She gets it

 I was working the front desk last Sunday, which was Mothers Day. A few patrons asked me if I was a mother, and then awkwardly backed out of saying "Happy Mothers Day" to me when I said that I wasn't (this may or may not be true--never tell patrons about your personal life!). However, here's where that conversation went with one patron, who immediately became my new favorite:

Patron: Are you a mother?

Me: No...

Patron: Well, happy Mothers Day anyway! You work at the library, so I'm sure you end up taking care of other people's kids ALL the time.

Minimal overlap

Things I have to say to patrons:
"Excuse me, sir, is that your saw blade?"
"It doesn't matter if that's you in the picture, it's still not okay to look at pictures of naked people on the library computers."
"I'm sorry, but if I have to ask you to put your shoes back on again, I am going to have to ask you to leave the library for the day."
"Is that your son trying to run out the front door?" 
"I'm sorry, you really can't go in the restroom right now. I promise the plumbers are working on it."
"Sorry, I'm not going to ask kids to leave the library because they are laughing. This is the children's area." 
"I'm just trying to do my job."

Things I have to say to staff:
"No, please don't 'introduce termites' onto the dead tree outside as a solution. I'm sure the city will come cut it down soon."
"I know that email looks like a scam, but I swear it really is from I.T. and you really do have to do that cybersecurity training. Yes, I know it's ironic."
"If this graphic novel makes you uncomfortable, you can fill out the same complaint form a patron would fill out. Please don't just hide it at your desk without checking it out."
"Sorry, you can't have book cart races."
"The library will be FINE. Please, just go home and take some cold medicine."
"I'm just trying to do my job."

Toddlers vs. libraries

Walnut Bluff has an AWE-brand "early learning station," a.k.a. a computer designed for young kids with educational games on it. Ours is password-protected because there is sometimes some...inter-generational tension over whether to read books or play on the computer. Toddler A is sitting on the computer randomly pounding on the keyboard, but of course it's not doing anything because it's on the lock screen.
Coworker to toddler's mom: Do you need the password?
Mom: Oh, thanks. I don't know, let me check.
She walks over to her son, leans down, and has a short exchange with him. Then she laughs.
Mom to coworker: No, thank you! He says he's 'hacking.'

Toddler B crying during a kids' craft activity where they are coloring a monster mask.
Me to family: Hi, are you guys okay?
Grandma: Don't worry, we'll be fine. He wanted me to hold his mask up in front of my face so he could see what he drew, but then he got scared. 

Toddler C to dad as dad is at the front desk checking out their books: Dad, I want a grilled cheese sandwich!
Dad: Jacob, this is a library! They don't have those here!

Sorry, but no

More services we don't provide:

• Microwaving your cold fast-food lunch in the break room microwave
• Typing in your social security number for you
• Talking to your caseworker/the housing office/your lawyer on the phone because you can't explain what you need
• Memorizing your library card number so you don't have to get our your card to check things out (knowing your face and your name is already a lot, actually!)
• Reading everything on the computer screen aloud to you because the print is too small for you to read
• Watching your laptop while you go to the bathroom
• Watching your baby while you go to the bathroom

Special visitors

One of my favorite patrons I helped today was a woman who came in to sign her middle-school aged daughter up for a library card. The daughter wasn't with her, but she had her school ID. The patron told me that her daughter was special and came to the library every week as part of a program, and the people in the program had told her (the patron) that it would be good for her (the daughter) to have her own library card. I could tell from the way she said "special" and the fact that the daughter came to the library as part of a program that the daughter had some kind of cognitive impairment, so I wasn't surprised to see a girl with the newly-issued card come in later today as part of a regular group of visitors--several kids who seem to be on the autism spectrum and a few adults. It was fun checking out a book to her on her new card, even though we had a brief scare where it seemed she might have already lost the card (she and one of her adults found it on the floor of the children's area).

I love seeing kids on the spectrum for a few reasons, but one is that patron interactions with neurotypical patrons can get kind of repetitive, but you never know what a kid on the spectrum might like to talk to you about. The highlight today was a kid who spent our whole transaction telling me about his plans to ride to different stations on our local light rail line, and, when prompted to thank me, shouted "Thank you, commuter!"

