First off, where is Tomelilla?
'
A quick and accurate answer is "way off". It takes an hour by bus which is quite far but it's far enough to warrant using the time which I try to do. I read or listen to audio books, sometimes I crochet and sometimes I'm extremely glamorous and sleep with my mouth open, drooling slightly...
This is what the house looks like from the front. I hardly ever see this side though since I enter from the back. It's not only a library but also a hall for art exhibitions, an archive for jazz-music, a tourist agency, a museum and an art-school for children. This makes it a very interesting place to work. There are lots of people around all the time and it becomes easy and natural to work together and play of each others strengths. The people are nice and inspiring though the mentality in the country is different from around here, both in my colleagues and in the people who come to the library. In lack of a good English word they're "bonnigare" in Tomelilla. XD
This is my office, where the magic happens, or something. :P My responsibilities are taking care of all the magazines, handling the inter library loans, updating and managing the web-page and then the ordinary librarian jobs such as sitting in the information-desk cleaning the shelves and sorting out old books, reading the lists and deciding what new material is to be bought. I've also become the go to person for making signs of different kinds and I'm now the computer guru as well. And I'm going to start up computer courses for senior citizens this Friday. I'm kinda nervous but I think it will be fine. :)
So I'm quite busy every day but I enjoy it, even though some of my tasks are a bit uniform and become boring in the long run.
A close-up of my desk so you can see how messy it is. But having a desk really makes you feel grown-up doesn't it...
Oh, and isn't the view awesome. XDD
A few images I found on-line to give you a feel of what it looks like inside.
And this is what's in the art exhibition hall right now:
It is quite awesome! (And of course more impressive in real life)
A lot of interesting things happen every day. Because the people who come are different no day it like the other. One day you get to act like a mum trying to solve disputes between children, the next someone gets angry at you because it's not free to borrow books at the library (true story) an yet another day an old dirty man is looking at porn on the computers or someone asking for help in sending in a job application. Becoming a computer consultant is also quite common (at least for me) and a conversational partner for lonely people.
But I won't complain, even if there are a lot of strange events most people who come to the library are in a good mood and grateful for what you do (even if they underestimate what that is and exactly how much we work for their sake...). Very rarely are you yelled at but somehow you're also seen as an all-knowing guru who holds all the answers, which is very flattering but far from true. If you want to read more on the events that go on in a library I recommend "arga bibliotekstanten". She writes in Swedish and manages to capture the frustrations of all library personnel. I find it hilarious but that might just be because I share the experiences.
Hope you had a little fun reading a bit about what I do all day these days. :)
Peace out!