My friend
Kelly blogged about her library experience today. In a completely unrelated event, my family also went to our library today. Here are my observations:
1. Librarians are a lot more fun than when I was a kid. Evidence: two librarians, preparing to remove some lists of holds, had Polly tell them, "Ready, set, go" so they could race each other. And no, these were not student aides. These were actual grown-up women librarians. And they weren't being obnoxious or noisy. They were just talking with a little girl and making finding books look like tons of fun. Back when I was a girl (do you
hear me, Pastor Dad? I can't believe I'm saying it!) I was actually
afraid of the librarians.
Especially the children's librarian. Severe doesn't even come close to describing her.
2. Libraries are much noisier now. See point #1 for further evidence. Here's where the libraries lost the battle: cell phones. Everyone has their cell phone on. So I heard at least 5 different, equally annoying ring tones, whilst choosing my books today. And I heard one very animated, very LOUD conversation between some hapless guy and his lawyer over alimony, child visitation rights, and the like. He was sitting at one of the computers, surfing the 'net, and making full use of the wonder that is modern communication technology. Do you want to know the icky details of his divorce and his "ex"? Well, neither did I, but I know 'em now.
3. Libraries have much better movies now. Evidence: shelves and shelves of DVDs. New stuff, T.V. series, children's, documentaries...When I was young they had a few really old movies and some foreign stuff. Which, yes, I watched because it was
there. Now we get a lot more choices. Which can be good or bad, but I'm putting it in the "mostly good" category.
4. Libraries are more fun. Yes, I know this is a repeat of #1. But hear me out: our library has toys. Real toys: puzzles, blocks, stuffed animals. You can't check them out but the kids do enjoy them while we're there.
5. The Library computers can't compete with our own. This one is personal, I know, but our library computers seem
soooo slow compared to ours. Plus none of the mouses (mice? Computer Mouses? What is the plural of computer mouse?!) have that little wheel in the middle for easy scrolling. I hate having to click on stuff and use down arrows. That's just how lazy I am, I suppose. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. A little bit of Candid Honesty for you.
Today Prince Charming and the girls walked out before me. (I was still checking out my things.) This allowed us all a little moment of levity when I ran out and said, "Hey! Are you trying to leave me here?" We all laughed and then I had to admit I wouldn't
exactly be sad if that happened. The girls got a kick out of the idea of their mom hiding in the library so I could just live there.
Don't tempt me, folks. Don't tempt me.
Miss Polly is very proud of her city. She said today that it is, "The busiest and best place to go."
