Bolts from above
Yesterday's asteroid/meteorite combo hit the library like an express train, & we handled it splendidly. We directed many members of the public to NASA's webcast (as well as catching just a bit of it ourselves), & reassuring a lot of them that what happened in Russia was a freak of Nature, in the truest sense. I hope that the people in Russia who were hurt by the shards of glass from the meteorite's sonic boom heal swiftly. We should also be grateful, as a planet, that the Cold War has been over for quite a while. Can you imagine what the reaction to something screaming in from over the North Pole like that would have been, especially since Chelyabinsk has had a very important role in Russia's nuclear program? We'd be toast.
That hasn't been the only bolt from out of the blue at work. Months ago, I posted either here or on FB that new security regulations for federal buildings would force the library & NASA HQ security to switch rooms. Both groups have their marching orders. It looks like the library will have to be packed up by the end of April.
This will be a bigger deal than the time when the library was remodeled in 2008. At that time, we still had our desks & the ready-reference section. Now, it's everything. We'll be in temporary quarters offsite while security's room will be prepared for us. Aside from a rather small handful of the most vital books, which we'll bring with us to our temporary quarters, we probably won't be able to get at the collection for several months.
Since the entire building is being renovated to make it a "green building", I guess our number would've come up sooner or later. On the bright side, we'll have a building full of people who will understand what we're going through, since everyone will either have gone through the process of moving to & from temporary quarters themselves or know that it will hit them, too.
My one beef with this is that the people who oversee our contract hemmed & hawed about when we needed to be out, until springing this on us a little while ago. So now, we're scrambling. I'm marking the books which can be pulled without harming the collection-we're not gambling the strength of my sternum on packing just yet.
That hasn't been the only bolt from out of the blue at work. Months ago, I posted either here or on FB that new security regulations for federal buildings would force the library & NASA HQ security to switch rooms. Both groups have their marching orders. It looks like the library will have to be packed up by the end of April.
This will be a bigger deal than the time when the library was remodeled in 2008. At that time, we still had our desks & the ready-reference section. Now, it's everything. We'll be in temporary quarters offsite while security's room will be prepared for us. Aside from a rather small handful of the most vital books, which we'll bring with us to our temporary quarters, we probably won't be able to get at the collection for several months.
Since the entire building is being renovated to make it a "green building", I guess our number would've come up sooner or later. On the bright side, we'll have a building full of people who will understand what we're going through, since everyone will either have gone through the process of moving to & from temporary quarters themselves or know that it will hit them, too.
My one beef with this is that the people who oversee our contract hemmed & hawed about when we needed to be out, until springing this on us a little while ago. So now, we're scrambling. I'm marking the books which can be pulled without harming the collection-we're not gambling the strength of my sternum on packing just yet.