Today was another great day at work in a tiny rural library.  It’s one of my favorite places to work because there is time to talk to patrons, to find out what they’re reading, to give suggestions and to receive some reading suggestions as well.  This location is primarily a readers library as opposed to one that is used like a video store and that makes working it a pleasure.  Here’s a few observations from the day:

A woman stopped by to drop off a book that was due.  She was actually reading the book as she walked in the door.  She slowed her walk as she approached the drop box, stalling until she had finished the last sentence.  Then she slipped the book into the return slot and walked right back out the door.  I’d never seen that before, and something about it seemed strange to me.  I think I’d have finished the book in the car, or outside the library.  On the other hand, it was fun to watch someone so engrossed in reading.

I had several kids stop by to record their reading for the summer reading program.  They enjoyed using the stamp to mark off minutes of reading and they liked getting the half-way there prize and the completion prize as well.  I like watching them get excited about reading.

Today I got to share a couple of authors with people who were looking for someone new to read.  And I got to talk about the books of one of my favorite authors at length with one patron.  Usually I don’t have time for that, so it was a real treat this morning.

One of my first patrons was about 5 or 6 years old.  She walked in with her Mom and they immediately went into a huddle, whispering frantically about something.  Eventually the little girl approached me, flopped a drawing down and said “HERE!  This is for YOU!”  I was somewhat surprised, as I’d never seen her before.  But I was enthusiastic about the picture which really was lovely.  I had her sign it and then I taped it up on the wall behind the desk.  I think the little girl  drew the picture for the regular librarian and was surprised when she saw me instead.  I made a note to the librarian who generally works there so that she can make sure to say thank you when the little girl comes in next time.  The little girl left all smiles.  I was smiling too.

An older patron showed up about noon with a long list of specific authors.  She needed the books RIGHT NOW because she was leaving on a vacation this afternoon!  We only had one of the authors on the shelf at our location.  Most of what she wanted happened to be at other locations or checked out.  I kept looking, while simultaneously wondering if she hadn’t known she was going on vacation until today?  With a little bit of advanced notice we could have provided her exactly what she wanted rather than ending up with the compromise of materials I found for her.

It was 12:30 before anyone checked a DVD out!  Everything taken out prior (and we opened at 9) were books!  How cool is that!

A young man came in and ended up checking out only one DVD; a story about the Holocaust.  He also asked for information about prison systems.  I wondered if there was a connection, but I didn’t ask.  It seemed an odd combination, especially for July when it was unlikely he was writing a paper.  I hoped he wasn’t needing to know how a prison system works for any personal reasons.

By the end of the day I recognized there are two types of readers.  One type puts numerous books on reserve and those books often come in at the same time.  They check out several, maybe up to a dozen at once, and then only have two weeks to get all these best sellers read.  They lug their books in and out in large bags.  I wonder if they are not isolated as much as the person who watches movies all day or spends too much time on the internet.  How can they read this much material each week and get anything else done?  Perhaps there is a down side to reading as there is to anything else.   The other extreme was the woman who turned in one book that she had not enjoyed, and checked out one book that she hoped she would like better.  I wondered why she might not check out more than one, say perhaps TWO, so that if she doesn’t like one she has another option?    But as my husband often tells me; “You can’t manage EVERYTHING” so I guess I’ll just leave people to use their library as they see fit.

It was a great day; a great way to spend time and earn a living at the same time.  I am so lucky!