My First Library

My last day of work at Point Loma is in three weeks, and three weeks sounds like so much less than four weeks (especially since I'll only be working two days, three days, and three days of those weeks), which means it's officially kind of scary and sad.

This is the library where I found my path. I remember that day my sophomore year, when I was sitting at the circ desk and thought, "Hey, I like working in a library. Maybe I could do this for real," and proceeded to Google "How do you become a librarian?" (Answer: a master's degree. Yay.)

Like everyone, I did so much growing as a college student, and so much of my college career was spent in this library--either working 9 hour days, 25-hour weeks (Shhh, don't tell. Students are only supposed to work 20 hours per week) or studying, reading, writing. And that one nap that one time during my last finals week.

I've gotten up at 6am countless times to open, and left at midnight to close. I've watched sunsets over the Pacific from the front desk and my office. I've told probably thousands of people where the bathroom is.

Honestly, I don't think I can properly put into words what a perfect environment this library has been for me. It's one of those things that makes me worry about the future because there's no way somewhere else could be as good. But my time here has prepared me for what's next, and I feel so well equipped.

Sorry for getting mushy on you, but I get really sentimental about things.

I have a feeling I'll be in ultra-mushy mode for the next month.

How Can You Not Have a Website???

Originally, this post was going to be about my trip to Julian, a little old-fashioned, touristy mining town in the hills, and how I visited with some guys from their historical society, and how cool their work is, and how they're digitizing all their stuff. But then I Googled Julian Historical Society to get some info/pictures to use for said post and found out that they don't have a website. Just a blurb on the Julian Chamber of Commerce website,which is, itself, rather... quaint. I was kind of shocked. Even the cemetery has a webpage (literally, one page).

It led me to wonder what exactly they're planning to do with all the data they're digitizing, and how they're going to make it accessible.

It also got me thinking about how the internet has changed marketing and consumption. If you don't have a web presence, you might as well not exist. I, the consumer, cannot find you (OK, full disclosure: I did find a mailing address for the historical society. So I guess I could get in touch with them. But that would require buying stamps.) and because I am a product of a fast-paced, gimme-gimme society, when you don't show up on Google, I give up.

Really, though. Historical societies are, like, my favorite thing. And they make me want to go into archives real bad. I just wish the Julian Historical Society had a way to check out what they're doing when I can't hang out in their little 100-year-old school house office. For now I'll have to make do with the San Diego History Center website. They have a cool historic photo collection.

Anyway, here's a photo of me in front of the Julian Library (which was closed, unfortunately) and cute boyfriend being cute.

    

San Diego Blackout

(via)

As you may have heard (or maybe not... I heard it didn't really get national coverage) the power was out in ALL of San Diego County last night, as well as in some parts of Orange County, LA, and all the way out to Arizona and down to Mexico. I heard at least 2 mililon people were without power!

It was pretty chaotic, you can imagine.

Everything shut down on campus a bit before 4pm, and through text messages, Facebook, and Twitter we found out that it was county-wide. We kept the library open for a few hours since it was still light out, and the library is as good a place as any to congregate in an emergency. Handed out otter pops from the freezer and passed along information as much as we could. Opened up the doors to get some air circulating. A hummingbird came in and went upstairs.

We closed at about 6:30, and I'm really glad I stayed until then. Traffic was absolutely nuts earlier because everyone was trying to get home at the same time and there were no traffic lights! My drive home was a breeze, though, because I guess by then everyone had gotten where they needed to go.

I got home and realized how woefully unprepared I am for emergencies. I didn't have a flashlight or candles or cash, and since my apartment is in an urban area with such a concentrated population of people, my cell phone service was out too. So I literally sat by myself in the dark for an hour doing nothing until my boyfriend came over, concerned that I wasn't answering his phone calls.

We ended up going back to his place and hanging outside with neighbors we'd never met, barbecuing and looking at stars (which you can never see in the city), and it was generally quite enjoyable.

The power came back on for me at about 11pm, and that was it.

Classes are canceled today (power didn't come back on campus until about 4 this morning), but the library is open and I'm at work. We found the poor hummingbird and nursed it back to health, and it's back out in the world.

Overall, it was quite an experience. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love electricity and technology, and it was a little tough being without cell service for so long, but it was cool to see everyone outside in the evening, chatting, and hanging out--actually communicating instead of just watching TV, holed up in their houses with their air conditioning. The bars were hopping, and it was actually fun for those of us who weren't panicking and thinking it was a terrorist attack or the end of the world. It was pretty eerie being without lights, but it was cool how people came together to make a potentially scary or dangerous situation not-so-bad.

Have any good stories from the blackout? Or have you experienced one similar? Do share!