Ups and Downs
I wrote to a friend who is a teacher and is also still in graduate school at night. I asked her about funding for school. She replied that she thought one can only apply for loans for any sort of post-bacc program, so I called the financial aid office at the uni I want to attend. The guy I spoke to said I can apply for a FAFSA loan (FAFSA is "free application for student aid").
I checked the FAFSA website to see when the deadline for the fall semester is, and it said June 30, 2004.
But government incongruities aside, it is a ray of hope. If it all works out, I will have to quit this job. I think you all know how heart-broken I am about that prospect.

The Bad News
I have been accepted into the post-baccalaureate program I applied to. The bad news is that I might not be able to attend. I thought I do the program by taking one class a semester and continuing to work full-time. Tuesday I met with a professor at the uni. He explained that it will take years to get through the program anyway, and if I only did one class a semester, it would take twice or three times as long. And I suppose the clock is ticking. I have been trying to find a way to work, say, thirty hours a week and still go to the classes, but things look bad.

Something Odd
We, my co-workers and I, went out to eat to mark the graduation of a student who's worked here eight years, all through undergraduate and law school.
I was surprised, at our little lunch party, that two of the reference librarians, Sarah, the administrative assistant, and Mark also attended. I rode to the restaurant with David and we were the last to get there, and I ended up sitting between Sarah and one of the reference librarians. Next to that reference person was Mark at the end of the table, and across from me was the other reference librarian. While we were waiting on the food, the reference people and Mark got into a discussion about some law schools and law libraries that were in bad shape financially and were laying people off and cutting unfilled positions. They started talking about a neighboring state school. I asked if they had lifted the hiring freeze. Mark said he thought they'd lifted it and looked at me quizzically. I thought at the time this was because he thought I had heard differently. I just shrugged.
Then Mark said something I couldn't understand, and I asked him to repeat himself. He said, "Trust no one."
I swear to God.

Summer Sets In
I came in to work today to find a radically different atmosphere. Graduation was this past weekend, and now, suddenly, this place is dead. Whatever pressure there seemed to be to get anything accomplished has evaporated.
This is the time I de-process the reserve materials from the past academic year. And do you know what I have more of than anything else? Videos. Professors have their classes taped for students who are absent. And some of these professors really go hog wild with this and have virtually the entire semester taped. It's ridiculous. Why bother going to class at all? You can just watch the freakin' videos.
There is one way technology has helped my job. Journal articles and book excerpts are now scanned and placed on course homepages as a PDF. Only one paper copy is kept in a verticle file as a back-up. Less work for me? I'll take it.