I’m really tired of some of the e-mail I get from ALA. I have my communication preferences set to official communication only, which on the ALA site is defined as “I only want to receive official membership communication (ballot, renewal and membership card, American Libraries and division journals and newsletters specified in the ALA Handbook of Organization).” Maybe my problem is that I don’t understand what exactly “official membership communication” is. I don’t see why a notification about a partnership with and contest in Women’s Day Magazine is in the same category as information about ALA voting. I already knew about the Women’s Day Magazine library thing before ALA sent me spam, because my Mom told me about it. She happened to spot a display about it at the Urbana Free Library. On the bottom of the e-mail message I got I had an option to opt out of getting more messages, but the form it linked to would opt me out of all e-mail communications from ALA, instead of opting out of marketing campaign e-mails, which all I’d really like to do.

On to the refgrunt portion of the post:

A student needs quotations about family. I show her the cool quotation dictionaries in XreferPlus.
Reserve books are over there, you can check them out for three hours.
I attempt to give a student an impromptu lesson in RefWorks, only to be foiled when I realize that I’ve forgotten my password. I give her a handout, ask about her project, and point out how she’d export to RefWorks in the databases she’d likely use for her topic. Then I figure out my refworks password.
You can put money on your copy card over there….Oh, both machines are out of order? You can also try putting money on your card in the computer lab.
Paper Jam!
BR books (Christianity) are over there.
The writing tutors aren’t here right now, but here are their drop-in hours.
I try to help a visitor figure out which building their seminar is in. Unfortunately the flyer for the event has no street address, and the building name listed is shared by three different buildings on this campus.
Someone is diligently setting off the exit gate alarms near circulation. Repeatedly he walks back and forth. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
KF (Law. United states) and KN (Law, Asia and Eurasia) books are going to be over there.
We don’t have a subscription to that particular journal, but you can request a copy through interlibrary loan. This is the web page that you can use to register for an account, and it really comes in handy if you might be requesting more articles later on.
If your professor put that answer key on reserve, it should be over at that reserves desk.
I think the reserves desk should have a giant neon blinking animated sign. not only would it help people find it, it would make the library seem much more festive and Vegas-like.
I wonder if I should bring yummy cookies from the Italian bakery near my house to the meeting I have tomorrow for the working group I chair.
The bound periodicals for medicine are going to be over there.
I check back in with the student who was using RefWorks.
I wander around, cleaning up debris from the computer area.
I help a student use our electronic journals list to find online access to The Economist.
I show an engineering student some of the databases he can use to track down conference proceedings, and show him how to narrow down searches in INSPEC. I give him the contact info for the engineering librarian in case he has any follow-up questions.
Reserve books should be over there at that desk.
A student walks up and greets a girl at one of the computers by burping at her. Classy!
I show a student how to ILL a book.
HM (sociology) books are over there
I show a student how to find film criticism in Film Literature Index, Expanded Academic ASAP, and the MLA bibliography.
Here is a stapler.