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Service with a Smile

© Paul Landkamer

I know I speak (write, actually) for more library people than just myself when I say, "I love helping people find what they're looking for." If you don't find what you're looking for by browsing the shelves ask us for help. That's what we're there for, and that's why we work at libraries (well, the paycheck's kinda helpful in keeping me there)! An interest in most anything is worthless unless it's shared.

Several weeks back, a couple girls dropped in on the bookmobile with questions on the turtle they'd gotten as a pet. I used to catch and imprison, or keep as pets, nearly any little critter I could get my hands on (I have two snapping turtles as I write this article). I didn't just keep 'em until they shrivelled up and died, as many kids do. I got books on the stuff I'd catch. I successfully kept spiders, caterpillars, lizards, turtles, toads, salamanders, owls, pigeons, rodents, and raccoons, to name a few of the kinds of critters that'd graced my childhood. I jumped on the opportunity to help the girls on their project.

From what they told me, I determined that their information somehow got twisted. I missed our last trip to Wellington, due to vacation, but we sent a couple books to the girls that we thought would assist them. I had a couple more I thought they could use, but they didn't get along on the trip. I hope they find what they need, and hope the turtles survive in a safe and healthy manner until their release. If they still have their prisoners/pets next time we stop there, I'll recommend they let 'em go, if it's not too late in the year.

Another patron at that same stop shares many interests with me. If I run across a book that impresses me, I often put it on the bookmobile. "Bill" almost always finds it and checks it out. I love being able to predict a patron's desires. Regretfully, I don't share reading-interest with all our patrons.

I'm not up on fiction, and I'm particularly ignorant of romances and westerns. I read occasional classics and fantasy, and my wife reads mysteries and Christian fiction. My daughter reads fantasy and pet-books. What we can't recommend or warn against in the social sciences (I love geography/history/religion/folklore/mythology/fine arts and more), fiction, natural arts and sciences, and so forth, the boss usually has covered. She loves most anything related to needlework and popular fiction. Just working on the bookmobile gives us both a fair idea of what to recommend in even genres we don't read ourselves.

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