As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[Susan1]

I highly doubt that they would charge you $10 for the book and then put it back on the shelves. For one thing, you could easily find it and point out the issue.

Well, it was not from a close library, just one in our system, so I would have to drive to that library to see it. They could even send it out of the system so I wouldn't, even if I would have paid the $10.

I was still thinking about this last night.

How does that work with interlibrary books I have gotten from Florida or New Jersey or wherever? Does the book get driven all over Florida with other books going to other states? Then how does it get to Ohio?

I know it was just a "form letter" with the specifics put in, so why couldn't they have emailed it to me like they do when they renew a book. I know that's automatic, but email would have been faster than snail (very small snail) mail. Everything is done electronically, check out yourself, check in yourself, reserve books yourself. The fee notice was on my page, which there was no guarantee I was going to see. I just happened to think about reserving some books that day. But someone had to go to the trouble of putting the letter in an envelope and putting a stamp on it. I guess that's what they do when they are not sitting around at the desk. (One of them writes a column for our city paper. Usually no typos! The rest of the paper has more errors than it does correct spelling and word use and sentence structure.)

Thinking this morning, you used to have to take a book back to have them renew it. Then you could log on and renew it. Now they automatically renew and it tells you how many renewals you have left. They send an email of everything you have out every time one book renews.

 

[taf2002]

I was lucky to get a library job in college that paid for all my extras. However I got the one job the librarians there didn't want to do. I was given full charge of the government documents section. That was the days of index cards with the Dewey Decimal System so I had to catalog them & shelve them in order. I only worked 20 hours a week so when I did work there was a big pile of mostly leaflets & soft-cover books to check in. I learned a lot, like how to castrate a pig. I'm not kidding. Working there gave me a deep appreciation for libraries that has lasted all these years. I'm not understanding how someone can use a free service & then gripe about it.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

I would just like to point out that it was a library delivery truck that destroyed the Death Banana. Those things are evil. The truck, not the Banana. Well. Sort of.

I just found out there are actually books on Chernobyl that I haven't read. So I have requested them to be transferred to the library closest to me. Hopefully not in the Evil Truck of Death, though.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I'm with you. I liked the descriptions of the flora and fauna and she does an excellent job making scientific explanations engaging, but the plot was unbelievable.

I liked this book because of the way it addressed nature, isolation, child neglect, etc. I didn't care as much about the personal interactions, visits to town or the courthouse trial.

I'm good at suspending disbelief to enjoy reading a story. For example, I just finished reading The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. There is a storyline about a golem having an interspecies relationship and dancing in the moonlight with a heron, but I liked it just the same.

 

[Prancer]

Well, it was not from a close library, just one in our system, so I would have to drive to that library to see it. They could even send it out of the system so I wouldn't, even if I would have paid the $10.

Yes, but they don't know that. You could also order the book and get it again, complete with stains.

How does that work with interlibrary books I have gotten from Florida or New Jersey or wherever? Does the book get driven all over Florida with other books going to other states? Then how does it get to Ohio?

Shipped to a hub, put on a truck, delivered to your branch.

I guess that's what they do when they are not sitting around at the desk.

I hate to break it to you, but librarians are busy all the time. So is the staff. It takes a lot of work to keep a library organized, up to date and running smoothly.

Thinking this morning, you used to have to take a book back to have them renew it. Then you could log on and renew it. Now they automatically renew and it tells you how many renewals you have left. They send an email of everything you have out every time one book renews.

Yes, isn't it amazing? And someone--actually many someones--had to do a lot of work to make all that happen. Someone still has to maintain that system. Someone has to plan for the system that is going to come along and replace this one. And that's just one of many systems that keep the library organized, up to date, and running smoothly.

And all of it is there for you to use at at will.

I was lucky to get a library job in college that paid for all my extras. However I got the one job the librarians there didn't want to do. I was given full charge of the government documents section. That was the days of index cards with the Dewey Decimal System so I had to catalog them & shelve them in order. I only worked 20 hours a week so when I did work there was a big pile of mostly leaflets & soft-cover books to check in. I learned a lot, like how to castrate a pig. I'm not kidding. Working there gave me a deep appreciation for libraries that has lasted all these years. I'm not understanding how someone can use a free service & then gripe about it.

