The Money Bookmark...

Apparently kids these days are ballin' enough that they can use cash-money as bookmarks.

This is the second time I have found cash in the past two weeks.  The first one was $129 which still hasn't been claimed.  My supervisor says that he called the patron who checked out the book the wallet was found in, but they said that they didn't return anything...  I'm calling dibs on it if it isn't claimed in a month.

This time it was $80.  One of my coworker/friends was working the desk and tracked down the teenager who thought the money was stolen.  Have you ever folded 4 - $20 bills and placed them in the middle of a graphic novel, you can obviously feel it.  Kids these days...

The Rules of Circulation #07 (The RoC)

 "Never Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, unless its Dead and Decaying"....

A patron came up and handed me a book saying that a while back he couldn't find this book.  He ended up paying for it but he just found it and wanted to give it back.  I told him that we wouldn't be able to give him a refund and he smirked and said that it was okay and that he wanted the library to add it back to its shelves.

I didn't fully comprehend the reason of his smugness until I took a better look at the book in the backroom and noticed the Hazmat like condition it was in.  Seriously, you could play connect the dots with all of the individual colonies.  All of the pages were warped with water damage and as you can see from the above picture, it turned into a petri dish.  I quickly bagged it and took it to the dumpster.

Did this patron return this book knowing it was rife with hazardous spores ---- probably.  Have patrons "donated" similar materials thinking the library/Friends would find good use for it, yes.  Some have good (but clearly void of any common sense) intentions while others rest on the nefarious end of the spectrum.

I cannot stress how much the library DOESN'T NEED your lifelong collection of 'National Geographic' or 'TV Guide.'  But it has such treasures, such as the first cover of "Alf" you say, thanks but no thanks.  Save that stuff for neighborhood yard sales.  The library's bookdrop is not your personal dumpster.  If I ever find anyone using it as such, I will send Detective Bookman after you and you will pay the consequences, which will involve volunteering your time to rat on any patrons who find any loopholes with the internet filters.

The Book Drop is NOT a Trash Bin.

The P.A.T.R.O.N. Award of the week goes to whoever dumped a whole bin of soggy, moldy, smelly "donations" in the bookdrop.


The fact that you actually handled these items when they were placed in your car, driven to the library, and then carried to the bookdrop leaves me to believe that you must be crazy to think that the library could/would find use in these items.

Detective Bookman is on the case and when the DNA lab results return from Tech Services you will be billed for all of the Purell we had to use after throwing your garbage away.

Start to a Good Day at Work...

Well, it wasn't the million dollar bookmark I've been waiting for. But I ended up finding a total of 60 cents in the bookdrop, enough for my Diet Pepsi from the vending machine.

Micromanaging One Bookdrop at a Time...

First off I apologize for the crappiness of the picture, it was taken using my old Blackberry.

I used to work a holiday book drop here and there back in the day when you would get paid extra, but not anymore.  I worked this particular book drop with my then partner-in-crime.

Before this took place, all of the managers discussed the fact that two of the youngest circ staff would be working that drop. Which is pretty much the equivalent of your parents talking about if it's okay to leave you and your teenage sibling home alone for the weekend.  And then your parents finally decide that you are old enough to handle that responsibility but they ask your next door neighbors to keep an eye on you.  The library equivalent for this was that one of the librarians stopped by to finish her work.  Really??  A public librarian coming in on her paid day off to "finish work."  Yeah, I really believe that.

Reverse age discrimination is what I call it.  Who is to say that if two of the older coworkers worked it, they wouldn't have held cock fights in the middle of the info desk?  What would we have done in an empty library sans managers?  Hold a library rave?  Looking back we should have and I would have made bank on cover charges.

We never were able to get the book stack to reach the ceiling.

When You Don't Read a Book, the Ghost of the Librarian...

I fit the librarian stereotype as much as my older coworkers belong on my Facebook friend list.  Does that make sense?  Well it does to me, so whatever.

I am a dog person.  I do not like cats, there I said it. (I think all cats should be named Tigger.)

But I will admit that when this bookmark found it's way to my desk, I found it really cool.  Probably because I will never visit Yemen in my life to buy any souvenirs, nor do I have a stamp collection, but now I have a little of both.  Definitely in my Top 5 for its uniqueness.

 
Now for my number one favorite bookmark of all time:

I've had this for some time actually but I lost it in my bookmark collection.  Yes, I said "bookmark collection."  By default my cubicle has become the depository of any stray bookmark that enters the library.

 Calvin writes: "When You Don't Read a Book, the Gho - Ghost of the Librain..."

