{"id":23278,"date":"2020-05-13T18:24:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T22:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=23278"},"modified":"2020-05-14T14:33:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:33:05","slug":"sheltering-in-place-day-5382-one-librarians-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/sheltering-in-place-day-5382-one-librarians-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheltering in Place : Day 5,382 – One Librarian’s Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Has anyone else lost track of what day of the week it is at least once since this all began?\u00a0 Please, assure me I’m not the only one!\u00a0 I’ve lost count of Zoom meetings, Google Hangouts, and webinars.\u00a0 And, since I live alone, it seems like forever since I’ve seen another, actual living, breathing human being.<\/p>\n

All kidding aside, I really have lost track of what day it is on a few occasions since March. Especially since we are taking a virtual programming break to prepare for our virtual Summer Reading Program.<\/p>\n

From late March through the end of April, I was presenting at least 4 virtual programs a week. This was an ambitious undertaking, and, frankly, it did lead to a certain amount of burnout.\u00a0 On the plus side, I connected with patrons of all ages.\u00a0 That was wonderful: getting feedback from families – every little thumbs up or heart emoji was appreciated.\u00a0 Many shared photos of the kids watching and participating in programs, which was so great to see. Additionally, all those “appearances” gave me a reason to get dressed in work appropriate clothes, and do my hair and makeup on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Like many of you, I’ve learned way more than I ever thought I could when it comes to live broadcasting across a variety of platforms.\u00a0 I also learned how to pre-record, upload, compress files, edit, and caption recordings.\u00a0 In fact, I’d love to create a best of the Miss Alexa bloopers special — because I have had more than my share. From my cats wandering in and out of recordings, to falling off of a floor cushion\u00a0 as only a world class klutz can manage, I’ve done it.<\/p>\n

\"\"My living room now doubles as my storytime set, and as a yoga studio. I’m fortunate to have a spare bedroom, which has become my home office, so there is a place for me to go during “work” hours.<\/p>\n

Some of the challenges that I’ve faced, which I didn’t initially anticipate include slow internet speeds (which were improved with an upgrade through my service provider),\u00a0 weight gain (because the fridge is right freaking there pretty much 24\/7), and more seriously touch deprivation aka “skin hunger”.<\/p>\n

Touch deprivation took me by surprise.\u00a0 In my normal, pre-pandemic life, I would come home and pour a glass of wine and want to just shut myself away from humanity for a day or so, because I felt (in the words of a former coworker), that my “essence” had been sucked dry patron interactions that day.\u00a0 These could be positive interactions. Performing in front of 50 children and parents can be exhausting, something most of you are very aware of.\u00a0 \u00a0 What I didn’t expect was to end up missing it.\u00a0 I was so used to all the hugs, and hand touching, etc.\u00a0 that I never realized how much I’d miss them.<\/p>\n

I live in Illinois, where we have been sheltering in place since mid-March.\u00a0 At my library, we are tentatively beginning curbside service in a little over a week from now.\u00a0 Current plans are to only offer online \/ virtual programming through at least the month of June, and probably through the month of July as well.\u00a0 \u00a0This means we will be exploring new ways to bring fun, educational programs to our patrons.<\/p>\n

\"\"I want to share that I am incredibly lucky to work with an amazing group of librarians and associates that are managing to connect with our patrons in so many creative ways.\u00a0 They all deserve a huge shout out.\u00a0 We are busy on transitioning to a completely virtual SRP platform, as well as working on and planning virtual storytimes, concerts, crafting, book discussions, music lessons, gardening programs, yoga classes, virtual reality programs, take and make crafts, and many, many others.<\/p>\n

On the home front, I’m finding ways to connect with family and friends in a variety of ways.\u00a0 Zoom and Messenger chats and parties have led the way, as have several social media platforms.\u00a0 I have interest groups that bring levity to my day.\u00a0 I also have been following and participating in a Facebook group called The Plague Journals<\/a>, which was started by a friend.\u00a0 It has given me a glimpse of other people’s day to day struggles in this weird time we are living in.\u00a0 \u00a0I’m also taking the opportunity to practice what I preach, and make sure I take time for my mindfulness practice every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has anyone else lost track of what day of the week it is at least once since this all began?\u00a0 Please, assure me I’m not the only one!\u00a0 I’ve lost count of Zoom meetings, Google Hangouts, and webinars.\u00a0 And, since I live alone, it seems like forever since I’ve seen another, actual living, breathing human being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1104,1972,36,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexa-newman","category-pandemic","category-slice-of-life","category-what-i-wasnt-taught-in-library-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}