Every few months, the main library on our campus will have a help wanted sign up for a job, looking for a student to catalog and shelve print subscriptions. It's not a popular job and most students don't stay with it for long. And that's with a sharply reduced inventory and Excel spreadsheets.

I think it takes a special kind of personality to do that kind of work, so you must be one of the rare ones .

 

[genevieve]

I would totally dig that as a part time job

 

[Susan1]

Every few months, the main library on our campus will have a help wanted sign up for a job, looking for a student to catalog and shelve print subscriptions. It's not a popular job and most students don't stay with it for long. And that's with a sharply reduced inventory and Excel spreadsheets.

I would love it. When I was a volunteer, I got to sort and put away CDs and movies (VCR) - 2 hours, 2 days a week. They saved them for me, even if they didn't have anything else to do. Of course, I organized things that were out of order along the way too. I was always done so fast, I asked for other things to do. I went through all the magazines and put them in order by date. The paid aides there did not want volunteers to do what they were being paid to do. And I couldn't do anything on the computers in the office or help customers. This was before the checking in and out was self-serve. I did get to answer a question of someone who was on one of the customer computers once when I was walking by with my cart. Me! I'm glad I knew the answer.

I got to put the reserved books on the shelves once. They were right by the computer stations and they fell over and made a loud boom. I apologized to everybody, but they didn't even look up. I also had to dust once, and I didn't knock any books on the floor. My back always hurt when I got home, even back then. I couldn't do it now. I couldn't have afforded to work there as an actual library aide. And I had to quit when a temp job opened up.

I worked in the school library first period my senior year too. My first study hall ever and it was first period? Who saves homework to do first period? My friend, Sharon, and I made it about three days watching guys sleep and play football with the folded paper triangles, and I went in the library to get a book and asked if they needed help. They did. Yay. The popular kids all wanted to be office workers, so the nobodies got to work in the library. Sharon signed up for elective art classes the rest of the year.

 

[Sarah]

Our interlibrary loan office (public university in a small, er tiny, state) probably processes close to 35,000 items a year. Since we don’t really have much of a system, most physical items are shipped ups/FedEx/usps depending on consortia. That said, we do a lot of electronic stuff (journal articles, book chapters, etc.) so those account for a lot. But the ILL office is busy.

 

[Susan1]

p.s.

Yes, but they don't know that. You could also order the book and get it again, complete with stains.

Yes, I already mentioned that.

I hate to break it to you, but librarians are busy all the time. So is the staff. It takes a lot of work to keep a library organized, up to date and running smoothly.

Before they remodeled the libraries, you could see the back, where people were working. Now that you put books in the electronic return thing in the wall, everything is hidden. The ones at the desk are not doing anything. None of them are the head librarian. She probably has an office in the back too. They can help if a book doesn't go through the check out or look up where your reserved books are. Maybe they are scheduling all of the conference rooms or planning classes or something. There are more of those than books. Other people come out and put the books away and stuff.

But the ILL office is busy.

Yeah, all the checking in of those is done in the back, so they can log them in and put those little pieces of paper with the last name and 4 digits of the library card in them. ha ha

 

[taf2002]

I think it takes a special kind of personality to do that kind of work, so you must be one of the rare ones .

Thanks Prancer, but I was one of the lucky ones who had a steady job without which I couldn't have afforded to stay in school. Also I'm a great worker as long as it's not housework. I had complete autonomy as well.

@Susan1, I don't understand your disdain for librarians. Esp since you've done the work yourself as a volunteer - you know how hard it can be. Just because you see one at her desk doesn't mean she's been sitting for 8 hours.

 

[puglover]

I guess in line with my new appreciation of libraries making books accessible to those less able to visit them, I just downloaded "The Giver of Stars". It is a work of fiction - maybe also a movie or about to be - about an English woman who marries and immigrates to the US in the depression era. She finds herself very unhappy in a loveless marriage, trying to adjust to small town Kentucky. Eleanor Roosevelt introduced a concept - "The Packhorse Librarians" - and our English rose joins with several local women to deliver books to the isolated areas - introducing books and reading to families truly isolated on horseback. It has the obvious villains and heroes but also was a great story. Audible is narrated by the marvelous Julia Whelan and she could read the phonebook and make it impactful.