Other reasons I especially like seeing kids who are on the spectrum in the library:

1. I like getting to participate in teaching interactions. The adults are often using the opportunity to have the kid practice navigating common commercial social situations, and it is fun to play along with them and help out by being a bit more direct and exaggerated than I would be with another kid the same age.

2. The public library is one of the few institutions around to support people on the spectrum that they don't have to worry about aging out of or otherwise being disqualified from. I've heard--from patrons, teachers, and from a speech therapist friend (technically she is a speech and language pathologist but I don't know if people know what that is) who works with a lot of kids on the spectrum--that lots of help for people drops off between ages 16 and 21, and there is a lot less support in place for adults. However, I do see independent adults who obviously have cognitive disabilities of various kinds and use the library on a regular basis, and I really enjoy getting to see the foundation of that being set.

3. Invariably, the adults with those kids, despite how hard they are working, are always super nice and polite.

A young book

A family with a boy who was maybe 5 came in this evening. He was getting antsy because his parents were requesting several books at the desk and he was bored. He asked his dad if he could sit on the low counter where people set their returned items. His dad replied--cleverly, I thought at that moment--"Are you a book?" and the kid immediately answered "Yes!"


His dad recovered quickly and told him that then he should fall over, since no one was holding him upright, and also that he should be silent, since books don't talk, but at that moment mom intervened and said "Don't tell him to fall down!"


Frankly the patron Halloween costumes have not been impressive this evening, so I'm giving Book Boy first place in my mental contest so far.

Grandma Librarian

Overheard at the checkout desk:

Head of circulation, to woman who is renewing the library cards of her two children: I bet you didn't realize this would be so much work!
Woman: No, I pretty much expected it. My mother used to be a librarian.
Child #1: What!?
Woman: You never knew that? Why do you think all the books at Grandma and Grandpa's  house have the Dewey Decimal system!?

Strip malls

What I wish West Side Library shared its strip mall with:
1. An office supply store (for regular envelopes, manila envelopes, resume paper, etc.)
2. A post office (for stamps, and for posting tax returns at 4:50 p.m. on April 14th)
3. A childcare center (of course, convincing patrons to use it instead of us would be another matter)

4. A cheap cafe (drink your coffee and brightly-colored energy drinks there, please, not at our computers!)

What West Side Library actually has in its strip mall:
1. A hair salon
2. A tax preparer
3. A taco place
4.A liquor store

Supplies update, adorable kids

A not-so-secret admirer sent me a few pairs of amazing scissors in response to my last post. I have always been annoyed by coworkers who were territorial about 'their' office supplies in the library, but when I brought a pair of my glorious new scissors to work, intending to put them in one of the drawers at the reference desk, I just couldn't do it and put them in my own desk drawer instead.

In other good news, I have seen a lot of cute children at the library lately. At Downtown Library I was hugged by a small boy who then followed me around so insistently that even though I was supposed to be doing 'roving reference' that hour I eventually had to go and hide behind the desk. He did pick out some excellent picture books for me to put on display, though. If I had a kid I think I would bring him or her in to help me with children's displays all the time. Apparently at Small Town Library an enthusiastic six-year-old outlined a fully-formed library program on dinosaurs that the Youth department now really wants to put on, so clearly kids are qualified for this.

Also at Small Town Library, I followed a dad and his two kids on their way out of the library as I was leaving at the end of my shift and eavesdropped on the following conversation:
Dad, to older daughter: What do you want to have for dinner?
Daughter: Pizza!
Dad: Well, then it's your lucky day!
Daughter: Why?
Dad: Because you're buying us all pizza for dinner today!
Daughter: Okay!

Some recent patron highlights

Dad to daughter who is wandering off as he is trying to get them to leave the library: "So, shall I just come for you tomorrow then?"

Person no older than mid-30s: "Where are your compact discs?"


Patron: "I am looking for a book, appropriate for a nine-year-old, that tells the story of the musical Cats. Does such a book exist?"

Ten dollars

At the adult computers, a kid about ten years old is being rowdy while his mom is trying to print something.


