The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I am going to share them in that order; some good, then some bad and ugly.
On September 24th, 25th and 26th the Friends of the Library had the annual book sale. They brought in $3515! From 2014 to 2018 the library did the book sale and we always hovered around the $1000 mark, so, yep, that totally deserved an exclamation point.
A book sale is a wondrous event to behold, my staff would scoff at that, wondrous sounds like a trip to Disneyworld, when really it is a lot of work and involves an army of people. We weed books continuously at the library, but for a book sale donations are a must. This is the first wave a soldiers; people boxing up books and bringing them in. Thank you, book donors. The second wave of soldiers, my staff. These items must be looked through. We usually enjoy this part, minus the mold or spiders. Not all things make the cut. Items might be too damaged, yep, mold and spiders can cause a book to be removed from the box permanently. Items are then re-boxed and stored for the book sale. Thank you, Shirley, Jessica, Kate, Kelly, Brittany and Erik.
This year, a lone soldier entered the picture and moved all the boxes to the community room and rearranged the tables for the event. Thank you again, Erik. The third wave enters the picture and their job is the most fascinating to watch. Volunteers of the Friends of the Library group show up and start unpacking the books. Sorting starts when the first books come out of the box, non-fiction and fiction, cookbooks separated from self-help, A authors, B authors, C authors, etc. It is daunting but always manages to come together. Then the sale starts. This year, Friends members were allowed early entry on the 24th at 5pm. People showed up at 3. It was a whirlwind of blue bags and books for the next couple of days. Thank you Friends of the Library and thank you book lovers. Without you, none of this would mean anything.
Our goal is to add an outside patio area for programming and events, $3515, gets us a big step closer to that goal. So, yes, this was good, it was actually great!
Now the bad and ugly. I just can’t help it, it is Wednesday morning, the day after the first Presidential debate and something needs to be said. But I am jumping ahead of myself, let’s go with just the bad first. Please note that we quarantine library materials on return. I know I have talked about this already. I am just tired of the phone calls. We have it on our digital signage, Facebook, and the front door. I have even used caution duct tape to share how overdues work above the dropbox. We quarantine for 7 days, there is a 7-day grace period, if your book is turned in on time, you will never even know there was a quarantine. Tell your friends. Insert desperate face.
Now to the ugly. I have left the smallest amount of room for it. I said I was not going to watch the debate, but I was trying to finish my smoothie and it took a question and a half to get it done, I should have just thrown it away. I watched a 74-year-old and a 77-year-old act like 2 preschoolers fighting over a toy. It was absolutely disgraceful. I am including the definition of the word, debate. Debate: noun – a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward, verb – argue about (a subject), especially in a formal manner.
Formal. Discussion. Arguments are put forward. Tell them. Insert angry face and desperate face.
If you get a moment, read, “This Presidency is Killing Relationships—and We’re All Grieving” by John Pavlovitz. We’re not just being pulled apart along political lines, but the fragile, time-woven fabric of our most intimate connections with people are being torn in two right now. Marriages, families, lifelong friendships, faith communities, and social circles that survived every previous assault from within and without—may not survive this presidency. And the worst part, is that the election results aren’t going to fix this… It is a national tragedy. It is ugly and I am sad.
I end this bookworm, saying over and over again to myself, the book sale was great, the book sale was great.
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