 

[Susan1]

I hope the "truck" with all the books in it doesn't get stuck in the snow tonight. -)

@Susan1, I don't understand your disdain for librarians. Esp since you've done the work yourself as a volunteer - you know how hard it can be. Just because you see one at her desk doesn't mean she's been sitting for 8 hours.

The 2-3 sitting there (not all females either) are not "librarians". They are "staff". I don't know what they do. The part-time aides AND volunteers do the physical stuff - behind the wall. This is just at one of the libraries I go to that I see them sitting there.

Back when I volunteered they had a chest high counter with the systems to check books out on and always a person there. And they took the books out of the bin and checked them in. And you could see the people in cubicles behind a window (at all three). Now you have to do all that yourself. And the "desk" (regular desk high with rolling chairs) where they sit is over in the middle of the room. It's more like an information desk.

But it's not like they are there to help you find something in the Periodical guide (remember those - they were green). They can just look it up on the internet. Or you can sign in to a computer and do it. They even have computers spread around to look up books yourself.

There's also a branch manager and a head librarian somewhere behind the wall (or not there, who knows).

 

[Prancer]

Thanks Prancer, but I was one of the lucky ones who had a steady job without which I couldn't have afforded to stay in school. Also I'm a great worker as long as it's not housework.

The 2-3 sitting there (not all females either) are not "librarians". They are "staff".

No, they are "staff." Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks in American usage. I know that you like to be correct about such things.

Librarians are staff. From the Miamisburg library site:

STAFF - BRANCH HIGHLIGHT

The helpful staff at Miamisburg welcomes you to the brand new state-of-the-art building. The Branch staff specializes in support for emerging literacy, technology assistance, and support for local historians and genealogists. Every month our Children and Teen Services Librarians conduct hundreds of programs that keep kids engaged in learning activities, from preschool storytimes to computer coding for teens. For patrons who would like one-on-one assistance, Staff members are available to meet with you individually.

I haven't been to the Miamisburg library, so I don't know, but if it's typical of the county system, the people "just sitting there" at the desk are reference librarians who are there to help people look up information. As with all customer service type jobs, sometimes they are very busy and sometimes they are not.

Where else do you go? Washington-Centerville? There is no information about staff on their site, but look at the statistics for their circulation and patrons. Do you really think people who work there have nothing to do?

I don't understand you at all. You clearly benefit from public library services in multiple ways, but you seem to have very little appreciation for those benefits.

 

[Susan1]

@Susan1, I don't understand your disdain for librarians. Esp since you've done the work yourself as a volunteer - you know how hard it can be. Just because you see one at her desk doesn't mean she's been sitting for 8 hours.

Something just occurred to me, were you saying because I said my back hurt after putting stuff away for two hours that I should realize how hard it is to be a librarian? My back hurt because I have had spasms for 20 years and I would spend practically 2 solid hours bent over something, because that is what I was there to do. Not to go from desk to computer to shelves........... O-o-o-kay, before someone starts - I'm not saying I was not allowed to take a break or stand at the front desk and talk. I was there to help and I made sure I got everything done in my time there and whatever else I could do.

No, they are "staff." Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks in American usage. I know that you like to be correct about such things.

Thank you. I have mentioned at least 100 times that I have a mental block about punctuation and quotation marks. I type it both ways and can't decide which one is right. It never makes sense to me that the closing quote should be outside the punctuation mark because it is part of the word being quoted, not a sentence. I think it should be changed.

I haven't been to the Miamisburg library,

I grew up there. This is the third one. The first one was a Carnegie library. The kids' section was in the basement that you could even get to from the outside. Then they built a new one next to it on library park property. The latest one is a block away from that. Library Park is now called Veterans Park (apropos for today, huh?)

Where else do you go? Washington-Centerville?

West Carrollton and Miami Township. Each one is 10-15 minutes from my house, in different directions. Funny - the Centerville libraries are not part of the Dayton-Montgomery County system! You can check out books there, but you have to take them back there. A lot of my just regular reserve books from our system come from Troy (Miami County) and Bradford (clear up in Darke County). Weird, huh?

You clearly benefit from public library services in multiple ways, but you seem to have very little appreciation for those benefits.

