Library Times

I get to work with kids and books.  How great is that?!!!  My Librarian and I are a unique team…both of us wanting to go to the same place (get books into kids hands) and yet our skills are so completely different.  My Librarian is really my ‘boss’, but she treats me like ‘we’ are a team, which we are.  Our library is an exciting, fun and sometimes quirky place to be.  Let me tell you a little secret about being ‘older’ working with kids…I get to be a little bit of a smart-aleck and finally get away with it.

I talk to every child that comes in the library.  I check books out to them, remind them gently about books they need to return, tell them to tie their shoes and sometimes provide special wipes for them to clean their glasses.  I get them to speak to me and look me in the eye..and I don’t let other kids interrupt when it is their turn….it is a little bit like cotillion lessons without the dancing.  We’ve found that more books are returned AND more books are checked out when we run the library this way.  What I tell the kids…

“Remember…everyone checks out with me…because we don’t want the old person to get lonely!”

My desk and work area are clearly separate from the shelves.  Sometimes there are books waiting to be re-shelved (fancy library word) on a cart behind my chair.  The bigger kids can see these books and even check them out, however first they have to go through ‘The Crazy Assistant Librarian’s Protocol’ for stepping beyond my desk.

“Miss Ellen, may I enter the realm?”

‘Yes, you may enter the realm.’

My job?  Yep, I LOVE it!