Mom: Why don't you go upstairs and find something to read?
Son: Joe isn't reading.
Mom: That's okay. You still can even if he isn't.
Son: Nah, I'll just stay down here.
Mom: How about you find us a book about Nevada? That's your assignment.
Son: Nah.
Mom: I bet you don't want to because you don't think you can find it.
Son: No, I can find one. I just don't feel like it.
Mom: I bet you a dollar you can't.
Son: What about ten dollars?
Mom: [sighs]

Exciting hour

Someone called and asked me if I could locate a definition of 'listicle.' She read the word in the newspaper but it wasn't in her print dictionary. It wasn't in most of our dictionaries either, but it does have a Wikipedia article. Fortunately, she was willing to accept an online, user-sourced source!


She is patron of the day, probably because there is so little competition--I asked a frustrated woman trying to release her print job if there was anything I could do to help her, and she said "Yes, watch my kids!" When I said, "I'm sorry, I can't do that" she said "Then there's nothing you can do to help!"


Another patron asked me a lot of questions about printing and using the library, all phrased as statements but with intonation indicating it was a question: "I can check out books here?" "I need to enter my number?" As soon as he walked away from the desk, another patron, carrying a long strip of paper and a peeled twig (a wand?) came up to tell me: "That man's behavior seems kind of suspicious. I mean, not suspicious, I don't think he'd hurt anyone, but odd. Abnormal." I managed to reply with "Well, this is a public library, we get all sorts of people" instead of "Nice to meet you, Mr. Pot-Calling-The-Kettle." Then he talked to me for 10 minutes about how the American education system is broken and he never finished high school ("There were a few incidents and I never went back.").


There are only 7 copies of this book in WorldCat. Any chance you can get one for me?

Trains

 At the Small Town Library, a family is leaving storytime.
Mom: We're not going to play with the trains.
Toddler: Why?
Mom: Because every time we do that, you cry.
Toddler: Why aren't we going to play with the trains?
Mom: I don't know; why do you cry every time?
Toddler: Because it's time to play with the trains!

Both Small Town Library and Downtown Library have train tables. They often make emotions run high, but this is the first I've heard of someone who is brought to tears at every interaction.

Things I will never get tired of at the public library

Big hulking dads with do-rags and tons of ear piercings who wear their sunglasses in the library reading picture books aloud to their kids and reminding them to use their "library voice."


Anyone showing anyone else how to use the 'card catalog.'


"You would not believe how long I have been looking for this book! Thank you so much!"


Correctly inferring the title of the book a mumbling kid is describing to me.


"I just wanted to tell you that I loved the book you recommended to me last week."


A security guard showing someone how to use the catalog or how to log on to the computer.


Someone with a Spanish-sounding accent having trouble asking me a question and being able to say, "Hablo un poco español, si es más fácil."

The expression on a patron's face when she is introduced to interlibrary loan for the first time.


"Oh wow, this library has everything!"


People asking "How much does it cost to borrow a book/DVD from the library?" and getting to reply, "It's free!"

Shh!

Man to young son: "Shh! You at the liberry!"

Wednesday before the storm

There's supposed to be a big snowstorm in our region starting tonight, so I thought I'd better give you the news today in case we close tomorrow.


Exchange "good mornings" with the two men who are always here first thing when we open. I have never answered a question for either of them at the ref desk, although there is a third man who comes in a little bit later and asks about the newspaper if it hasn't been put out yet.


Coworker goes downstairs to take a found driver's license and library card down to lost and found.


Janis is here this morning as well. I showed her how headphones work (well, I showed her where to plug them in, I assume there will be a Part Two about how to put them on your head). Yes she is a lot of work, but she's so nice. I was relieved to find out she lives in an adult foster home, so someone will be making sure she does get home okay if the storm hits.


Make change for the same man twice because he's printing a huge number of documents. I'd better remember to put in more paper when he's finished.


Janis comes to let me know she has to go brush her teeth.


The printing man drops a twenty dollar bill. He's lucky my coworker and I see it first.


Our new elevator has a button to call the elevator company installed it in. This button is low to the ground, probably for the legitimate reason that people who are short, young, or in wheelchairs should be able to reach it, but people lean on it without noticing all the time, and then it broadcasts a dial tone for ten minutes and no one in the building has the power to turn it off.


Janis has left her cup for rinsing her mouth down on the first floor, so she needs to know what button to push on the elevator to go down and get it to brush her teeth.


For some reason our library system's boss of finance is here using the copier and printer. I hope he at least has an override key of some kind.