Unfortunately we will never know the rest of this important message because the ghost already got to Calvin before he could read the correct spelling of 'Librarian' in the dictionary.  The touch of blood on the knife is also a nice touch.

This Book is the LOL: 'Tough Cookie'

I am not a fan of working the book drop, especially after the weekend.

But I do tend to come across some interesting books.  This one caught my eye this morning and I thought this one would have to fit under my 'Clever Covers' category but once I opened it up, it took me by surprise and made me laugh (a couple of times).

It is funny that it is labeled as a Juvenile Picture book, but the story does not fit this classification at all.  I liken it to a children version of The Wire... except with baked goods lol.  After I scanned it and read it during my break, I left it on the desk of my Info Friend with a suggestion that she use this for her next Children Program.  I blame her for getting me hooked on The Wire. 

Who'da thunk that a Children's Librarian would be the biggest fan of the show at the branch, let alone the president of the Omar fan club.  ::whistles 'The Farmer in the Dell'::

The Patron Giveth and the Patron Taketh Away...

My coworker handed me what would have been a nice bookdrop find, an Entertainment Book with most of the coupons intact.
Too bad that right when we opened the public phone line started ringing and it happened to be the patron who dropped it by mistake. They said that they would be on their way to pick it up today.
Seriously people, do we not respect the Law of Finder's Keepers nowadays!?! Next thing you know the Rules of Calling Fives or Shotgun will be moot. It's going to be total anarchy I tell ya!

You Know it's a Sunday When...

The picture is of the bookdrop shoot turned "Slip-n-Slide." For all of those less fortunate who have never experienced riding/sliding/falling down one, I can honestly say you're not missing much. Because any pebble or bump that was under the tarp hurt like hell!

I don't know what it is about working Sundays, but it’s very unique because it always comes along with its special set of patrons and problems.

It started off with a regular problem patron who thinks the whole staff is against her. She wanted my coworkers' names to report them to the higher ups. She then used the public phones to call the cops ON US, they never bothered showing up (shocker).

Later my coworker commented about how quickly it got dark and a patron responded by letting us know that there was a tornado watch (fun). I was about to go on break and I had one leg in the elevator when the whole place when dark. I was a couple seconds away from being trapped, not cool at all. The power never came on and we had to check people out by writing down their card numbers and item numbers. Damn, did I curse the 50 item maximum limit and the patrons who chose to exercise that right. Seriously though, you see us working with flashlights, or the illumination of our cell phones, and you get impatient because we have to use pen and paper --- dummies.

After a messy day like that, I ended up watching 'Inception' after some coworkers and friends talked it up. Man, the only way I can describe it is: "Mind-f@*k." Yeah, pardon the language, but it is a great movie! When I walked into work, another coworker found out I watched it last night and she quickly cornered me and we started analyzing and breaking it down.

Bookdrop Notice

To the dummy patron who disregarded the sign that said that book donations were suspended for the moment, but still dropped their "garbage" in the slot: 1.) Read the sign and 2.) Follow what it says.

The library does not need 1 copy, let alone 10, of 2012-bull-ish, much like it also does not need everyone's and their mom's "rare" collection of National Geographics.

The book slot is not your convenient trash/recycling center.

Bookdrop Find of the Week

Found a postcard sent from Kaufbeuren, Germany postmarked 7-23-1974... pretty cool.

Dog Earred Pages

Ah, dog earred pages, the traceable cookies of the pre-HTML era.

When I came across this book in the bookdrop today, I saw  two pieces of paper sticking out and I was hoping they were the $100 bookmarks the previous patron forgot to take out.  But alas, they were just dog-earred pages.  Funny thing about them was that the first one was on the chapter about "Body Odors" and the second one was on "Fertility."

Methinks, one could definitely be an inhibitor of the other.

Bookdrop Danger #76

Candy Jelly Fish and Precalculus don't play well.
I was the fortunate one who was working the bookdrop when this item came through. I got so mad because I touched this foul thing that I wanted to charge the patron for the damaged fee because the "fish" were literally fused with the book. But a circ manager said not to and to just discard it. That's management for you...

Daily Scheduling 101

How in the hell did my manager become a "manager" in the first place?!?
There are 7 people working in the Circ side when we opened up this Monday morning. It was just myself and one coworker on the circ desk the first hour. Why in the world did we also have the phones out there as well when there were 5, FIVE, people in the backroom??? Not only did my coworker and I have to deal with overnight bookdrop, and assisting people at the Circ desk, but to also handle the phone calls coming into the branch was too much.

One of the Many Hazards of the Bookdrop...

