Well, it's not even 6 a.m., and Dave and I are both up. We've already wandered the garden, taken out the trash, thrown the Kong toy for Olga and now Dave is having breakfast. This crazy surfeit of daylight!
I don't understand how Dave can eat this early. I can't eat breakfast until about 8 a.m. I need coffee almost immediately upon awakening, but food, for me, has to come later.
Today will be another day of rounding up library materials. Yesterday I wandered the halls between classes, buttonholing students who still have books out, and in between I wrote letters home to parents. We're slowly making progress -- at the beginning of the week our list of patrons with overdue stuff ran to 21 pages, but now we're down to about eight.
I know it must be incredibly boring to read about me tracking down wayward books. Sorry about that. It is, indeed, the focus of my professional life at this time of year. Weirdly, I enjoy it. There's an aspect of mystery and problem-solving to the process.
For example, remember how I did inventory several weeks ago and we found we were missing about 30 books from the shelves? Well, some of those have come back, having been mistakenly (one hopes) removed from the library but then returned. Yesterday, while wandering the halls, I happened to see a missing Tom Clancy novel lying on a teacher's desk! I didn't touch it but today I have to get with the teacher and either check it out to him or return it to the shelves. At least I know the book is still around, and I do feel a little frisson of excitement at having solved the mystery of its disappearance! (And there's a possible bonus -- we're also missing a second Tom Clancy novel, and I'm willing to bet he's got that one too.)
I know, I know -- so boring. Sorry.
At the same time, I'm trying to quickly weed the biographies because that section is overstuffed and someone has volunteered to remove our boxes of old books from the library during the summer. They're going to take them for charity. So we want to get as much of our old stuff into those boxes as possible.
One of the books I thought I'd weed is called "The Queen of Shaba," about a leopard raised by Joy Adamson of "Born Free" fame. It's from the early '80s and it's in pretty bad shape, and hasn't been read by anyone (except me) for at least ten years. I found it an underwhelming book. The character of Elsa the lion really comes alive in "Born Free," but somehow Penny the leopard doesn't have the same star power.
Funny thing, though -- a kid came into the library yesterday looking for books about leopards, and wouldn't you know, the only book we have specifically about leopards is "The Queen of Shaba." Argh! I still think I'm going to get rid of it. Maybe we can get a fresher book to replace it.
Isn't this a fascinating post? I don't know how you can stand it.
And now I have to walk the dog.
(Photos: Some swanky brass lettering in concrete near Sainsbury's on the high street. That company specializes in concrete with glass inlays, according to its web site. The name seems very '50s.)
You have bought back memories here. I remember sitting on the sofa at home reading 'Born Free' all over Christmas when I was about 14.
ReplyDeleteNot a boring post for me, even like the concrete pictures. lol
Briony
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I foresee a Hollywood blockbuster - "The Librarian" starring Johnny Depp as Steve Reed and Satan as Olga. With his hell hound, Depp stalks the corridors of Stars and Stripes High School searching for pilfered reading material. And when it is found, he wreaks revenge, releasing Olga to ensure it... without mercy. Mr Hank Schwarz a social studies teacher from Iowa who had sneaked Tom Clancy novels from the library is butchered like a hog and left lying in a pool of crimson blood.
ReplyDeleteNo, not boring. If you want to hear boring, just let me tell you about MY day...
ReplyDeleteYorks Pudding has a very vivid imagination !!
ReplyDeleteSo far my day has been a short ( it's raining) dog walk and now I need to go into Harpenden and check the takings from yesterday in the Oxfam book shop and pay in to PO. Then Waitrose food shop for the weekend. Bit of a sit down after lunch..walk dog again, go to St. Albans to get Grandson from school....look after him til 6 when I shall deliver him to Beavers. Home...make dinner, get ready to go out.....go to live Rock and Roll band locally. A group of old pals who play together...all the old stuff! Brilliant they are.
Today's my last day of school, and I'll be bored in the front office answering phones. The kids' last day was yesterday. Our library staff have had some of the same frustrations as you, trying to track down overdue books. The AP in charge of textbooks, too. And parents are pissed off that they're having to pay for the books their kids lost. Oh well...on to summer!
ReplyDeleteThis is not the most boring post ever.
ReplyDeleteTrust me.
I don't usually have my breakfast until I've been up about two hours. I can eat earlier if I have too, eat now or not at all. you're not the only librarian, right? you talk about your co-workers but it seems like you are the one doing all the work like inventory, weeding, and tracking down unreturned books.
ReplyDeleteSince I watched librarians go through the same process for many years I can relate to all your stories. Some of the stories are almost unbelievable like the teacher with the book on his desk.
ReplyDeleteNot a boring post at all. A slice of life and a calm balance to the madness of the world.
ReplyDeleteI read the whole thing so it couldn't have been boring. I plan to try to make snickerdoodles (cookies) today so my post on that (if I write one) will be REALLY boring.
ReplyDeleteWell, I posted a few days ago about how I organize books on the bookshelves at the thrift store... As I wrote it I thought, This must be so boring to read, but of course it interests me--as does this post of yours, which is much funner---tracking down Tom Clancy & leopards! :)
ReplyDelete(Tom Clancy! Ugh. We get so many of his books, I can hardly give them away. Really. I price them at 49 cents each, and we always have plenty. The worst is when someone buys one, reads it, and then donates it back. Noooo! If you buy it you have to keep it forever!)
Nah, the most boring post was me talking about putting antifreeze in the RV. I am SHOCKED that a teacher would have errant books on their desk. Shocked, I say. The concrete pictures are interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou made me laugh out loud. I totally understand that feeling of accomplishment. I get it occasionally at work too. I love solving problems and when they give me a meaty assignment, I enjoy coming up with a solution. The part I don't like is dealing with people who can't make their mind up how they want their system to work. Argh! Sometimes I just have to decide for them.
ReplyDeleteNot boring at all! Funny? Yes. The end of the school year is so crazy! I always had piles of artwork that students had to come in to finish. And piles of artwork that had to be picked up and taken home. And then there was the work with no names on the back to sort out. But then you have a nice, fresh start in the fall!
ReplyDeleteYou are more funny than boring, actually. If you want boring, try reading my latest. Perhaps I've found a cure for my own insomnia.
ReplyDeleteI can hardly believe that teacher had the book all along. Maybe a kid turned it in to the teacher and he/she was holding it until tomorrow? Tom Clancy sounds more like something an adult would read, though. If the teacher was guilty, aaargh! For shame :)
ReplyDeleteI think you could make any topic interesting, partly because you write in a very readable manner. I confess I don't always do the same. Note to self: try harder.