Coworker comes by to return the props I used in a Detroit/Motown/Underground Railroad display for Black History month.


We get Janis logged in to a computer and watching a video of Janis Joplin. She is really making progress!


You got newspapers up here? (Which ones?) Oh, just any.


Lend out a scanner.


Help a nice woman looking for books on parenting shy kids.


MAC calls for a couple of phone numbers. Ugh.


People need a tax form. Sorry, the copier doesn't do double-sided.


The elevator opens to a deliveryman with a box of pizza. Uh oh.

Surprises

Today a patron who checks out a ton of ebooks came to the desk to ask: How does that work? How does anyone make money from that? We told him that we have to pay for the ebooks, and he was so surprised.


There was a lot of misinformation and lack of information about the library today--there was a huge 'holiday' (Christmas) open house, meaning a ton of little kids in the library. You would not believe how often people lie to their kids about the rules of the library for the sake of easier parenting!


(Well, if you're a parent, it's probably not such a surprise.)

A new patron

Tonight a young mom and her three-year-old son came to the library. They approached the desk. She greeted me and then looked down at her son, then said, "Say, 'excuse me, miss, where are the books about dinosaurs?'" He dutifully repeated (even with some eye contact!) "Excuse me, miss, where are the books about dinosaurs?"


I took them straight to the 560s, which I think of as just 'the 'dinosaur section' within kid's nonfiction. As we were walking over, his mom said to me,"I think he's never been in a library before, so I wanted him to learn what to do."


I've seen variations on this interaction probably thirty times now, but it never gets old.

What women want (to know)

For some reason every single person I have helped so far today is female.

A patron is horrified by how expensive sending a fax is. She wants her daughter to call Office Max and ask how much they charge, but the daughter keeps showing her our local business referral guide and saying, "Mom, it says right here!"

A woman came to the desk and held her dark smartphone screen to me. Did she find it? No, it's hers? Did she need help using it? No, she needs help with the computer. She turns it back around to look at it, realizes it has gone to sleep, and touches it to turn the screen back on--she's used Google translate to produce an English-language version of her Spanish-language question. Clever!

Old lady: My mind has just gone blank. When you apply for a job, what do they get from your other employer?
Me: A...reference?
Lady: Yes, thank you! I kept thinking evidence, evidence, but I knew that wasn't it. How embarrassing.

Different old lady needs help releasing her print jobs--she was using the wrong card. Message to all kids: Don't let your grandma use your library card, it will only confuse her.

Precocious girl: There is no volume in the teen hub so I can't hear the TV, can you help me?

Same girl: Do you have an DC superhero comics?
She settles on Teen Titans.

Also: A patron turned in $100 in cash that he found with a grocery list! I feel like we should have given him a reward. Or at least the cash if no one comes to claim it.

Do y'all have a color prinnah? An how much is that? Sixy cenna page?

Library management annoyance of the day

The staff is always annoyed that parents don’t stay in the children’s area with their kids, instead going off to use computers in the adult areas or to sit on the comfortable chairs by the entrance. Our library is located in a relatively poor area, and many of our patrons are not very educated. No one will say it out loud (actually, a couple of people would, but I try to avoid those people), but it’s clear that most people on staff think that Bad Parenting, endemic to ‘the kind of people who live in our community,’ is the problem, not anything about the library or anything the library can influence. However, I’m not convinced that this is the case. Here’s why:

 The children’s staff has also tried to make the children’s room kid-friendly, with weird furniture, kid-sized tables and chairs, and computers that are lower to the ground than anyone has ever seen. They’ve been very thorough about this, so much so that it’s not possible for most adults to sit at a table where their knees actually fit under in the children’s area. So of course they don’t choose to read or use computers there. I think in the minds of the administrators parents would suffer the tiny furniture because they would be actively engaged in reading or otherwise interacting with their kids, but for the families that spend hours at the library, that makes no sense. Even the best parent in that situation isn’t going to be involved with the child the whole time, and the moment they detach from their kids they have no aesthetic or comfort reasons for staying in the children’s area. Couldn’t we put some adult furniture in there so parents could keep an eye on their kids without sitting in a chair that is only a foot off the ground?

Add this to the long list of ‘Couldn’t anyone with a shred of common sense figure this out?’ issues at my library.