I spent today at a small rural library. I was the lone staff person there for most of the day, and in some respects I had been nervous about that. But I remembered the first time I worked the reference desk during grad school alone. I found out then that the world did not come to an end if I couldn’t answer something right then. (Check out my blog entries June 1 and June 2, 2007 where I talk about my first solo reference desk experience.)  So today I figured that I’d be OK, and I was. In fact it was rather nice spending time in a building built in the 1800’s, with sun shining through the big dusty windows. Between patrons I had the opportunity to read a bit of my own book, something pretty much unheard of in the library world. We are always surrounded by books, but we never have time to read!

So, other than having a predominance (it seemed) of patrons whose last name started with “F” on this Friday,  there really wasn’t anything too unusual.   I got to see a whole day of library traffic.  Early in the day were older patrons, with their stacks of books, some large type, some not, eager to get the latest best sellers, the next in their novel series for the weekend.  There were few DVD movies checked out during the morning hours.  As the day wore on more and more people stopped in to pick up movies; and as school let out the number of kids arriving increased, most wanting to use the computer and access the internet.  The typical ebb and flow of a  community library.  The reality is that last night’s shift at another branch was much more weird then my experiences today.   Last night we entertained ;ots of weird questions, computer printing issues, lost ID’s, new accounts, crazy requests.  Must have been the moon.

So all in all, this was a rather nice Friday the 13th. Library work certainly is fun. Wish everyone could enjoy their work as much as I do!  The world would be a happier place for sure.