Book Nerds
Since May 18th I have been sitting by the columns in our foyer. Yep, I have an office with a desk and a table in the foyer, I am all over the place.
The funny thing about my new table/desk is that it is located where the book sale table used to be. This has led to problems, funny problems.
I am doing all my regular work at my table, that includes inventory, weeding and book replacements. At any time, I can have stacks of books surrounding me, so much so, that I actually have 2 tables. The problem is that our patrons are conditioned that this is the location of the book sale table. You see where I am going? I have books all around me and even though I am also sitting with the books, a laptop, a cute mug with all my office thingies, binders and printed reports laying all over the books, people still see books on the “sale” table. Nope, this is no longer the sale table, it is my table, my current desk/office.
I wish I had kept track of all the people that have touched the books on my table, it has been comical. The best part is the invasion of space. They touch the books, they pick them up, they move my reports out of the way to look at the books below, all this, while I am sitting right there. Even without the new norm of social distancing, this is just too much. When my first daughter was born they took her out of the room and let my parents see her, my mom put her hands out to touch her, in 1991, this was a no-no. Just because you are drawn to it and love it so much, does not mean you get to touch it. Wow, that applies to a lot of things, doesn’t it?
I do understand these people. I am also a book nerd, one that is a little more aware of germs and social distancing, but a book nerd none the less. Currently I have 10 books checked out; 7 from our physical collection, 2 from Hoopla and 1 from OverDrive. I have only finished one of the 10, and have started 6 of the others. It works because they are all so different; 4 are non-fiction (Sorry I am late, I Didn’t Want to Come, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a …, What’s Your Pronoun?, and Very, Very, Very Dreadful) the other 2 are fiction (Giver of the Stars and The Starless Sea). I love looking at my stacks of books, I recognize I might have too many (no such thing) and I would love to spend the rest of this bookworm talking about how great they all are. Yep, I am a book nerd.
I also work with some book nerds. Bless the patrons that make the mistake of asking for book recommendations. They get answers, maybe sometimes more than they had hoped for. Just a few weeks ago, I watched a patron starting to fidget as Jessica and I keep saying titles and why they were so great. Finally, when she could find a quiet moment to jump in, she told us her husband was in the car and she needed to go. I didn’t believe her, but we let her go anyway.
So, you book nerds, specifically those book sale nerds, be patient. I am hoping to move back to my office soon and the table can return to being a sale table. And, yes, I also know we have not had the book sale this year. We are working on that, September looks promising, maybe, it all depends on the health of our county. So wear your mask, practicing social distancing, and don’t touch things just because you love them (unless you have permission and as far as my table goes, you do not, these are mine), so that we can go forward with our sale.
Upcoming Events: 8/12 Story Time at 10am, 8/8 Saturday Story Time at 10:30am – both events will be shared on Facebook