A Quandary in Quarantine

Chapter Eight

The next day, which was the last day we would be open for at least the next two weeks, was complete and total chaos.

It was busier than the first day of Summer Reading Sign-up, Science Fair Prep week, and Girl Scout Troop tour day all rolled into one. The library was overrun with people acting as if someone had seen the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the next town over and we were next on their list. Books flew off the shelves, in many areas of the library patrons left nothing at all. We lifted the restrictions on the number of items a patron could checkout quickly, after the first set of wailing tween girls, sisters named Mia and Maya, found they couldn’t each check out a full set of Babysitter’s Club books and all the remaining Warrior books by Erin Hunter and still stay under the usual 20-item limit. We spent a fair portion of the day convincing folks that, even though the system had to assign due dates, anything that came due before we reopened would not incur fines to their account. The rest of the day was spent assuaging fears and checking for the latest news reports.

On the whole, people were kind, and understanding - giving both the library’s staff and their fellow patrons as much grace as they had left. But, we also heard the horror stories about the toilet paper running out and everyone buying way too much hand soap at the grocery store down the street. I had hoped to stop by for staples on the way home, but it was looking like there would be little point to that. By 5:00 pm, the grocery store shelves would likely be as empty as ours were. By the end of the day, the entire staff was too tired and burned out to make much comment, but we all hugged each other, like it was someone’s last day of work, and headed home.

*****

That weekend, I don't think anyone in our sleepy little town did anything except sleep and try to reconcile what our lives would look like for the next couple of weeks. Needless to say, none of us had ever lived through a global pandemic before. I eventually did brave a trip to the grocery store. The oddest things were sold out; besides the toilet paper and cleaning supplies being gone, which I had expected, people had bought every last package of ground beef and most of the bottled juices. I just hoped people had big freezers. Then I remembered, yes actually, most of them did. Something I was still getting used to was the big chest freezers most of my neighbors had either on their porches, in their garages, or basements. They were primarily reserved for keeping the processed deer meat after hunting season, but now apparently, they also contained the basic things people were stockpiling for the pandemic.

I tried to be smart with my purchases, opting for pastas and canned soups - items I knew I would eat, but that would also keep for awhile just in case. Who really knew what to expect at this point? I also made sure I had an extra full stock of chocolate. At least I could take comfort in having that.

*****

The following week came upon us with the voracity of a spring storm. The phone lines we had forwarded to our cellphones through an app provided by the city rang off the hook. Most people just wanted to know when we would reopen, which of course was a question we couldn't answer.

We had created a loose schedule for the chat reference, but since I was most comfortable with the platform, I took the largest portion of our available hours. I promised to tag in Luce, Maggie, or Carson if I needed backup.

My main goal was keeping on top of the reference email and the chat platform. At least that was being utilized - the AskElsewhere’s incoming message chime was quickly becoming the soundtrack of my day. I found that I actually worked way more than 40 hours each week, and still felt like I was not giving enough back to my community.

Late evening, the first Thursday of working at home, I was sitting with my laptop on my couch; the AskElsewhere platform open. As I had actually ‘clocked out’ about two hours prior, I was also watching a Hallmark Murder Mystery to pass the time.

Ding!

The chime sounded, alerting me that a patron had initiated a chat. To lessen the need for repetitive work, I had set up the program so that as soon as the patron started the chat, an auto response populated:


Hello! Thank you for using AskElsewhere! @LibraryLibb is ready to answer your questions!

The three dots that indicated the patron was typing appeared on the screen. I waited. The dots disappeared. The patron had stopped typing.

Moments later, the three dots appeared again.

Hello, the patron said.

Hi! This is Libby, how may I help you?

Three dots…. Then, nothing.

I was used to this. After all, this was a very new technology for nearly everyone - myself included. It was to be expected that patrons would not always be the fastest users. That’s why I has also included the forwarded reference department phone number and email in the website banner incase patrons preferred these much more comfortable technologies. Usually, after a moment or two, the patron would start typing again - or remember to press the ‘enter’ key to send me the message. This time, nothing happened.

Immediately, my brain started in on the list of possible issues. Was there something wrong with the site? Did I code something incorrectly that made the site not work? Did my internet go out? After running though a litany of possible issues, I concluded that everything that was in my control was working as it should be. But, the message never came through. Eventually, with no activity, the platform times out and the window on my end closes automatically. On the patron’s end, another automatic response populates:


Thanks for using AskElsewhere! If you have another question, feel free to type it in the chat box and we will be right back with you!

Oh, well, I thought - as my mother used to say, if it was important, the patron would call back.

Or, in this case, open up a new chat window and try again.

I refocused my attention on the action on the television screen. I was watching an adaptation of an Aurora Teagarden Mystery, based on the books written by Charlaine Harris. I spent the rest of the night wondering what Roe would do if the pandemic hit Lawrenceton. Hard to know. But, the members of the Real Murders Club would have had the case of Irene’s mysterious death solved by now, I was sure of that at least.

I wonder if they could help us out…