Friday, February 29, 2008

What gets you into trouble makes you stronger!

I did something this week that is so horrendous, so utterly depraved, so downright nasty, that I knew teachers would not be happy about it.

I had the locks changed on the library.

We have been broken into and things have been taken multiple times. Each time there was no actual breaking. The people had keys. In addition, doors are left open even when no one is there. I decided that enough was enough. Our book loss is a significant number.

I knew there would be an issue because one of the staff bathrooms is inside the library. Now, people can still get in through the front door when we are open. They just need to walk around the building. It is, perhaps, an extra minute if you walk slowly.

By the way, as of today, none of the administrators even have keys. I suspect that will change on Monday. However, I also suspect that not all of the administrators will end up with one.

I changed the locks knowing that it can be the little things that sometimes affect the big things. However, beyond that part of the security, we are moving to Follett Destiny and will need to be storing all the textbooks and some equipment in the library over the summer because we do not have a storage room big enough to house all of it. We are also purchasing new computers. Somehow we have to keep this all safe.

I have been surprised what percentage of my time is spent on administrative/managerial tasks in this job. I really don't mind making decisions like this, but it is somewhat different than I would have imagined. I often think of this as Library Manager Mode (as opposed to Teacher Librarian Mode).

There are days when I could see the argument being made for us all to have administrative credentials. I would even get one (but you had better be willing to pay me as an admin!).

2 comments:

Marie Slim said...

Well said (about managerial mode ARGH) - and good job on the locks.

Tom said...

Thanks! The situation turned out about what I would expect -- lots of gnashing of teeth. Ended up working out, though.

This job is so never dull!