by All of my life, I have felt comforted surrounded by books. There are thousands of souls, mythical and real, translated into words onto paper. I have siphoned most of my information from them, my eyes scanning like magical orbs, consuming the ink hungrily. Being in a library, working as a pillar of the system–I feel at home.
In Awe
Truth be told, before this, I had no idea what went into running a library. I would go in, read my books or print my papers, understand that the Dewy Decimal system was of some importance if we had to learn it in elementary school…and skip jollily on home with all the goodies that the heart of the community lent to me.
But y’all. There is so much behind the scenes!!!
Libraries. Are. So. Cool.
They are a vast network of books shared by all off the neighboring towns, sending and receiving totes of them to please the people of the community and fulfill all literature wishes! I feel like a fairy magical bookish elf, floating around between the bookcases, doing the realm’s work in the archives. Muahahaha.
I am learning so much already!!! Mostly thanks to the wonderful lady who trains me, an elder passing her knowledge on to me, if you will. Her name is Bonnie. Which leads me to my next section.
Staff of Saints
I love these women. Seriously, they are so sweet. The first person I was connected to is Carol, who giggled with me over the phone about cookies and the snow angels as we set up the interview.
Then, there’s Linda. She’s a director and always has the cutest sweaters on, I want to raid her closet and so kind.
I met Wendy briefly and she reminded me of who I want to be when I’m older. Fashionably late, slightly disorganized presenting on the surface, but knew every answer to my question in the most depth and had this alluring presence about her. She was also genuinely sweet.
These three ladies are all retired and picked up the library positions after being on the board for most of their lives.
Gianna is a new director that started with me (one of the prettiest women ever) and we were laughing and chatting while putting up books on shelves today. She brought up Hamilton, Outlander, and pointing out how many Amish love stories we happened to be shelving at a point. She’s in her forties but looks so much younger. I need her skincare routine STAT.
She also wore a long skirt today, which motivated me to wear a long skirt tomorrow, because I had thought about it today, but instead went with the most librarian-esque sweater I probably own:
Lastly, we have Bonnie, or miss bonnie, as I call her. She has such a comforting presence. She’s calm, sweet. She says she lives with her cat and “has no life”, which I think translates to her thriving in the library. I feel like she’s a wise guardian, taking me on quests around the space to knight me holder of books. Bonnie and me, her and I…we’re already kindred spirits!! xx She’s training me right now!
Notes About the Day
- The way my footsteps sound on the floor is so satisfying. I loveee a good nice sounding-floor lmao. I’m going to wear other shoes to see if it sounds the same, and if not then those are my designated work shoes :p
- It wasn’t very busy, but if anyone comes in, miss bonnie goes to inspect who it is because she’s “nosy” (her words). I found that so cute.
- A lady brought in an entire cake with a groundhog popping out of a hole in the center with groundhog cookies and was wearing a groundhog crocheted hat. I aspire to be that level of whimsy.
- Bonnie knows almost every patron by name. I have a lot to live up to y’all!!!
- We are renovating right now and they chose to paint the bookshelves the perfect green. Exactly what I imagine books to be surrounded by (along with burgundy).
Anywho!! That was my first day. I will write about my days as they come (probably a few notes per day and then post a my week at the library sort of series!!!).
Poetry and then my books (fantasy genre, loosely inspired by greek mythology!) are my go-to writing styles, but it’s been so fun to dip into the blog/journalism voice!
I hope you all had a sweet day. Til next time!
– r.