Right off the bat, let me start by saying "adventures" is a gross exaggeration of today's tasks, but I liked the title, so it stays.
Friday is a district courier delivery day, so first things first, I packed up bins and bags of books to route elsewhere. Some are our books requested by patrons in other towns, and some are returns from our patrons going back to their home libraries.
Once that was done, it was a lot of mundane things. Social media checks, a few curbside pickups, and setting up books to display on each shelf following the library shuffle.
I tried to choose a diverse selection of genres, with priority given to local authors and classic fiction. I admit I chose a few just because of the eye-catching cover art. Neither police/military thrillers nor romance novels appeal to my interests, so I judged by covers alone.
I also made some plans for tomorrow. Our large print shelving is due for a complete rearranging to make better use of the space, so I plan to empty those shelves again so I can space them better in each stack.
My biggest hurdle was finding enough book easels to display novels. We never have enough, it seems, and so many we do have are poorly sized for standard fiction. Our branch is staffed by people who are so reluctant to waste tax dollars that we make do with what we have far longer than our peers at other libraries, many of whom are spendthrifts to an embarrassing degree.
Some wire book easels. Screenshot source
I hope all this effort to make our stacks more accessible and interesting can be put to use sooner rather than later, but COVID-19 and politics leave the future in considerable doubt.
Will libraries become a thing of the past as we go more and more digital, I wonder? The physical loss of books will likely only be regretted by many if we have complete power failure.
Our circulation is pretty solid. Homeschoolers use our books a lot, and homeschooling is likely to increase in the future.
I am looking forward to the day I can hang out in the library and browse the shelves again!
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