The library may be temporarily closed, but that does not stop meetings from happening, committees from forming, or services from being provided!
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our new workspaces.
Theresa Horn, Youth Service Manager
My daughter (I call her the teen intern) and I work together in our living room. We sometimes pretend to punch an invisible time clock when report for work and we joke that Booker (the dog, pictured above) is going to get fired for always sleeping on the job. The teen intern can also be a bit annoying because she gets out of work earlier than I do and is quite distracting, so I have given her another part time job in Facilities. She also sleeps on the job. It is a real HR nightmare over here.
Katie Slott, Collection Development Librarian
Here are my new co-workers. They’re pretty noisy, though headphones help. The 8yo (we’ll call her a volunteer, not sure about those pesky child labor laws) keeps distracting me with questions about her work. Sometimes I catch my own teen intern playing video games instead of working! Here, you can see the volunteer taking a break with a crocheting project. In spite of her frequent breaks, she always seems to finish her work before everyone else, which isn’t great for morale.
We’ve been keeping busy by taking lots of nature walks – every day. It’s good for office morale to get sunshine – but we even go on walks on gray, rainy days.
We’ve also been baking (my 10yo “volunteer” made these chocolate chip mini muffins the other day, and everyone really enjoyed them).
Sometimes we play board games, too. (Don’t tell the boss.) Pandemic is a favorite, we successfully saved the world the other day.
Last night, for some variety, we played a three-household game of Scattergories via Google Hangout. It was definitely nice to see some different faces.
Matt Hammond, LaSalle Branch Assistant
We are a motley crew at the apartment task force. Our newest hire, Brunhilde the Bromeliad, is still getting accustomed to her new environment and getting to know her team. Baz, the basil plant, had a period of sick leave during the winter but has returned to helping in the kitchen with much gusto. Phineas and Herb, the Jade plant twins, have outgrown their current offices and are looking to be renovated ASAP. Until their offices are improved they have started expanding into the space of all the others. Hestia, the sourdough starter, has been showing unmatched growth in all departments and has been working with Baz to run an unmatched craft services.
Tisa Birdette, German Township Branch Librarian
Annoying coworkers who start really early in the morning: chirping, singing, and squawking very loudly and repetitively. There seem to be some territorial squabbles going on, not sure if over tasks, workspace issues or work/life balance struggles.
Dress code is definitely casual. Jeans, UGG slippers and flannel pajama shirts seem to be the new uniform. My commute is shorter but had technical issues (had to add more data to my plan) that were easily resolved.
Really appreciating my workspace – I have twinkle lights in almost every room of my house and run them during all waking hours. Cheerful! Enjoying being able to listen to music without earbuds.
So far I have made potato kale sausage soup, and curried pumpkin soup. I used butternut squash and spring mix lettuce, because that’s what I had here in the house. I have the supplies and am going to try puff pastry four ways courtesy of Tasty. Yum.
I’m going to try decorative painting with a fork using craft paints this afternoon. It looked like calligraphy when the video did it with ink!
