R is for Random Pictures from the Library

I know, I know. First the kitten post and then this. 

I'm setting myself up to be that old cat lady librarian. Give me just a second while I go finish crocheting that light socket plug cover....

Above is the holds section. It's where (obviously) the holds are shelved. Someone's reserved a pretty pink book. 

This is the children's section (note the Dr. Seuss poster). The reason the picture is so blurry is that I didn't want to look like I was stalking the little kids or anything, so I took the picture fast.

I think this is my favorite picture, even if it is a little backlit. 

It's the large print section, Ca through Eng.

This is the blurriest picture because, well, this is the dreaded CD section.

See how all the CD's are on racks? Yeah, that may work for stores, but when you have multiple CD's, from A-Z, being picked up and put back by hundreds of people, and being replaced daily by library shelvers....

It's not good.

To normal people the CD section looks like it does above (only less blurry), but to library shelvers the CD section looks more like this:

Can't you see that as the cover for a horror film? How about CD's on Racks: The Rising. Cue the creepy music, then cut to the innocent shelver.... mwahahahaha.

And of course, this post would not be complete without a picture of my cat. This is Sherlock, sleeping on my lap as I type this.

Now I'm off to crochet another doily - I mean, ride a motorcycle. Yeah, that's what I meant.

In other news:

You voted, she drew it! Ava's sketch is now in color.

Do you love your local library? What's your favorite section?

To the Authors of Multiple Books

Dear James Patterson, Karen Kingsbury, Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich, Stephen King, Dorothy Sayers, Alexander McCall Smith, and other authors whose names I can't recall but to whom I am extremely grateful,

Thank you for writing so many books. You have no idea what a relief it is to us poor library shelvers when we come across your books on the carts. This means that we don't have to spend time scrutinizing the shelves to find the right place to put your single novel.

When I come across an entire shelf (or two, or three) filled with your books, I silently thank you for making my job easier, even if I have never and most likely will never read your novels (excepting Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. And even I have never read all of Agatha Christie's novels.)

So, thank you. Thank you for writing so many books.

My only request would be this: could you maybe title your books with names like 'A,' 'B,' and 'C?' That would make sorting the titles of your multiple books that much easier as well. Then it would be "A goes before B," rather than "The Lonely Life of Anna goes before The Lonely Life of Brianna."

Sincerely,

A Grateful Library Shelver

Friday at the Library

I saw this in the YA section and for some reason it made me smile. I went around the library grinning and trying not to catch anyone's eye. Below it are a bunch of pamphlets that say "like the Hunger Games? Then you might like these books!"

*

What is up with these college students and their enormous drinks? I saw a girl with a giant economy-sized jug of Kirkland bottled water that she was pouring into a smaller pink waterbottle. The jug was almost gone, and she was the only one drinking from it.

*

I have decided that I will never write a book with the word "Christmas" in the title.

*

Sitting at one of the desks by the window was a college student who was studying on his iPad. I can see why he would bring an iPad instead of a computer. It's a lot easier to carry around.

While I was shelving in the row opposite him, he got up from the desk, stretched and walked away. Just walked away, leaving his iPad right there on the table. My first thought was - isn't he worried that it might be stolen? I could have walked over there, grabbed it, and been out of the library in under two minutes, and he would never have known. Of course, he might have had it locked. But still... I had a backup plan for if someone tried to take it. I would say:

"Hey! Stealing is a crime!"

Or something else obvious like that, and if the thief tried to run I would ram him with my cart. Er... at least I would try (this is all a hypothetical situation, remember).

But nothing happened. The guy returned to his desk and resumed working on his iPad, with no idea of the worry he'd caused me.

So I kept shelving.

*

I think one of the prerequisites for a rock music album cover is that it must either be hideously ugly or make no sense at all. 

*

This also made me very happy:

They're new, and I like them because a) they look very professional and b) they don't have that weird buzzing noise whenever you walk through them.

The reason they don't make the buzzing noise is because they're for RFID tags. They work on radio waves (RFID stands for radio frequency identification). The self-checkout stations are different as well. Instead of the scanner and the tray there's just a big black square. You scan in your library card, and then put your stack of books on the square and it checks them out all at once. It's pretty neat.

That was my Friday afternoon. How was yours?

Shelving Away....

I realized today that I won't be shelving at the library very much longer. I'll most likely be quitting this summer. It's kind of sad.

I know I made fun of shelving in my last post, but I really have enjoyed it. The full, heavy carts. The warm, quiet library. The smooth, colorful books. It's all very peaceful, soothing, and relaxing.

I have to admit that I wasn't entirely truthful in that last post. I gave as tip #2 "Only shelve early reader nonfiction if you feel like you don't have enough suffering in your life." But I only know that from hearsay. I've never actually shelved early reader nonfiction - until today.

Yes, I thought it was time to do what I've been avoiding for so long.

So I grabbed the heavy laden cart with a steely resolve in my eye. (What is a steely resolve, actually? Does anyone know?) Anyway, whatever it is I had it in my eye. It itched, like when an eyelash falls out and gets trapped beneath your eyelid. I stood there for ten minutes rubbing at until it finally came out. Then I was bleary eyed and couldn't read any of the numbers.

No, just kidding about the steely resolve bit. I sorted the cart with no mishaps, except that my foot fell asleep from kneeling down and sorting the bottom row of books. The thing about early readers, or any juvenile books, is that the books are a lot thinner, which means there's a lot more of them on every cart.

After I had sorted every book into the correct or mostly correct order, I tenaciously trudged into the children's section with my cumbersome cart. I think the librarian gave me a sympathetic look when she saw me, although it might have been a grateful one.

So I shelved from 289 (Unitarian churches) to 947.08 (Russia after 1885). And it wasn't actually that bad. The shelves were short, so I didn't have to reach up too high. I sat on the floor most of the time and worked from there. The books weren't in the precise order, but they were spaced fairly well apart, which makes it easier to put new books in.

And now I've done it. I have to say, there's no feeling like the one you get when you put the last book away on an enormous cart. It's satisfaction, exhilaration, and freedom, all rolled into one.

I was going to take a picture of the early reader nonfiction section to include with this post, but unfortunately I forgot to. So you'll just have to imagine it.

[insert imaginary picture of early reader nonfiction section here]

On the plus side, I've put in about a hundred hours at the library, so that should be a good reference on my résumé.

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.