Miss Information plans and the library laughs
Miss Information was all prepared to leave her library where patrons throw rocks and punches and relocate to the “library in the bad part of town” where the kids presumably throw knives or grenades or something. Alas when she got to work today there was a message from her manager. The “bad part of town” job is no longer available—the details are unimportant. Miss Information is crushed.Miss Information is sorry to report that she isn’t one of those carefree, spontaneous, free spirits who take life as it comes, living moment to moment. Well, she lives from moment to moment but every single one of those moments has been carefully mapped out well in advance.
Here’s how bad it is: when she is going to try a new restaurant, she studies the menu online and plans exactly what she is going to order. When she arrives, she averts her eyes to avoid seeing any kind of daily specials. She very politely allows the server to recite the list and although she nods and murmurs mmmmmm at appropriate intervals, she pays no attention to it.
So, it took the better part of two weeks to get used to the idea of this new branch. Then she made plans based on her new schedule, said good bye to her yoga class and aerobics teacher, changed her holds to that bad part of town branch, and actually started getting defensive when people called it a bad part of town branch.
And now, well, the library is looking for a new location for her to work. The search has probably slowed down somewhat while the manager talks to the police officers who are here to arbitrate the latest library brawl.
Miss Information is trying to be philosophical. Just like the Littlest Hobo or Caine in Kung Fu she will wander the earth flitting from library to library, working anywhere her services are needed. Wherever there’s a kid with an essay that’s due tomorrow, she’ll be there. Wherever a senior needs help logging on to the Internet, she’ll be there. Wherever a teenage girl needs a copy of Twilight, she’ll be there. Wherever student nurses ask stupid questions, oh, hell someone else can deal with that. Wherever a group of people attacks a library security guard, she'll, ummm, well, call the police. Seriously, she's not taking on a group of thugs. The rest of it though, she'll be there.
9 Comments:
That reminds me, I need to go to the Wildcraft website to see what I'm going to order when my husband takes me there for lunch next Tuesday...
Good luck with your transfer. It can't be any worse than the "bad part of town", can it?
Wow, I would totally watch the Librarian's version of Kung Fu story !!! I love it!
Now I have the Littlest Hobo theme stuck in my head... "Every stop I make, I make a new friend. Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again. Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down, Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on."
Ah, a Canadian childhood...
Dear Miss Information,
Please come to my branch. We too are in a bad part of town. Plus we are located between two men's shelters and a mental health institution. But we have a Starbucks right acrss the street.
Starbucks, yet another minus.
Hell, the library totally kept me on ice for months while they dithered over a closing date for my branch, so I totally hear you. As I said to my manager, it's not fair to do that to library people, who are all anal planners! The stress... oh god, th stress. I feel for you.
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Dear Miss Information,
Watch out for the Really Nice Part of town. Those folks, too, pose certain challenges. But, there's less phoning the police.
Don't forget about the teachers taking a library course to become TLs that have no idea what a catalogue is - never mind how to use it.
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