the old library over lunch:

There will be tons of great photos of the new library in August, when we open!

Fire in the Library

There was a small electrical fire in the library today! An outlet blew, and shut off ten computers. An electrician was sitting nearby and he stomped out the fire like it was no thang. Then Facilities came to fix it up, popped a new cover on it, and all was well. (We left the computers shut off with "do not use" signs, just to avoid overheating the outlet right away.)

Before we left work, I snapped a shot of Clyde with the culprit:

Looks fine now! Good thing we're moving to a new building at the end of the summer... seems like this one is beginning to turn on us.

Dolphins

Not real dolphins, mind you. Despite the fact that we have dolphin tours at the beach here, I have never seen a dolphin in the water. Then again, I've never been on a dolphin tour... But I digress.

Several years ago, the city of Norfolk decided to start putting up mermaids everywhere. Apparently some other city was doing this with their own mascot, and it was becoming trendy. Local artists decorate the mermaid blanks (approximately life-size, posed in the way they are in the city's logo) to be put up all over the city. For example, they painted one to look like she was wearing a Norfolk Admirals hockey jersey, put a helmet on her, and put her in the Norfolk Scope, where they played.

Virginia Beach got in on the action by doing the same thing, but with dolphins. Personally, I think the mermaids were a much bigger deal, and the dolphins looked kind of like an afterthought, but they're still all over the place.

TCC (the school I'm a librarian at) has their very own dolphin on campus, and Clyde hopped up on top of it for a photo today:

(Fun fact: He actually fell off into one of those little grassy plants right after the photo was taken... but it looked like a soft landing; I think he was okay.) The thing on the middle of the dolphin is TCC's logo. It's all quite sparkly in person, in the right light.

Week 3 Challenge: Work!

This one was easy, since I spend almost all my time at work. I have three jobs, but two are very similar. I'm a librarian (and a library specialist) and I work at my family's sign shop.

This is a display I set up in March. (See Clyde peeking out of the middle?)

We shelved all the books! What's next?

Playing among the rolls of banner material at the sign shop.

There will be plenty more photos from work, considering I spend so much time working, but my schedule will change next week (we'll be between semesters, and then summer hours are different) and I'll have more free time to do fun things with Clyde!

Weather

This week's challenge is: weather! Which is timely, since the weather has been freakish this week. After temperatures in the 80s, we're back in the 50s (which is just uncalled for) and there were two days of cloudy, windy, rainy sadness. Yuck.

I was on my way out of the building yesterday after work.

Clyde Goes to the Library (Pt. 1)

I work three part-time jobs, two of which are in libraries (two different campuses of the same community college). Today, we went to my weekend job at the Virginia Beach campus:

(Clyde and I will have to work on his balance... he's a bit... top-heavy.)

That's the sign to our current building. We're moving into a brand-new building in August, and Clyde will be here for that, too!