Repeat Offender

I am in different stages of research for three different projects in addition to coursework. It sounds like a lot. And, if you include the two papers I submitted for last term that I am adapting for submission to conferences, then there are five research projects at various stages of development. This means I am requesting lots of books from the library. I discovered the danger of this when I went to the library yesterday.

I forgot to write down all the titles I had requested from Stacks/Santry (the basement storage and off-site storage, respectively) so when I approached the counter I was unsure of how many books were waiting for me. I said 4-5 knowing there was one that hadn't arrived a couple days before and should be in by now. (Requests made after 14:30 often don't arrive until after 13:30 the following day. You have three days to pick it up before it's returned to storage or given to the next person who requested it.) Because I had requested so many books in the past four days, there were many entries with me name in the log book thereby making it difficult to figure out which requests were pending and which had already been processed (or returned, as I only need some for general information and bibliographical info for my dissertation proposal).

The ladies behind the counter were patient, but it did take about ten minutes to sort it out. We figured out that a couple books were missing (or not in their place...grrr), but that some other books I had placed a hold on (they were checked out, but would be held for me once returned) were available. So I still walked away with four books and had to re-request two. Hopefully, I will figure out how to keep a better track of my requests. Sometimes I write down a list. I think I will need to return to this practice to minimize confusion in the future.

I am now practically on a first name basis with a couple members of the library staff. They recognize my face and/or my name. I think I will now start learning their names, too. Especially when they help me so often.