Never mind the occasional book that flies down the shoot at the speed of light thumping you on the head. This little thing could probably do some damage if it bit you. Luckily my coworker saw it and called me over before she reached in there. I took care of it...

Thar's Gold in Them Books

Apparently there's money to be found in books, literally. Over the years, I have heard stories about how people have returned books with valuable items in them. I have always crossed my fingers while doing the morning book drop that I would find a crisp $100 bill stuck between pages 156 and 157 of the latest James Patterson novel. Albeit any form of paper money would have been a nice surprise to find but these millionaire patrons never seem to return their books while I am working the desk. Where are these patrons that use money as book marks? I know they exist somewhere out there.

At one of the county branches a father was hoping to reward his son for completing a book, which was required for his school's summer reading, by placing a $5 bill at the very last page of the book. Needless to say, necessary school reading was not enough motivation for the kid to finish the book and it was returned to their local library. When the dad asked how the book ended and the son said he never finished it and returned the book, the dad called the library and they found the book on the shelves with the $5 still there.

At another branch a volunteer was working the book drop when they came across a hollowed out book. It was one of those "safe" books, where you can stash your ever depreciating cash or your diamonds from would-be hopefully, illiterate thieves. The book was filled with old antique jewelry. The library staff ended up finding the rightful owner.

All I want to know is, when can I come across something good? The most memorable thing I have ever found was also the most disturbing. I was checking in your typical romance novel, you know the ones with the cover of shirtless six-pack Steve holding some long haired damsel in some far flung foreign country, when what happens to fall out on to the circulation desk ---- a condom. Thank goodness it was unused and still wrapped but still, a condom, really? I guess a lady patron did not get the "jumpstart" she was expecting from reading the book. Don't even get me started on 'Romance Novels' either, that's the topic for an entirely different entry. Anyways, I was considering putting a note on her account saying that she left something personal in a book she returned and that the item would be held for her.

I did find a credit card in one, actually it was for Ann Taylor stores. I was able to track down the patron who was relieved that it didn't fall into the hands of someone else. Granted, I'm sure if some ne'er do well teen had found it they would have been at the nearest 7-Eleven trying to score some free slurpees.

From what I have observed, patrons use just about anything as bookmarks. Nothing is worse than working in the middle of winter when you check in a newly dropped off book and out falls a plane ticket stub to some warm tropical country along with some grains of sand. Plane ticket stubs are the second most common impromptu bookmarks after check out receipts. The second most disgusting would be use band-aids followed by emery boards.

All I can ask is that if you borrow books, make sure you don't use anything of value or related to personal hygiene as a bookmark. Thanks.

Books are not Umbrellas

I hate it when I’m at work and there’s a downpour outside. It’s not because I wish I was outside jumping in puddles. It is due to the fact that some patrons like to use their library books as impromptu umbrellas and then drop them off at the ‘Returns Desk’ sopping wet and sticking together.



During one of our meetings, one of the numerous managers said that we cannot charge the patrons for the damage when it is raining. I honestly do not see why we can’t. If it was a sunny, dry day and a patron returns a book sopping wet, we are supposed to charge their account for the water damage. When it’s raining we are supposed to do nothing more than sigh and say, “oh these patrons.”



Do you patrons want another good tidbit of information when it comes to damaged books? If you ever happen to damage a book while it is in your possession, walk it into the library, go straight to the returns desk and hand it to someone and tell them that how sorry you are that the item got damaged during your checkout and ask them how much it would cost to fix it and mention that you’re willing to pay it right then and there. If the person working at the desk is like me, I would most likely be humbled by your remorsefulness and not inflict the cost of the book and processing fee on you. If you are completely selfish and uncaring at least put up a good front and act like you’re willing to pay for it, any gestures like pulling out your wallet out of your back-pocket or your checkbook from your purse will do. It can be such a hassle to pull a book from the book drop that is hanging by a thread and go through all the procedures to mark the book as damaged and charge the patron’s account and leave a note. Then when you try to check out you encounter a big fine amount and temporary memory loss kicks in and you don’t remember the book being damaged- “Maybe it was from the book drop with all the other books crushing it?”



Why go through all this unnecessary hassle? Yes, that black hole called the “Book-Drop” does end somewhere. When you drop late books they don’t magically travel back in time and not incur late fees and damaged books don’t come out like they came right off the printing press. Honesty pays off tenfold in life and the library is no exception. So if you want to hedge the risk of being charged with the price of a new book, tell the person working the circulation desk that you’re sorry and that you’re willing to pay for the damage book.