This year I learned the following life lessons:
- It's important to explain to people how I feel. I can't really say more then this but I hope this sentence helps you next year.
- Avoidance is bad - At the start of the year, I thought the best way to handle the sadness of staff constently moving on was to ask them all not to tell me.
The idea was by the time I figured out they where gone, I would be used to them not being around and it would be less sad and less of a shock.
Thanks too therapy, I learned I can handle the shock, it is just as sad regardless of when you find out and by knowing where someone is I don't roommate(worry) about if there ok and why I have not seen them.
So instead of telling staff "I don't want to know if you move on", I started telling them "it's ok to tell me when you move on".
This lead to some nice goodbyes, talks with Staff about people we both miss(which is actually very nice), knowing staff who moved on have a great new job and some of them(my friends) have stayed in touch with me or promised to do so. I consider this definitive proof that "avoidance is bad".
- 'Change can be hard but accepting it can be useful' - My friend from the library Rayne said this regarding the New Integrated Library System.(more on the system latter) It She is correct, it's inportant to get used to change even if it's scary.
I will keep learning new things next year!
Now for Things I did this year:
- FanFest was on this year and it was great. Images of what I saw can be found here. If your on a PC(Mac's are PCs) you can leave a comment on anything you find interesting.
This year I went to Emobodory, The miniture painting and The photo booth and the Trivia. I also went to the Cosplay Contest, the ones I remember seeing at the time where a roman soldier, The hourse God from Breath Of The Wild and India Jone's Dad. The library has not released photos of the contest but they do exist. I'll post here if they decide to release them.
I had a blast, another 12/10 Library Program. Fun Fact Greg from the Camera Club was the photographer for that event. He does not know why they have not been posted either. The best was seeing the cool costumes like the Ghost Busters. - Me and Mom went to Devereaux House for Calture Days, it's a very nice historical house. We also went on a tour of a pottery studio. Next year I will see what I can make at Glazed Expressions on Main Street.
- The Library has a New Integrated Library System, that is they changed the software they use to mange your checkouts, holds, etc. I think it's 8 / 10, they are some things I love about it and some things that could be improved.
On of my favourite fractures is that receipts printed from a service desk now tell you how much money you saved(stats will come latter in this blog entry).
One of the things I don't like is that holds stay on your account until you "check in"(NOT out) and you can ask the staff to remove them when you check out if you use a service desk.
If you want to hear a lot more about the NILS comment here(or email me) and I'll tell you more if there is enough interest from different people.
- I tired lawned bowling but it Did not go so well.
- I played this very fun game as a library program, you can read more here.
- With the NILS you can make shareable lists, here is one of Best things all time the library has to offer. It's every expanding so check back time to time :)
- I wrote this before the new system tracked how much you saved.
- Check out all the stuff I did at the library! Some of them have descriptions(not sure if these show up on mobile), so you can learn more about them.
- My sister got married. It was very lovely.
Statics:
Que Sonic Score Music(since that's when it shows you states)
Number of Emails revived about the New Integrated Library System: 281
Number of emails I got from a library: 2,484
Number of study rooms used: 2
Number of Book A Librains: At least 5
Number of program's attended: At least 20
Number of times 3D printed: 2 -3 times.
Most library use: A month after New Integrated Library System cam online.
Money saved by using the library: $7,536.54
Things to look forward too in 2026
- Staff member Ben has a secret project he is working on for March. It will be "Hypercool" and be something not offered at any library he knows of but offered at other organisations. I hope it's pottery since I put in a suggestion about that a few months ago and it can take 6 or so for the library to be able to take program suggestions.
- I am doing an 8 week craft couse at HHPL soon.
- Mom and me have talked about and we think I should find some groups to join with younger people in them.(A lot of my clubs are made up of people closer to retirement)
- FanFest will be great! I updated this blog in 2026 and I made a $20 donation too FanFest(heard this is a good time to do it, since serrius planning has started now).
- Mom wants to have more company over, which is nice.
- I also want to expand my interests to outside of HHPL.
