Checking out books, discharging books, putting them on the shelves, I see a new book by a favorite author, an older book that looks sooo interesting, an intriguing title. I feel a surge of energy..."Wait! That looks good. I want...." I want to drop everything and check it out...to me. Forget the patron! Walk away from the cart. Curl up in a chair.
Can't do it. Hand it over. Put it on the shelf. Answer the phone. All the tasks we know so well.
And when I walk out the door, some times, I see books, in my mind's eye, flying through the air in an endless stream and I know I'll never catch up, capture them all... And that's okay. The alternative is that the stream will dry up, there will be nothing new to learn and I'll have to turn to (horrors) television. Sex in the City, anyone?
2 comments:
Love it! I think you capture the feeling that is the exact reason many of us chose to work in libraries in the first place.
Can't wait to read more of your thoughts!
I'm considering putting a 5 year moratorium on reading any new books until I catch up with all the old ones I've been meaning to read! (Maybe during retirement.)
Now that I have a GoodReads and BookLetters subscription, I get dozens of suggestions a week. I am acutely aware that the time I spend going through the lists could be better spent reading the actual books...alas!
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