Ten Tips for Working at the Library

Every Friday afternoon, I volunteer at my second favorite place on Earth...the library.

I'm a library shelver, which means I put carts and carts of books back on the shelves in the correct order. If you love holding books, touching books, organizing books, or handling books, then this job might be for you.

I've been volunteering for about a year now, so I've picked up a few tips which I thought I'd share with you.

#1 - Never shelve non-fiction books in number 640 when you're hungry because that section contains all the cookbooks.

#2 - Only shelve early reader non-fiction if you feel like you don't have enough suffering in your life.

#3 - The YA section would be less crowded if we burned all the vampire books*.

#4 - CD's are not for the faint of heart.

#5 - You'll always get the cart with the squeaky wheel when you have to shelve next to the quiet reading area.

#6 - Graphic novels are not for the faint of heart. Or for the squeamish.

#7 - The romance section would be less crowded if we burned all the romances.

#8 - When a patron puts an extra stack of books on your cart because "you're putting them all away anyway" just smile and nod. Remember, it's a library, and the librarians are always watching.

#9 - Don't worry, after a couple of months you won't need to recite the entire alphabet to find what comes before the letter "W."

#10 - Never barrel through the children's section as fast as you can with a heavy cart because you might run over some toddlers. They always stand in the way of the cart, no matter how slow you're going.

*Seriously, it would. The YA section has overflowed since I first got there, and my theory is that it's because of all the new paranormal romance books.