Officially I have responsibility for the schloss library and the Vilar center in the Meierhof. I don't spend a lot of time in the Meierhof part of the library, except to shelve the materials and do the journals and papers. I have to change that, but there's so much to do in the schloss that it's hard to make time to get over here in the daytime.
I was being a bit lazy this afternoon and didn't want to hike back up the stairs to my room to check e-mail so I decided to use the computers in the Vilar center.
I'm glad I did, cause those babies need some serious TLC. I started running disc clean-ups and de-fragmentation scans. Man, that took forever and while the de-fragmentation is done the disc clean-ups are not. The compression of files slowed them down to the point of inactivity. To top it all off 2 of the machines kept freezing so I literally had to pull the plugs to restart them. I'll have to figure it out.
The least we could do is provide up to date speedy machines for session people and the hotel guests here. Hopefully the basic care will speed them up a little. Even if it doesn't it certainly can't hurt them.
I'm planning on finishing the clean-up in the morning and maybe run a virus scan on all the machines too. As well as do the same thing on the 4 workstations in the library, and of course the office workstation. And on a personal note I have run clean-up and de frag scans on the laptop, just in case. It's in much better shape than those!
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
A really clean library
That's what they'll have when I leave. If nothing else it will be clean and ruthlessly organized. Today I made a huge dent in my master list, when I got wood polish!
My boss was a little amazed that one bottle of wood polish would make my day. But she had gotten used to the non-glowy look of the wood in the library. I knew better. I'm using the Day Missions Room at Yale Divinity Library as my inspiration for the wood cleaning.
I told her we needed a gross of it. She thinks I'm kidding. I'm not exactly. There's a lot of wood. Plus the place hasn't been cleaned since Max (Reinhardt)died. Okay, maybe sometime in this century, but not recently. I went through 4 dust cloths in about an hour! They are black with dust and dirt and whatever else...I don't want to think about it too closely.
Another problem is that the wood that makes up the place is really dry. One match and whoosh! I'd spray the polish and the wood would just suck it right up before I could get the cloth on it. I'd love to hose it down with Murphy's Oil Soap, but that would entail moving the books and we just don't have the storage.
The schloss photographer came by in the afternoon and took my photo as I was cleaning the shelves. It was a big deal. He said no one's cleaned the place in his memory. Bright side? I made a dent in the dust and dirt and I'm helping the poor lonely books. Down side is that I smell like wood polish. It's not exactly the sexiest smell.
And don't get me started on the library closet. Sigh. At least the library is organized if a bit dirty and old. The closet horrifies my librarian's soul. But it will surrender. Resistance is futile.
My boss was a little amazed that one bottle of wood polish would make my day. But she had gotten used to the non-glowy look of the wood in the library. I knew better. I'm using the Day Missions Room at Yale Divinity Library as my inspiration for the wood cleaning.
I told her we needed a gross of it. She thinks I'm kidding. I'm not exactly. There's a lot of wood. Plus the place hasn't been cleaned since Max (Reinhardt)died. Okay, maybe sometime in this century, but not recently. I went through 4 dust cloths in about an hour! They are black with dust and dirt and whatever else...I don't want to think about it too closely.
Another problem is that the wood that makes up the place is really dry. One match and whoosh! I'd spray the polish and the wood would just suck it right up before I could get the cloth on it. I'd love to hose it down with Murphy's Oil Soap, but that would entail moving the books and we just don't have the storage.
The schloss photographer came by in the afternoon and took my photo as I was cleaning the shelves. It was a big deal. He said no one's cleaned the place in his memory. Bright side? I made a dent in the dust and dirt and I'm helping the poor lonely books. Down side is that I smell like wood polish. It's not exactly the sexiest smell.
And don't get me started on the library closet. Sigh. At least the library is organized if a bit dirty and old. The closet horrifies my librarian's soul. But it will surrender. Resistance is futile.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Cleaning
But since I wanted to clean the rugs and blow some of the dust away I'm not complaining. After all keep it clean is a tenet of preservation. Maybe not the first rule or anything, but it helps. Besides my allergies were bugging me.
The first floor is done. The Main library, the Chinese room, and McGowan. There were lots of gravel pebbles, and other oddities. Probably it gets tracked in on someone's shoes and is left here.
Now I need a few buckets of Murphy's Oil Soap for the wood in this place. That'd make it shine. Probably help hydrate the wood too. The place was built in the 1920's.
This isn't exactly my job in the library, but I feel that someone has to care enough to do all the little things as well as the major stuff. I mean my office is crammed with books to be cataloged, old books no one needs, duplicate materials, mail and session archives. A lot of major projects that it's almost too much to take in. I've been making lists everyday and still not doing everything. Yes, cleaning was on the master list. So it's good.
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