by Surrounded by shelves of ancient texts, I note the gaps in the rows of books beckoning for me. Some have collected dust, begging for patrons to grab them gently by the spine. Others are out so much, they hardly can call the bookcases a home. This is the world I’ve entered. I’ve been granted mesmerizing access to keep track of the town’s sacred tomes.
By ancient texts and sacred tomes, I mean a lot of James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and Debbie Macomber—but hey, if I don’t romanticize that I’m keeper of the books in some far away realm, who will?
I’m still in awe of my library job. It’s been fruitful and knowledgeable and fun. I am so appreciative of the engagement here on substack surrounding it! You blueberries are pretty rad.
Here is a look into the highlights of my week, with the library lookbook pictures I posted a couple days ago as headers for each day, in case you missed my librarian serves.
MONDAY ⋆˚꩜｡
This was my first day! I was like a lost puppy, totally unfamiliar with the Polaris system, and just a tad overwhelmed. Looking back, it’s unreal how familiar I’ve become with the sections of the library and logistics of it all. Thanks Bonnie, you’re the best trainer ever xx.
In lieu of not repeating myself to the people who’ve already read it, I wrote an article on this day specifically, that you can access here:
my first day at the library!!!
It went so super well :p
TUESDAY ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚
DAY 2!!! Woop Woop. I wore the long skirt. I whipped out the librarian glasses and the hair clip. (Great news, it is the floors, y’all. They sound nice no matter the shoe). I felt true to character here.
Our shipments come every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. This means there were totes of books waiting for me to greet them and put them back on our shelves orrr put them aside for patrons who requested them.
The cool thing about this system is that anyone can order books (online or in person) to be sent to our library to be checked out as long as they are already registered in the library system!
Miss Bonnie already has most of the patrons’ names memorized and sets them in their respective piles, and today I got to put a couple of the names to faces.
I also got to order books! I got an Amish gentleman come in (yes, in upstate NY, we have those!), and he wanted to checkout 6 books that we didn’t carry so I really got to put our practice into play.
Notes of the Day:
- We do story hour at 11 on Tuesdays, so I got to see all the little kids running around and enjoying the library’s space. It reminded me of my kiddos and made me miss them. Bonnie showed me where the vacuum was for the kinetic sand lol.
- I had to put more books back up on the shelves after they had taken all—yes, all— of them down to paint the shelves. Some weren’t in alphabetical order and Miss Bonnie was all like, “It’s the men. The men didn’t put them back right.” I was like, “What men, Miss Bonnie?” (We have an all women staff currently).“Oh, the construction men who helped us with the shelves. They screwed some of them up.”I found it funny because she almost spat the word men like a slur, so I giggled and said, “Yeah, men tend to do that sometimes.”(This is no hate to men. It was just an adorably funny exchange).
- When we were putting away the Young Adult section, I looked at her and said, “That’s it???” They filled three full shelves of one singular bookshelf. “That’s it,” Bonnie confirmed. “People in that age group don’t tend to read a lot. These books hardly go out.” Y’all my heart SUNK. BRING BACK LITERACY!!! GET THE KIDS READING AGAIN!!!!
- I got to learn how to add new books into the system that no other libraries carried yet and I envisioned my own book being added into it one day ahh!!!
WEDNESDAY ⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆
What Miss Bonnie coins, “The dreadfully slow day”.
Middle of the week. Not much to do. We don’t get any book shipments in. Bleh.
It was exciting, though, Miss Bonnie left all of the morning to-dos up to me. I got to open the place up. She kept trailing me and would say “I’m not here, well I am—but just pretend I’m not.”
I got assigned a work email (woohoo, things are getting serious) and I checked it to find that I had to take one of those security trainings. It was all about phishing emails and such (which was probably a good thing that I get a debrief on it because I have actually fallen for them via my college email lmfao. Miss gullible over here, I know I know).
I was watching the video when Miss Bonnie came to check on me. I don’t recall what prompted me, but I asked her about her childhood.
I told her I was jealous. I really am quite envious of old people because I feel like they got to grow up in the good times economically and before technology was the center of us all, plugging everyone in.
She said, “Well, I suppose it was the good days, but when you’re in them, they never really feel that way.”
It was in this conversation that we got “caught” by the director.
She said, “Don’t go distracting her Bonnie, she needs to pay attention to this” (lovingly) and I made sure to take all the blame, saying how I prompted Bonnie to chat with me, first. I just can’t help getting to know people’s stories!
Later, she showed my pictures of “her boy”—her beloved cat, Zeus.
Notes from the Day:
- All six of the staff members were there at a point, and the director kept commenting how crazy it was to have that many of us all at once.
- One of said staff members was the bookkeeper, Phyllis, and there was a point where I overheard her and Bonnie say something about how great the library looked with the new paint job. They commented on how it was amazing to get the grant (something this library has never received), and that they remembered the days when they hardly even had enough money to pay the staff—scrambling at the end of the week to write checks out. Bonnie came to me in a whisper, “Yeah, we’ve come a long way since then.” Ahh, libraries need more funding!
- I got added as a manager onto the social media accounts so that I can start doing events and posts to get the younger crowd in (hopefully)!
THURSDAY: OFF
FRIDAY °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
The last day of the work week :p
This was the day that I got the key!!!! It’s official. I was knighted with the title keeper of the books, the key was bestowed upon me, and I am officially apart of the team. I get to open all on my own next week 😀
I am devastated that I have grown so fond of Miss Bonnie, only for us to be working opposite shifts in the time to come. We will only see each other for a 15-30 minute crossover period between shifts.
Although, that was her purpose all along—it’s still sad. I feel like a kid with their training wheels coming off and Miss Bonnie is at the end of the road waving me farewell with a hand proudly over her heart.
She’s like Nanny McPhee. When I needed her but didn’t particularly want her, she was there—but when I want her but no longer need her…SHE’S LEAVING MY SIDE.
I’ll survive (solemnly).
Notes from the Day:
- This day started off with the three of us (the director Linda, Miss Bonnie, and I) all standing in a triangle, debriefing from the day and me bringing in sweet treats (because I know that’s the way to people’s hearts lol).
- A friend of mine I hadn’t seen in a while (a friend I met through my boss at the flower farm) came in and told me that her cousin is pregnant and due in 3 weeks and that she’s looking for a doula! I connected with her and might have another live birth to attend. Woop woop. The library has been the heart of so many opportunities lately.
- Bonnie and I shared lunch together and she asked me, “So, what’s your stance on AI?” Y’all. We had such a deep, intellectual convo together. We even had a patron who was browsing at books with her child nearby chime in. It made me love Bonnie even more. We talked about the harmful environmental impacts, the way it can deprive artists from work, the literacy problem in America and that we don’t need another tool to make things “easier”, and then the patron commented on how her son’s fourth grade class all use tablets instead of paper and she desperately wishes they would do away with that! I love a thought-girl trifecta.
- A book that we couldn’t find in the beginning of the week ended up literally being one of ones right in front of our face in broad daylight. We joked about how it was the “library ghosts” playing tricks on us.
Well folks…THAT’S IT! ‘Twas a wonderful week. I thank you all for the support. This is so much more light-hearted than my poetry, which tends to be rather gut-wrenching.
Remember, if you want something—go for it. If something refuses to leave your consciousness, maybe it’s begging to come to fruition. Taste the powers of your free will. That new career, that crush you have, the goal you’ve put on the back burner—all of it is in your reach!
Love u’s!!!! Byeeeee xx