Tag Archives: library

The Hungry, Hungry Book Drop

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The librarian asked me to decorate the book drop in such a way as to make it appear more prominent and obvious. A lot of kids don’t seem to understand that you can’t just leave your library book in some random place on the circulation desk. I mean, you can, but you can’t expect it to get checked in. It will just sit there, unnoticed, and then, when you try to check out a new book, the person at the circulation desk will explain to you for the 57th time how libraries work. And you’ll insist that you DID return your book. And the adult will explain it to you for the 58th time. And then you’ll find the book in the random place where you left it and get angry because SEE you did return it. And then we have to explain how libraries work for 59th time.

You’re probably an adult and don’t need me to explain how libraries work. And the kids shouldn’t need the explanation either BECAUSE THEY’VE ALREADY HEARD IT. But kids need a lot of repetition.

If you put your book in the book drop it will get checked in. If you don’t put your book in the book drop it won’t get checked in.

If you put your book into the book drop and then try to check a new book out 30 seconds later, your book will also not be checked in because clearly if I’m talking to you at the desk I can’t be looking in the book drop at the same time. They’re like 20 feet apart. If your issue is immediate you can give your book directly to the person at the desk. But, generally speaking—book goes in book drop; staff retrieves books at regular intervals when they have time to look; staff checks books in.

it’s not rocket science. But it’s not getting though.

Hence this hungry, hungry hippo. I don’t know how long he’ll last, but I had him laminated and mounted him on cardboard so hopefully he’s tough.

When I finished making him but before I had him laminated, I sent a picture to the Fox, who said he was liable to give kids nightmares. So I went back and made his eyes less creepy and the kids who have seen him so far thought he was great.

Nobody has fed him any books yet but I’m sure he’ll get something tomorrow.

Gratitude: The Public Library

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martha cooper

Pima County Public Library, Martha Cooper branch (Garden District), rear view

Can you believe that there are otherwise sensible people who don’t “believe” in public libraries? Yeah, this seems crazy to me, too, but these people exist. They use arguments like, “I can get any book I want on the internet” and “Google is faster for research.” Never mind that fact that some people can’t get any book on the internet, because, just like the people for whom public libraries were originally constructed, they can’t afford that technology. Never mind the fact that search engines prize popularity over objectivity and readability over depth, delivering so many fast results that you could spend the rest of your life sifting through all 1.58 million of them, without necessarily finding the results you needed. Besides the primacy of facilities available to anyone who wants them, staffed by professionals trained to discover, curate, and deliver reliable content, libraries serve as public meeting spaces, classrooms, clubs for nerdy kids, safe spaces for those with terrible homes, and temples to knowledge. Many people couldn’t get jobs, or tax information, or any one of hundreds of things most of us take for granted, if they didn’t have access to library computers. As more and more common functions become more online (typically making them more difficult to access in meatspace) libraries allow those without computers to simply participate in their own culture.

My property taxes are somewhat itemized, so I can see that, last year, I paid $50 toward these services. That’s $50 for 1 year. I pay more than that for one month of internet service at my house. And you can have all the internet you want at the library. Even when it’s closed; in my town, library networks are strong enough that you can park your car in the street near the library and get online. That’s on top of all the other things you get inside the library when it’s open. And that $50 doesn’t just get my family and me through the door. It helps keep the doors open for everyone.

If you want to stand up and say that you don’t believe in libraries because you think a certain percentage of the population shouldn’t have access to information, good luck with that argument. Obviously, there are people who will wholeheartedly agree with you, but I assume these are the same people who don’t believe in public roads, or public police forces, or public fire departments. At this point in human history, access to information should be considered a human right, like clean air and fresh water, but, of course, there are people who don’t want you to have those things either. And if they can keep you out of the library, you might not even know that you have a right to those things.

So, all hail the public library. I am grateful that you continue to serve as a sacred hall of knowledge available to all who seek it.