Tracey Dennis's Comments

Hello Tracey. I hope you will see this and have not gotten discouraged. I think most of the people on this ning thing are already connected to each other through work or professional organizations over on this side of the pond. I am a library assistant at the San Diego County Public Law Library. It is a second career for me but I am finding it pretty interesting. Write back and tell me a bit about the Inner Temple Library. What an interesting name!

Thank you Tracey
That was a very informative comment. The Inns of Court in this country function in a very different way. Our Bar Association is more like your Inns of Court.
Also thank you for the website! What a beautiful library you have and what a marvelous history!
Our library here is open to the public. It serves an important need that way but it certainly creates a different atmosphere!
Hope to hear from you again.
Michele

Tracey - I have been eavesdropping on you and Michele ( we work together in San Diego, but at different branches). Would love to chat if you are so inclined.

I see that you and Deb have made each other's acquaintance. Deb is my pal, both at work and away from work. I told her about your terrific website. We need to do something more attractive with ours, it is very dull. Useful, but dull. www.sdcpll.org

I am glad we are now friends.
If you have looked at my page, you know that I am in the Obama/Biden support group. Do you or the people at your library have any opinions about our candidate? No pressure, just curious. A pretty significant number of Law Librarians over here are apparently in favor of McCain/Palin.
We get the impression over here that Europeans pay more attention to our political madness than we do to theirs. If that's true, I suspect it is because we are the 600 lb. gorilla in the room, and so we bear watching. That's kind of a joke but not very funny.

Hi Tracey, Me again. I'd love to hear about legal px in Britain. I started studying for my solicitor's licence about four years ago but got derailed and never followed through. I had this romantic notion that I could move to the Cotswolds and eck out a living or something. I remain in SoCal......

Hi Tracey
I am no great authority on economic matters, but it looks as if your Prime Minister is being overwhelmed by the mess of the Global Economy. The US is a really big part of what is going wrong. We have had eight years of total irresponsibility in the White House and it has encouraged a climate of greed and more greed in the business sector. A great many conservative types believe that what is good for business is good for the economy as a whole. That might even be true if business leaders had a sense of responsibility even toward "business" but they seem to be interested only in lining their own pockets and the future can shift for itself.
It sounds to me that your Mr. Brown, like quite a few folks over here, felt that what is good for business is good for the economy. The Real Estate mess that was created over here has come close to destroying banking and like the plague is spreading around the world. I don't know what the Prime Minister could have done about it, really, but he may have been able to discourage banking on your side from indulging in all this high risk (diguised as tripleA) investing. It has been obvious to even laymen over here that the whole thing had to come crashing down sooner or later, but those who were making millions did not care. They still don't (they got theirs you see). Mr. Brown is supposed to be an economist or at least a fiscal responsibility advocate, he really should have seen this coming. I don't know how much power your Prime Minister actually has over business in the UK. He is right about the Global Economy needing some global regulations.

Dear Tracey
Sorry if that last message seems to rant. Our economy is sinking fast over here and it makes me very angry. It was all avoidable. Sorry to hear that your situation is messed up too.
Michele

I work as a Library assistant and have been assigned to the Acquisitions Department. We handle all the tasks involved in ordering and processing materials. Serials, Monographs, periodicals, Looseleaf updates, CD-ROMs, etc. All these things come through our department and have to be made ready for the shelves, and entered properly into the computer system. Everyone lends a hand with this stuff.
I am responsible for replacing missing parts and claiming things that did not arrive as expected, so I am in contact with the publishers often. I work under the Acquisitions Librarian and we work under the Head of Technical Services, who gives us projects regularly that are designed to clean up the OPAC and make it work better.
What are your duties and respoonsibilities?

Dear Tracey
I am hoping to be able to go back to school and earn a Master's Degree, so I can advance a bit in this line of work. I am interested in Cataloging. Finding the time and money to pursue these things is getting harder and harder though.
Iwould be interested to know in what ways is it different for you working at the Inner Temple Library rather than Law Firms and Gov. Libraries.

Dear tracey
Are you ok? I haven't heard from you for a while. I hate to sound like the worried mother... (You can ask my daughter about that. Haha) Hope all is well.
Michele

Dear Tracey
Look forward to reading all about life in the Inner Temple Library. That sounds like it could be the title of a book. The name "Inner Temple Library" sounds so exotic.
Anyway don't feel pressured in the least. We are pretty busy here now also.

This weekend I am going to the Wild Animal Park for walkies with my friend Deb. She is a member of the Zoo and so we can get in for free. It is a marvelous place to walk and talk.
Should get to work now.
Thanks
Michele

Oh Tracey, thanks for the informative and well-written overview of your work at the Inner Temple Library.
It sounds like you have some very interesting responsibilities. Technology has opened so many new doors for keeping people in communication. It's great that your members can be served wherever they are.
You surely make the Inner Temple Library sound like a great place to work.

Do you think that it is busier now because of all the problems people are having due to the international financial meltdown? Desperate people often do desperate things.

I just noticed something! The last message I sent you says it was sent at 1:12 pm today but I sent it at 10:10 am!! They must be using eastern time as a standard or something instead of local time.

Dear Tracey
Here at the San Diego PUBLIC Law library we have many strange and interesting patrons. I work almost entirely behind the scenes so I don't often interact with them, but we have some real loonies, in addition to the Lawyers, Paralegals, Students and Judges that one would expect in the Law Library.
People come in here who want to represent themselves in court, who want to sue somebody (or everybody), or who feel themselves to have been abused by the system. There are also some who come in just to hang around! It is sometimes very strange and our Security Guard has to deal with weird folks at times. Never a dull moment.
It must be quiet and respectable at your place!

All the best

Michele

Dear Tracey
This is an interesting way to communicate with someone. You were a complete stranger to me, and now I feel that I know you. On the other hand, I don't know you, because one doesn't communicate personal information on such a public forum.

I wasn't in yesterday because of transportation issues or I would have replied sooner.

I am going to reread parts of the Da Vinci Code to see what part your Temple Church played. I read the book some years ago and didn't remember that the Temple Church played a role until you mentioned it as a source of unwanted visitors.

Cheers
Michele

Have just reread the Da Vinci Code. It was quite an exciting bit that happened in the Temple Church!

Are you doing anything to celebrate Halloween? We are having a costume party here at the Library on the 31st. I have a perfectly frightful mask and a big black hooded coat that I plan to wear.

Election day is fast approaching here too. I truely hope it goes our way. We won't survive much more of these same policies!!

Thanks
Michele

Dear Tracey

Delighted to hear that you have a little boy! I have a daughter, but she is grown (26 years old) and so is living her own life, and I miss her childhood. Treasure your little guy. They grow up so fast.

Can't really chat right now. There is so much to do this morning. Will write again soon.

Michele

I will be off for a few days. My father's 84th birthday is Monday, and my daughter is coming down to Escondido for the event. So I am taking a few days to enjoy these things. I will talk to you when I get back.

Have fun tonight!
Michele

I'm back and Mr. Obama WON!!!! I am so pleased....
Many people over here are feeling happy for the first time in 8 years!