ope...a life library.1
I upset a patron the other day. A teen with their mother. They were all over the nonfiction section, occasionally stopping to look at the catalog on their phone, finding then pulling book after book. After awhile they'd amassed a sizable pile to lug around.
They didn't seem to need my help and I was happy not to give it.
A bit later they walked up to my desk and said they couldn't find one. I asked for the title. The patron told me, and as I typed it into my search they said, "I have it right here." I looked up. They were holding their phone out to me. There it was, the book in our catalog.
"Fantastic," I said. I turned back to my computer, turned the screen so they could see it, and continued searching.
"But I have it right here," they said.
I looked up, smiled, and told them I had access to a slightly different catalog.
Cue betrayal face.
I pointed to the screen to show them when the book had last been checked in (today) and told them it was probably over in circ waiting to hop on one of the shelving carts. Said they should give me a couple moments and I'd go check.
As I got up from the desk, the patron looked at their mother and said, "that's cheating." Mom smiled sympathetically.
I found the book and handed it to the patron. The look they gave me makes me fear I may have just started them on their villain arc.
The birds. They are forming alliances.
Practice Random Acts of Reading.
close the library.
Library Courier is a very dangerous job in the library world. Shuttling books back and forth ain’t for the faint of heart. As you can see from the picture below, the courier needs protection from the library books. It’s not that the books are evil as such, but they are off the shelf and away from their friends which means they’re scared, confused, and likely to attack until they find themselves back in a library or in the hands of a patron.
Nothing is better to a library book than being in the hands of a patron.
This van just had new security equipment installed but the courier is far braver than I, those books could muscle through those bars at any moment and do some serious damage.
The delight of getting your sense of smell back after days of being sick; the distress of it happening at the public library.
I was headed to lunch when I saw a coworker at the circ desk shaking something in their hand. "Come on over," they said, "I need your help."
I moseyed over and saw they were holding a cube. 2 inches by 2 inches by 2 inches. Hollow except for the 1/2 inch tall plastic bottom on the inside with three concentric, ridged circles and a metal ball about a 1/4 inch around. It was a child's game. The goal was to get the metal sphere to sit in the smallest, center circle.
"Do you know how to solve this?" They asked.
I grabbed it. Shook it. Failed to solve it. "'fraid not. Sorry, I've never been any good at those kinds of puzzles." I looked closely at my coworker. "You look like you need a break from it, though. Want me to take it off your hands for an hour or so? Kid's toy timeout?"
The coworker looked relieved. "Take it home and don't bring it back," they said, then handed it to me.
I turned, shook it, and the ball fell into the center circle, so I made a detour and placed the game on the coworkers chair before heading out for lunch.
I really hope this gets rid of my earworm, because 24 hours is too much. Oh so very too much.
Library lyrics for WKRP IN Cincinnati Main Theme:
Baby, if you've ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I'm living in the stacks in Lincoln City
Lincoln City, Driftwood Library
Got kinda tired of packin' and unpackin'
books from my, own home library
Maybe you and me were never meant to be
Just get a library book once in a while
Headin' up that highway, leavin' you behind
Hardest thing I ever had to do
Broke my heart in two, to charge you, late fee fines
The price for findin' books was losin' you
Memories help me hide my lonesome feelin'
Reading books keeps me from feelin' low
It's gettin' late, my friend, my love, I miss you so
Time to close this book, I've gotta go
Baby, if you've ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I'm living in the stacks in Lincoln City
Lincoln City, Driftwood Library
Got kinda tired of packin' and unpackin'
books from my, own home library
Maybe you and me were never meant to be
Just get a library book once in a while
I'm at Driftwood Library in Lincoln City
There are library...groupies? Stalkers? I'm not sure what to call them.
I guess I'll go with groupies. Stalkers implies some malevolent intent.
(Though there are library stalkers, too, but this isn't about that.)
I'm not talking about the vast majority of patrons, most of whom are friendly, many of whom are chatty, and almost all of whom are just happy to be in a library. Groupies are different, though still harmless. Well, mostly.
It's like this: I'm in an FOH customer patron service role. I sit at the reference desk eight hours a day, five days a week and help people solve problems without charging them anything for it. It's a great gig. I love that there's no money involved. Since it's a public-facing job I tend to be very patient and optimistic when working with patrons; when someone needs help, yelling and shouting and making them feel stupid for not knowing something is, well, mean and counterproductive.
Because of my demeanor on the job, sometimes patrons get a little...obsessed? They see a nice, helpful guy who knows a little bit about some stuff. The guy tries to put people at ease and lets them know that just because they don't know this one very specific thing it doesn't make them stupid or worthless. There are, very unfortunately, too many people out there who do not experience much positive human interaction and when they see someone fairly consistently offer others that kind of interaction, they want more of it.
That's where things get a bit awkward.
What does 'wanting more of it' look like? They'll spend hours in the library sitting close by, facing you so they can see you interact with others. Oftentimes they'll stare at you for minutes at a time. When you get up from the reference desk they'll intercept you to talk for a brief moment, or, just stand in front of you and wait for you to say something to them. And they'll do it over and over again. Multiple times a day. Multiple days a week.
It doesn't sound like much, but it's exhausting.
The best way I've discovered to counter this? Be as boring as possible. (This comes naturally to me.) Be polite. Don't offer up anything personal. Usually after a week or two (or three or, very occasionally, four) they get bored since they see you aren't this ultra-amazing wonderful super-intelligent person, you're just a working stiff like everybody else trying to do your job to the best of your ability. And yes, every once in a while the same person will come back after a couple of months. For, like, a little top off. When this happens they're usually around for a couple of days and then they're gone again.
A patron is doing a job interview via teleconference on their laptop.
Must resist urge to sneak up behind patron and give them bunny ears.
Two enormous HVAC units sit on pallets outside the library. They'll be installed on the roof tomorrow. Two maintenance workers roll a large cart filled with HVAC parts around the library, looking for a place to stash it for tomorrow's installation.
"Why don't we just put it in there?" asks the first maintenance worker, nodding toward the study rooms. "We'll ask if it's okay."
The second maintenenace worker glances at the study room and hesitates.
The first maintenance worker asks, "Afraid it'll be stolen?"
The second maintenance worker looks to the first maintenance worker and says, "I'm afraid someone will pee on it or something."
Beloved library cat has passed away
It is with heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of Browser, the beloved library cat. Browser passed away peacefully of natural causes. He was one month shy of sixteen years old. In 2010, the Library staff was inspired by the story of Dewey Readmore Books, an Iowa library cat who had a book written about him, and adopted Browser to be a library cat when he was just 1 year old. Browser spent fifteen years of his life at the White Settlement Public Library and was one of their longest tenured employees. Browser brought delight to patrons and employees over the past decade and a half with his playful and curious nature, often cozying up to people while they read and worked. Some of his favorite activities included riding the book return cart while employees returned books to the shelves, stealing the Library Manager’s seat any time she got up, watching bird videos, and hanging with the crafting club any time they met. Browser sat in on so many GED classes at the library that the teacher eventually awarded him an honorary GED. On behalf of the entire Library staff past and present, we would like to thank all who went out of their way to visit Browser, play with him, and remind him how good of a boy he was. He lived a full and joyful life that was filled with friends.
A patron told me all people resemble flowers. Evidently I'm a daisy.
