Libraryland: The Advent of Lisieux

I have a new boss, who I shall call Lisieux. I think we're going to get along just fine. She's new to CPL, and she's young for a supervisor, but everyone seems happier now that we have someone in charge. She's got some ambitions for the Popular Library, which I support for the most part, and I hope Lisieux doesn't get too crushed by the beaurocratic machinery. In the meantime, I'm up to my ears in work, since I have been assigned to weed the Romance section. In fact, I am now in charge of all the series romances as far as collection development is concerned. I think this is because I am the only other woman on the professional staff (not to mention lowest on the totem pole) there, and the guys I work with would rather open a vein than touch such stuff. So, now I not only sit at the reference desk among the series romances, I am now responsible for their presence. Oh, well, there are definitely worse things I could be asked to do for the good of CPL....

Also, my duties now include being responsible (there's that word again) for Reader's Advisory on mysteries. I have to read at least one mystery a month, and outside my usual comfort level. I can do this, especially since Eugene Izzi is dead and I've already subjected myself to Patricia Cornwell. My reading of Izzi awakened me to the idea that anyone can publish a book if they follow the formula, and Cornwell seems marketed to those who can't get enough of nighttime soap operas. Boring as hell, both of them. However, I'm sure I'll make some discoveries along the way. I just need to clear some time in my schedule to do it, which may be tricky as I have to weed the romance section, doing everything from pulling books over two years old off the shelves to stamping "discard" at least four times on the hapless chaff. Apparently, this hasn't been happening for a while, since some of the books I've pulled were date stamped from 2002.

Ah, well, this seems to be a good development. Three cheers of welcome for Lisieux!