Of course I appreciate the "benefit" of interlibrary reserving. I've only used it in the last couple years, when I started going back to the first books of different authors and reading up to the present one. I saw a place to click on it out of the corner of my eye once to go to a special page to fill out a form. I didn't know where they were coming from until they got here because they did not list them on my "on hold" page. Now you have to do the whole thing yourself, but only for books in Ohio libraries. For anything that is not in Ohio, you have to call the main number. No more form to fill out. You can't even call specific libraries directly. Just not very "helpful" in this increasingly self-service world.

 

[Susan1]

Well, I just went to put my Harlan Coben book in the living room to read tomorrow and noticed that the whole front spine is broken and the first blank page is loose. I will turn that one in at the desk when I take it back. Actually, I think I will take it back to West Carrollton. They are nicer there.

The helpful staff at Miamisburg welcomes you to the brand new state-of-the-art building. The Branch staff specializes in support for emerging literacy, technology assistance, and support for local historians and genealogists. Every month our Children and Teen Services Librarians conduct hundreds of programs that keep kids engaged in learning activities, from preschool storytimes to computer coding for teens. For patrons who would like one-on-one assistance, Staff members are available to meet with you individually.

Nice hype. Yeah, libraries aren't about books or reading anymore. They didn't fill up the new libraries with more books, just a lot of open space with more tables and computers and meeting rooms around the outside. And each one has a fireplace. And new, modern bathrooms. There's even a quiet room. Like there's any actual noise in the library anymore. If there are more than 5 cars in the parking lot, I know they are having a meeting in one of the rooms there.

I've asked questions before, like about finding a newspaper article using their Ancestry program. She couldn't do it. One time I got a call that my reserved book was in, and I got there and it wasn't on the hold shelf. Someone had shelved it with the books. The reason I reserve practically everything, even local, is because I cannot count how many times I've gone to get a book that was supposed to be there according to the website right before I left the house and it wasn't. I've told a "staff person" and she went to look in the same places I already had - mysteries, fiction, large print. Not there. Sorry. I told someone one time and she looked it up and said they didn't unpack it when the new library opened but they didn't take it out of the inventory. So I had to reserve it from somewhere else.

 

[MacMadame]

Gee, you've had so many bad experiences with libraries, maybe you should stop using them and buy all your books.

 

[gkelly]

I used to spend a lot of time in libraries. It's probably been at least 7 or 8 years since I've been in one. For the following reasons:

1) I don't read nearly as many books as I used to because I'm using that time to read FSU and other online content and to binge watch novel-like TV shows.

2) I can now afford to buy any books I want rather than just taking what's handy to borrow.

3) My local niece and nephew are now pretty much grown up and no longer borrow books from the children's section at the library all the time. If they do want to go to a library, they can go on their own.

4) The monthly meeting I used to attend at my local library has since moved to be held at a civic building several towns away (a different state, actually).

 

[clairecloutier]

I'm a library reader & always have been. My mom took us regularly when I was a kid, and I've always loved it. I do buy books too, but the library is my go-to. I love that feeling when I leave with a bag full of books & can't wait to get home and take out my treasures.

 

[canbelto]

The last time I was at a library it had honestly turned into a homeless shelter.

 

[puglover]

Our local library is always a very busy place. I counted the number of programs offered this fall - spring at Calgary libraries and they total 166. They have many programs for children/families and teens, but also many for adults from ESL to coding. They are always looking for committed volunteers to assist their very busy staff in meeting all the needs. I guess I assumed that this is pretty standard for libraries now - I know their preschool programs are excellent.

 

[genevieve]

One of the great things about libraries is that they provided all sorts of services for people from all walks of life. I love going to the downtown Seattle library, which is an architectural wonder, and seeing it used by business folks, families, and yes, the homeless.

 

[MacMadame]

I agree. Today's libraries are doing so much more with so much less, just like teachers. They have experienced cuts to staff and budget everywhere while at the same time their patrons need so much more.

They perform a vital service to the marginalized without computers and/or access to the internet. They are a warm place to hang out for the homeless. They are a place for kids to hang out and do their homework after school. They are a place for people to have meetings without having to buy stuff. They are putting on classes and lectures to educate the community about computers, taxes and finances, how not to get scammed and so much more.

And yes they have books to borrow. And CDs, and DVDs, and VHS tapes and eBooks...

I most borrow ebooks these days but part of that is because the library's hours have been curtailed due to budget cuts. I'm glad the library is still there in case I need it though.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I'm a library reader & always have been. My mom took us regularly when I was a kid, and I've always loved it. I do buy books too, but the library is my go-to. I love that feeling when I leave with a bag full of books & can't wait to get home and take out my treasures.

