'Tis the Season

There are many perks to working at the library, you don't have to pay those outrageous overdue fines, you get first dibs on newly released books and movies, and everyday is an adventure.   A lesser known benefit is approaching as I am writing this post, and I tell you I can hardly wait.  During the Christmas season library employees are given more baked goods than a football team could eat.  The generosity of our patrons never ceases to amaze me.  Fresh baked cookies, brownies, candies and other goodies are brought in by patrons who want to wish us a joyous holiday season and show their appreciation.  Most are delicious homemade treats and are greatly welcomed by the entire library staff. 

However, every year we also get a few not so welcome treats.  For instance, If you ever wondered who buys all those enormous tins filled with popcorn, most of them are grateful library patrons. We will often have a tins filled with popcorn available well into February.  One year a mysterious item appeared that we could only guess was suppose to be some sort of fruitcake, likely resembling the patron giving it. For as many years as I can remember a particularly sweet elderly gentleman would bring us numerous boxes of last year's clearance Christmas candy, likely stored with care until he was ready to deliver them to us. 

This last example is the inspiration for this months post, we won't be receiving his candy this year because he passed away a few months ago.  Although, the treats are not always treasured, the patrons are.  I have missed seeing this patron and this time of year especially I find myself remembering to be thankful for each and every "gift" we get. 

Of course if you find yourself with an excess of delicious baked goods, don't forget your local library.  It is always good to have a librarian on your good side.

Spend a Day

Have you ever spent an entire day somewhere by choice?  I'm sure you have.  The zoo, a museum, a park, the swimming pool, or on a boat.  You might be surprised at the number of people who choose to spend a day at their local library.  Our library of course have the typical "snoozers", I've caught a good friend of mine taking a little nap in the Adult Reading Room before ;). But, I don't mean a few hours, I'm talking open to close, 9 am to 8 pm.  Over the years I have seen numerous people who were waiting outside the door for the library to open in the morning and then we would have to ask them to leave when we closed.

The first person I remember with these habits, was a gentleman we nicknamed "Aphidman."  The nickname was because he would often bring in odd critters for us to identify, the most common was a rose covered in aphids.  He would bring an old 2 qt. plastic juice bottle with him and refill it using our drinking fountain.  He spent an entire day reading reference books (this was before computers).  

Since computers and the Internet we have had even more patrons who would spend a day just sitting at a computer surfing the net, only to take breaks when a patron needed to use the computer.  It isn't hard to spot the "type", they are usually disheveled and look like they may have all of their belongings with them.  They might stay for only one day and then we would never see them again.  More than likely they will hang around for a few days before disappearing either for a few months or years.  

Just this past summer a kid maybe 12 or 13 who was on the computer or hanging out by the circulation desk for nearly 8 hours.  This pattern went on for a couple days and  just as we contemplated calling children's services his visits shorted to about 4 hours at a time. 

 Recently we had a new situation, one that I had never seen or even heard of before.  A very normal looking man around my age arrived right as the library was opening in the morning and asked where our dvds were kept.  After we pointed the location out to him, he proceed to pick out a couple selections, sign up for a computer and watch movies one after another for the next 10 hours.  He was not disruptive as used headphones, and unlike other avid computer users he didn't laugh, cry or dance if such emotions were aroused (another story).  He packed his lunch and took his "lunch break" during the time when the computer was needed by another patron.  He returned the next day and was just in again the other day.  

If I stop to consider the why or "what's their story", I start to get depressed and think about ways I might be able to help them.  Because who would want to hang out in a library for 11 hours by choice?  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE libraries and everything they encompass. Come to think of it maybe I'm the weirdo. So hey, I guess the next time you can't think of anything to do, and the usual places lack appeal, why not spend a day at your local library.  Don't forget the snacks.

United Against the Crazies

After many years in Library Land, I have seen many oddballs, nutcases, wackos, and freaks come in to our library.  The repeat "customers" and most memorable ones we give nick names.  There are the ones that sound like some kind of bad superhero names like; "Moped-man", "Afid -man", "Ratman" and "crazy hair nice legs man."  Then there are the ones that have crazy in their names; "Crazy Paul", "Crazy backpack guy", "Crazy recipe guy" and "crazy trash can talker".  I once did a PowerPoint about a few of our favs for a speech class. The speech actually resulted in my Professor stopping in for a visit to see where "crazy backpack guy" hung out one summer.

Recently, we had a patron using a computer keyboard as a pillow, while looking for pictures of butterflies on the Internet.  She claimed to be looking for the pictures for a possible tattoo.  She printed out nearly $10 worth of pictures, many of which were duplicates.  When she left after over 2 hours in the room, she had an imprint of the keyboard on forehead and said "it's so warm in that room you could about fall asleep." 

Without my friends/co-workers, some days would be unbearable, but because we can commiserate with one another and share our common stories, it allows work to be an adventure....everyday.

Welcome to Library Land

I have been a part of library land as long as I can remember. First as the daughter of the library janitors, then in high school as a lowly Page, slowly I assended the ranks and now I am an official Librarian. I hope one day I will be leader of the library land I call home away from home.

My first memories of the library were playing hide and seek with my brother while our parents cleaned.  I was the best at the game, because I was so skinny I could hide in between the romance bookshelfs.  My second favorite place to hide was in the "book elevator" which was really just a dumb waiter.  Ahh those were the days.

While working at McDonalds in high school the director of the library offered me a job as a Page.  I didn't know what that even was, but since I didn't particularly like making french fries for 8 hours at a time, I officially started putting books away on the same shelves I used to hide under.

I hope to continue my story on this blog, I will fill it with all of the crazy stories and patrons I have encountered along the way.  So follow me @ Liz's Library Land.