CSI: Library X

We had our very own CSI incident in Library X tonight!

A student's laptop was stolen earlier in the evening. It was a classic snatch and take. The student left it unattended for thirty minutes to get some dinner, which was stupid of him. He reported it stolen to me, and I called the cops for him. Police came and took a report. As he's talking to the police, a friend reports that the thief has IMed as the victim some of his friends asking them for the victim's passwords. None of them gave the thief the passwords, but it's rather alarming that the thief is contacting the victim's friends.

A little later, another student turns in a laptop. He says it was outside Big Research Library. For some reason, he thinks it's Library X's laptop. The laptop looks like the laptop that the victim described. I turn it on and find a resume with the victim's name. The victim is still around so I am able to reunite him with the laptop. At first glance, he says it isn't his laptop because the wallpaper and toolbar are different, but I still have the resume up and point it out to him. He takes a closer look and realizes it is his laptop, but a lot of the settings have been changed.

As he's looking it over, he reports that some stuff has been deleted, settings changed, and his Itunes won't open anymore which could potentially have credit card information. He calls the officer back to report the laptop returned but tampered with, and the officer tells him to not touch it anymore that he's going to have the laptop fingerprinted.

The officer returns with a lab tech and another officer. They brush the laptop for fingerprints right on circulation desk. Students coming and going are bottlenecking to watch the process. The laptop is black, so they use white powder to pick up prints and then use black powder on the white power cord. It's pretty cool to watch.

Once they're done, they let the student have his laptop back.

So that was our little CSI moment. I may or may not have pretended to be Catherine Willows for the rest of the evening.

Well, that's the last for me till next year. I am on BREAK. I don't go back till early January. Hope you all have a lovely holiday season. Bye!

Get Your Crazy On

So yeah, a patron accused me of assault and called the cops...

Wait, let me back up. I agreed to work a night of overtime at Library X. We're open 24/7 due to exams. I came in Friday night to work. I go downstairs at midnight to check the building for non-students, and on the first floor, I see an older, slovenly dressed woman asleep. I vaguely know that she's a non-student and a previous problem patron of the library, but I haven't had any run-ins with her, so I don't assume the worst. Oh how naive I am.

The woman is stretched across two chairs asleep. I tap her foot to wake her. She blinks awake and looks at me. "Hi, are you a student?"

"Yes."

"May I see your ID?" I know she's not a student, but I don't call her on it.

"I haven't gotten it. I'm an alum. I have my alum card."

"I'm sorry, but alumni aren't allowed to stay here after midnight."

She is clearly outraged. "You know this is profiling. Are you going to check everyone else for ID?"

I look around. Everyone in eyesight is clearly a student. I see them every night. Plus, they all have books out, are studying in groups, or are working on laptops, unlike this woman who has a few bags with her that don't have any books in them and was asleep. "I know they're all students."

She doesn't like my answer. "Are you a student?"

"No, I'm staff."

"How long have you been here?"

"Three years."

"What's your name?"

"Vampire Librarian."

"I'm going to report you. You know that hitting my foot was assault. I'm going to call the cops."

"Okay, but I still need you to leave."

"I will leave if you get out of my way."

I take another step back, and wait for her to collect her stuff. She has a pair of crutches with her, but I know from previous reports, she always has crutches and/or a neck brace with her, but she doesn't need them. She turns and begins complaining to a student sitting nearby who'd been watching the exchange.

"Can you believe she's asking me to leave? She's not even a student, and she says I have to leave!"

The student gets up and goes away.

She finally gets her stuff together and goes to the elevator. I wait for the elevator to come down and then run up three flights of stairs to be at the desk when she arrives. She scowls when she sees me behind the desk waiting for her.

"This is total profiling. I'm going to call the cops. You just wait, Vampire Librarian."

She turns to a group of students that are walking by. "Do any of you write for the student paper? I have a story for you. That woman is discriminating against me and profiling. She also assaulted me."

The students stare at her blankly and move along.

She huffs and goes outside where she proceeds to use the blue call box to call the police. I only know this because a student comes in to report a crazy woman screaming into the call box claiming a library employee assaulted her.

I nod and tell the student, "Yeah, I'm the one who supposedly assaulted her. Thanks for telling me."

I wait for the cops.

My cohort for the night is not a regular circ person. She works for acquisitions usually. She's quite shocked by these turn of events. I tell her who to call if I'm arrested. I wonder if the library will make bail.

Eventually a UPD officer strolls in. Crazy lady isn't with him. He comes up to the desk. "All right, what happened?"

I tell him, and he nods his head. I have to ask: "Did she accuse me of assault?"

He nods his head. "Yeah, but tapping someone's foot to wake them up isn't assault. We do that all the time. I told her we would have to uphold the library's policy, and she can come talk to a library administrator during the daytime about it."

"I think this woman has caused trouble at the library before."

He nods. "She haunts the police department. She's not right. She thinks there's a conspiracy against her. She's clearly paranoid and a little delusional."

"Great..."

He taps the desk. "Well, if that's it, I hope the rest of your evening's quiet."

"Thanks."

And there you have it - A patron has finally called the cops on me. I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.

End of the Semester Oddities

It was a brass band the other day, now we have a human chess board roaming through the library. They played a few matches on the patio outside, but the cold forced them to come in. Knights, rooks, bishops, kings, queens, and many, many pawns are milling around, carrying foam swords and other strange weapons. Just another day at Library X...

Random Thing I Had to Say

While on the phone, I had to say, "Could you speak up, please? A brass band just came in to play a medley of Christmas favorites."

Flasher Update

This guy is really starting to PISS ME OFF.

Had another report of the sleazeball over the weekend. He approached a female student outside Library X around midnight as the library was closing. Our student workers were leaving when the student reported the incident. They asked her to come back the next day to speak to a staff person, but she hasn't. I don't blame this young woman for not coming back. I mean would you want to return to the place someone had exposed himself to you?

The physical description of the guy is the same as previous: white guy with white/gray hair in his forties. None of us can figure out if that's a regular to our library or not.

He keeps doing this on weekend evenings when only students work. Our desk students are highly competent, but when it comes to stuff like this, they aren't sure how best to handle it, plus it was closing time. They were going home. I don't blame them for not staying late to call the police and file a report. It's not like they would've gotten comp time for their extra effort. The desk students did escort the female student to her car, which was very generous and protective of them. So like I said they're good kids, but I wish we could catch this pervert!

I've already received a lot of suggestions of ways to handle him if he comes during my shift. The one I've decided to implement involves pepper spray. Pepper spray to the pecker has to hurt, right? I know I'd like to find out...

Other suggestions I've received:

1. Pointing and laughing
2. Sympathetic comments on his lack of size
3. Shoe to groin
4. Newspaper rod to choice spots (We love our Newspaper Rod-Fu.)

Care to add a suggestion?