The library was my safe haven growing up, so I totally relate to this. I still go all the time and have always felt I've gotten full value for my tax dollars. We have beautiful libraries and they always have books and resources I want to use.

I have used the out-of-network resources quite a bit for many years to obtain hard to find art books and show catalogues and have never had a problem. It wasn't so long ago it only included materials from a consortium of library systems, universities, etc. within the state. Now they will search far and wide for what you want. As far as I'm concerned a specialty reserve is an added (as well as costly) service they don't really have to provide, so it's really not unreasonable to have some patience when ordering materials rather than a temper tantrum.

 

[Finnice]

I would not have coped my teen years without the local library in the small mining town where I grew up. I did my mandatory work practice (term?) there. The older boy Finnice did his civil service in the big town library a couple of years ago. The Finnish library system in great, and it is free to everyone to use, so it really is an equalizer of the people.
Because of my work I have met and visited lots of libraries here and other countries. The librarians are really passionate and helpful people, and there are so many kinds of them.
I would be the first to tow myself at the columns of Finnish parliament,if they would consider to abolish the current library system.

 

[Japanfan]

The 2-3 sitting there (not all females either) are not "librarians". They are "staff". I don't know what they do. The part-time aides AND volunteers do the physical stuff - behind the wall. This is just at one of the libraries I go to that I see them sitting there.

Staff at the library counter are staff and have a job to do. It may be that they don't do anything much of the time (though I doubt that), but staff have be at the counter (in most libraries, SFAIK).

I worked at a job when I was early 20s in a mine - it was in the mining town I grew up in and it was the first year the mine hired women.

My job was more than bit boring - stuffing cracks in train cares with paper so that the ore wouldn't fall through.

Some days/nights there was nothing to do. I remember the shift supervisor telling me that "He/she who waits to serve, serves".

 

[Tesla]

As an adult, I used to avoid the library because I didn't like used books but thanks to a friend, I rediscovered the library and a I love it. I love trying new-to-me authors and books and reading books without having to buy or house them. I still do buy the occasional book (Lucinda Riley and Simone St. James are autobuys for me, and I currently have LR's new book on the way from England). Our state has a pretty good interlibrary loan system. My library doesn't have a lot of books on my Want to Read list, but I can log into my account and request it if it's available at other libraries. The library is a wonderful service that I am so happy to have rediscovered.

 

[Susan1]

IT'S JUST THE ONE BRANCH OF THE THREE I GO TO WHERE THEY ARE UNHELPFUL, not all libraries in the country. They've all been expanded, remodeled or rebuilt in the same style, but they all have different layouts. It's the only one where the "staff" sits in the middle of the room, away from everything.

I will be switching back to my previous "home" branch (where reserved books are to be picked up, and where I used to volunteer) when construction on the street is over. It was my home branch before when it was closer to where I used to live. They were closed for a year for remodeling, and I got used to going to the other one. I even got a personal tour when it re-opened. Then the road I use to get there was closed for railroad track repair. Then it was closed for bridge repair. Now the main road is all torn up. I think I mentioned this all already?? It took 15 minutes of sitting waiting for people to turn left from a single lane a couple weeks ago and I needed to get back here for the garage door guy, who was even early. (Why is everybody always late, except when you aren't ready and they show up early. The furnace guys got here 10 minutes early and I had just gotten dressed.)

I've never had to ask where the interlibrary books I reserved were before. If I put in more than one, they would come staggered, from wherever. I've never seen where they came from till I had to order them myself. And I figured books in Ohio would get here sooner than ones from New Jersey or Florida. I did not know that they just drove all of the books around Ohio and they sat in "trucks" overnight somewhere and all showed up at once. Now I do.

I still don't get the logistics of the book transit, but whatever. I picture 88 (Ohio counties) little trucks passing each other on the street picking up and dropping off books at each other's libraries. I don't know.......(Don't try to explain it to me again. I'd rather not know.)

I will never reserve more than one at a time again though. It's too hard for me to carry a bunch of hardback books at once. (I think I'll go put my library satchel in the car now just in case they ever come in. My wrists are too weak to carry it by the handles though.) This summer I dropped two books right after I checked them out and just missed a woman's sandal-clad foot!

