Sometimes I work at urban libraries and sometimes I work at libraries in rural communities; that diversity is one of the good things about my job.  Driving home from work the other day though, I realized for sure that at heart I’m a rural librarian.  There’s such a sense of community in small towns, and the library is such a big part of that community.  Plus I get to enjoy great commutes, far away from freeways and traffic jams!

Here’s a few snippets of conversation and questions from a day at a rural library:

A father and son  stop in, they are regulars each week – sometimes several times a week.  Usually they pick up a few books and a couple movies;  the books  for the son, the movies for Dad.  This morning a book the Dad had ordered was ready for pickup.  As I scanned his library card to check out his movies the message popped up that he had a book on the reserve shelf.  I reached around for it, and Dad’s eyes lit up.  Then he whooped for joy, which caused his son to jump in surprise.  Seems he had forgotten about the book, and now he was excited to see that it had finally arrived.  The bookworm son looked at his Dad in a new light.   They were both talking excitedly about books as they left.

Someone else came in looking for a book they’d heard about on public radio.  Didn’t know the author, or the title, just had a few hints of what it might be.  “But it sounded really interesting!”

A wife came in to find World War II movies “or anything with Nicole Kidman in it” for a husband who was ill at home.  Usually he came to the library and picked up her reserved books, now it was her turn to find things he might enjoy.  We searched all the available movies and found several for her, some classics, some more recent.  The husband is looking at a long convalescence so she’ll be back.

A youngster came by and asked me “Does your chair have shock absorbers?”  I thought a moment and then said that I thought it probably did.  He proceeded to explain to me just how shock absorbers worked and I thanked him for the information.  Librarians can never have too much information.

A patron, new to the community, ventured into the library.  After receiving her card she wandered off exclaiming that it had been a long time since she’d had the chance to explore a new library.  She was so excited, it was fun to watch her discover the fiction and become instantly absorbed.

Someone wanted information on fibromyalgia, another needed a mapquest directions to a wedding way down in a big city far far away, a third was looking for a childhood friend and wanted help with the internet.  You just never know what people are going to ask of you.

At the end of the day one of the last patrons picked up a brightly colored flier that advertised the local farmer’s market.  It was bright yellow, and in John Deer green declared across the top:  “FARMER’S MARKET on THURSDAYS.”  She turned and asked me–“What day is the Farmer’s Market?”  Sigh.  Sometimes you don’t really need an advanced degree for the job.  Sometimes you just need to be able to smile.  And read.