One is never ready for this kind of revelation, but the nasty truth about others always emerges. While innocently discussing library business, I mentioned alignment charts based on Dungeons & Dragons to Ms. S. She wasn't sure what I was talking about, so I pulled up the meme page and pointed out the bread storage version pictured below as an illustration.
And that's when I learned the terrible truth about Ms. S. when she was shocked to see that tying a knot in the bag was Lawful Evil, and even had the audacity to defend her terrible choices in bread storage! I am a proud Chaotic Neutral, for the record. Where do you fall, and do you disagree with the wisdom of the internet's moral categories?
In other library news, I had a rather good day. Patrons I dislike didn't show up to disrupt my routine. People I like dropped by. The computers didn't break down. I don't need much to be happy, do I?
There was brainstorming with our Youth Services librarian. Teens are a difficult audience to reach. So many activities are "kid stuff" beneath their oh-so-grown-up dignity. School also demands much more of teens, and the high school is further from our library than the elementary school is, so there's a basic problem of proximity. And finally, a lot of the "cool teen programs" thought up by adults just aren't appealing to actual teens. We might have come up with some ideas which could actually work, though, and I have some new art ideas for potential adult programs, too.
I fielded more calls from the local lady who treats us as the information line. As far as I know, she is visually impaired and old, so saying, "just Google it" or "check the phone book" (do those even still exist?) wouldn't be proper. The first call was a phone number lookup for a local business, and she apparently had one digit incorrect. The second time, the aforementioned Ms. S. was perplexed to hear me searching websites for grocery stores and big box retailers to see whether a particular item was available locally.
With school resuming for autumn, we are seeing more kids in the library after school. Some who had been gone all summer are back. Most of them are good kids. We're also trying to set the right boundaries for those who have been disruptive in the past. It's going pretty well so far. Home-schoolers are also increasing their use of our services to supplement their curricula.
I also introduced a young lady to the Redwall series by Brian Jacques and the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. I recommend both to anyone who enjoys fantasy. The former is set in a low-magic world of anthropomorphic animals, while the latter is a coming-of-age story of dragons and magic. Maybe I should write a series of librarian recommendation posts for different audiences? Let me know in the comments if you think that's a good idea. But first, admit your bread alignment and be judged accordingly!