Anyway, I just get nervous when I think I might run out of things to read. That's why I have been going back and reading certain authors' series from the beginning when I see a new book by someone I haven't read before. (I forgot to get a November magazine yet.) And they don't keep older books in the libraries here.

Customer "service" in everything has gone downhill everywhere. Everything is electronic and self-serve now.

I can't afford an I-pad or whatever it is people read "books" on. Or to buy books.

I'm REALLY sorry I brought any of this up in the first place (being accused of staining a book).

 

[Japanfan]

IT'S JUST THE ONE BRANCH OF THE THREE I GO TO WHERE THEY ARE UNHELPFUL, not all libraries in the country. They've all been expanded, remodeled or rebuilt in the same style, but they all have different layouts. It's the only one where the "staff" sits in the middle of the room, away from everything.

At my library, there is a secondary desk in the middle of the room, right in the middle of everything.

The main desk is at the entrance to the library, attached to a back room.

The set-up works just fine.

I've never had to ask where the interlibrary books I reserved were before. If I put in more than one, they would come staggered, from wherever. I've never seen where they came from till I had to order them myself. And I figured books in Ohio would get here sooner than ones from New Jersey or Florida. I did not know that they just drove all of the books around Ohio and they sat in "trucks" overnight somewhere and all showed up at once. Now I do.

I am grateful for interlibrary services. I live in a city, not a rural area, but some of the libraries are not convenient.

However, it is not possible to pick up books up at any library other than the ones at which the books were reserved. I wish that would change.

Anyway, I just get nervous when I think I might run out of things to read. That's why I have been going back and reading certain authors' series from the beginning when I see a new book by someone I haven't read before.

I likewise get nervous. For that reason, I always check the databases of the libraries near me to see if books I'm interested in are available. And I have kept lists of books I want to read - no list at present, I need to get on that. Also, I like reading series, because I a) can get comfortable in knowing I like a certain author and don't have to read any other author for awhile, and b) know in advance that the books, or some of them, are available at the library.

Customer "service" in everything has gone downhill everywhere. Everything is electronic and self-serve now.

In libraries as well as elsewhere. But at the libraries I use, checking books out with staff is always an option, and I usually take it.

I can't afford an I-pad or whatever it is people read "books" on. Or to buy books.

People read on Kindle. I don't think it is very expensive. Not the device itself, or downloading books, but maybe it is a few bucks as opposed to free from the library. Kindle is is good as a request for a birthday or Christmas, and I would think that the convenience would more than outweigh the minimal cost.

I still read ordinary books. I am at the computer all day, and enjoy reading in bed at night, without computer glare. I still like the feel of the pages/paper in my hands.

I mostly don't buy books on Amazon, as it's so expensive - unless it's a new book in a series I'm following, and I don't want to wait.

And there are some good second-hand bookstores, depending on where one lives. There is an excellent one in my city, but it moved from a convenient location to an inconvenient one for me. But were I in a pinch, I'd go there, and compile a list of other books I wanted.

I'm REALLY sorry I brought any of this up in the first place (being accused of staining a book).

Just remember that libraries are a not-for-profit public service (at least where I live). They offer the public an important - and I would say fundamental - service. Not only because of the books but also because of the events they host and the spaces they provide for public meetings/gatherings. And the staff members at any library I've ever gone to have been pleasant, patient, and helpful.

I ❤ libraries.

 

[quartz]

I love libraries, they were my escape when I was a child. Saturday was library day and one of my parents would take me to get as many books as they allowed, which I would read for a week and then return and borrow more the next Saturday.
Since I started at the bookstore in '87, I purchase most of my books. I like being able to keep them and not have to bring them back. Although, I mostly donate them as I only have so much room. I think I currently have about 1000-1200, but over the years I've likely donated at least triple that to the various thrift stores in town. I also buy used books, but they have to be super clean.

 

[Habs]

I was a library lover as a kid - I did all of the summer reading programs, begged my mom to take me weekly so I could get new books, the works. It was fantastic. I stopped for awhile, but have recently been taking my kids to the library and have started checking books out for myself again (I went through a 20-year phase of needing to buy my books ).

When I was in high school, I used to go back to my elementary/jr high for a couple of days at the start of each summer to help the librarian sort and shelve all of the books. I loved it.