Worrying times

Friday evening we had a party at work. It was to celebrate the fact that we managed to convert all the open collections to RFID. It was a joint effort of the entire staff, all the way from the library boss to administrative staff. The party was nice, the buffet was great. There was even an ice-cream buffet for dessert.

The weekend was spent at work, like most weekends the past few months. The university is probably going to close soon and I have to do as much research as possible while I can. Saturday afternoon I went to Ikea to get some small things. My mother has (several times) suggested that I should get a free-standing clothes rack for my bedroom. Now I finally got one. Because of this I also made a reorganization and put the winter clothes away.

Monday my department got two extra workers completely unplanned. They were really supposed to do a project at the ephemera storage but since there was an accident it's closed, awaiting repairs. We were able to find some work for them, they are now moving books from the open collection to stacks, including database changes.

Many of my colleagues work from home and a few are sick (not from the virus though). There are not many people here, which is very noticeable. I have been able to start on the pile of tasks I normally never have time for. If things had been normal I would have spent most of my day solving other people's problems and getting interrupted a lot. Now I can sit at my desk for hours, without any visitors or calls. It's strange.

Tuesday the university decided to have all education online instead. The libraries will remain open, for now. Today it was decided that the opening hours will be reduced so I can't be here on weekends anymore. The society is shutting down; restaurants, businesses and schools cease operations. I was at the local grocery store recently and found many shelves empty. People are hoarding toilet paper, micromeals, crispbread, canned food and pasta. It's a worrying tendency.