A Smart Way to Steal.... or Not so Smart?

We had an unusual theft tonight at about 5 pm. A mother—about 50 years old, white, brown hair, somewhat heavy, teenage son about 13 or 14, short hair, came in and loaded up armfuls of DVDs (I’m not sure what else) and a) took them behind a stack end to sort through them, b) got into the bathroom before we could stop her and c) practically ran outside the library with a very large bag bulging with DVDs. I was waiting for her outside the bathroom, followed her to the circ desk talking to her and watching to see if she was going to check out, and then followed her to the car her daughter was driving. I began telling her that I needed to check the contents of her bag the moment she passed the circ desk and repeated it until her daughter peeled out of the parking lot. She insisted that I was insulting her, had no right, etc., etc..

Teens Love Ripping Things Apart

EVA the Robot
So we had a teen activity at the library were I work, and we took apart a whole bunch of broken electronics to see what was inside.

Then I challenged them to put it back together. This proved to be a bit more difficult. Then we made a robot with the parts. They wanted her to be WALL-E but She's a girl cause she's Pink. So then she was named EVA. I think she's great. And she'll clean your floor for you if you want.

Are You the Real Santa?

So I got to play Santa Claus for the Hispanic kids in one of our Library Out Reach Programs. It was great. I make a mean, and albiet, young Santa! My favorite part was the huge smiles all the kids had. One girl gave me at least 12 hugs and jumped arounding singing "Santa Claus, Santa Claus" a lot.
One older boy came and asked me, are you real? I didn't want to break it to him, so I just said, "What do you think?" He walked away with that question rolling around in his head.
Being Santa was great. I've played a few characters now for the library, The Cat in the Hat being one of them, but the cool part about Santa is you get to talk, not just walk around. On the other costumes, you feel like a mime. Dressed silly, and with nothing to say.

The Age of Myspace and Runescape

So when I was little, the library was a wonderfully quiet place you could go to get a good book, or study quietly. If you haven't been to a library recently, those days are Gone!
Now, the library is used less as a book place and more as a community center and internet cafe. I thought it prudent, that I include the most used sites and funny things about them on this library blog. yes, that seems prudent....

First and foremost use of the library, and not just by teenagers, Myspace. You can reach thousands of people at once online in Myspace, and I bet about 75% of those people are in a public library at the time. http://www.myspace.com/

And then there is the second greatest use of the public library, again, not just teenagers...
Runescape! I had lots of fun playing this game and telling Laffy taffy jokes to all who would listen... anyways... once again, if you go ont this gaming site, you will be confronted by thousands of people all at once.... half of which are in a public library. http://www.runescape.com/

So you see, the library is a place to meet imaginary friends and kill imaginary goblins, not a place to read.

And Now Back to "Frisbee Golf", Game of Gentlemen Who Can't Afford Golf Clubs

So there are always Interesting topics that people come in the library looking for information for. And with the internet now, the questions that they can't find online (which should be very few) are weeded down to us.

Things like the origination of the Vorpal Sword....? Where did the idea "Raining like Cats and Dogs" come from....? How long were the toes of the longest toed person....? How do you install a Home Solar Panel System....? How do you translate the Bible into Arabic....? Was Abraham Lincoln really raised in a log cabin He built with his own Hands....? Can I Have the Same Powers that Neo has in the Matrix...? Are Vampires Real and Where Can I Find One to Bite Me...? And my favorite (yes, I have a "follower" who asks me these type of quesitons all the time, and I can't ever answer them really), what is the linguistic background of the city name, Santa Catarina Mita or Quetzaltenango or Xela...?

Well, there are just a few of the fun things I get to answer and try and learn as much about as I can in less than two minutes.

Today it was whether we had a book about Frisbee Golf. Truth is, no we don't but we absolutely should! There are thousands of Frisbee Golfers who would like to know more about thier gentleman sport!

"Can I Leave?"

I had quite the interesting experience as a patron quietly approached me. She had just been given her new library card and she had used it to get onto the internet.
She came to me after and asked, "Is it okay if I leave now? I didn't check anything out."
It took me a second to follow her logic. What I finally figured out was that she thought that she couldn't leave the library without at least checking one item out. I almost said "no, you need to check something out," but I refrained and explained to her as simply as I could that using her card was completely optional.
If only all of our patrons thought that you had to check something out everytime you came to the library. We'd have a lot more books coming in and out, and I'd have a lot more job security. ;)

"I Need Books!"

So I was just minding my own business at the library, trying to shrug off and avoid all the political questions run my way, when a little boy approaches me and in desperation says, "I Need Some Books!"

I smiled. It was nice to have a question I could answer without losing my job. I pointed all around me to all the stacks and stacks of books. He looked around, thanked me with a nod of his head and ran off.

Wow, my job is so simple.