I Am Library!!!

I stole this line from the movie 300. When Leonidas yells “I am Sparta”, he is saying that he lives and breaths everything Sparta. He is the physical embodiment of the land, culture and its people. Well, that’s how I feel about my library. For the past 7 years, I have picked every book that goes on its shelves. I have added computers for the betterment of the students that come through here. I have painted the walls so they are a more pleasing color. I have hung pictures that reflect the theme of this library. I have rearranged the furniture to better accommodate the classes that come up here. I take personal pride in how this library looks when you walk in. What I don’t have any control of is the thermostat.

Today, it is 82 degrees outside. The thermostat is set at 73 degrees. You may think to yourself, that’s not too bad. Well, my library sits on top of the cafeteria. Between 10:45am and 12:55pm, 1500 students eat lunch. In addition, 12 cafeteria workers make lunch. So the actual temperature is more like 78 degrees. Needless to say, it is hot. By 1:00 in the afternoon it is downright warm up here.

During the winter, the opposite is true. I think they set the thermostat to 60 degrees at night. It is supposed to kick on at 6:30 every morning and heat it up to 70 degrees. The problem here is, my thermostat sits right behind a computer monitor. Do you know how much heat a monitor can give off? Some days we are lucky to get to 68 degrees even sitting on top of the cafeteria. Which means most of the time we are usually hovering around 65 degrees all day. To this red-head libraians, it is downright cold. So during the winter I wear both a jacket and gloves. I could really use a nose warmer too, but I don't want to look too silly.

So while I may be in control of the look and ascetic feel of the library, I have no control over the temperature.