The importance of holding on to things

I love the library. One of very few memories of my childhood is the way I felt standing inside my hometown’s bookmobile that drove down my street every so often. I’d pass through the accordion door and walk up the carpeted steps into a large van lined with shelves stocked with cheap paperbacks. Now, in my adult body, I imagine the selection offered was quite small and the librarians were probably very annoyed at the kid who would always climb aboard to browse but never check anything out (I didn’t have a library card), but they were patient with me, and I never forgot that. Libraries feel like a safe home.   

When I was a young mother and funds were tight, our local public library was my saving grace. I’d take my kids to events where picture books were read aloud to them along with a dozen other children and their guardians. It was free, educational, and out of the heat or cold. My kids loved the bins of toys and puzzles in the children’s room, and I loved the door that closed securely behind us so I could rest for a few minutes while they played. Recently, I had the means to send a donation as a thank you for all those years the library helped me stay sane during the seemingly endless days of stay-at-home parenthood with toddlers. As a thank you to me (who’s thanking who here anyway?) I was invited to attend a Book Lovers Tour, an insider event to learn how and why the library selects what to include in its collection and how they organize the chaos. Um… yes please. I cannot think of a more interesting way to spend my afternoon. I added it to my calendar.

All the recent news about book bans and restricting access to the library has me more protective of them than usual. To me, they feel like churches. Sacred. In my opinion, there is nothing so repugnant as targeting a peoples’ library with a hatred so all-consuming you’re willing to destroy history to erase them from ever even existing in your fragile mind. A community library includes everyone in the community. Never in my life have I felt my own safety or identity threatened by words in a book. If I ever did, I hope I would have sense enough to stop reading it. I would never dream of telling another that they could not write their story.

Librarians, patient and stoic as they are, seems to seep this same sentiment from the very pores of their bodies. Once I asked if my library had any back issues of Scientific American magazine and the librarian that helped me was so excited to inform me that, yes, in fact they had all of them, digitally! He took his time walking me through steps to access them. He didn’t ask what I wanted to know or why, he only wanted to get me to the information I was seeking. A good librarian is like the staunch owner of a cavernous used bookshop, if you’re brave enough to ask, they’ll lead you deep into the stacks and pull the exact book you didn’t know you needed. They save time.  

I am almost too embarrassed to type this but on the morning of the Book Lovers Tour I woke up around 5am vibrating with excitement. In my wildest dreams, we’d get to see an Oompa Loompa style assembly line of books being stamped and sorted underground before they made their way onto the library shelf. I excitedly told my kids my plans for the day. My daughter politely said “Cool. That sounds like something you would really like.” She’s right and very kind. I arrived 10 minutes early because I didn’t to miss the start of the tour we were told would begin promptly at 2:00. I was greeted by Josh who had a name tag for me along with a Support Your Local Library magnet. The meeting room was small and round with thick concrete walls that displayed old maps of the county. It was too echo-y for any chitchat with the other early arrivals, so I sat patiently in the most comfortable folding chair my ass has ever experienced and took out my reporter’s notepad (another donor perk) and prepared myself to be ****ing blown away.1

People filed in over the next few minutes. Most greeted Josh politely and found an empty seat at the tables in the center of the room. An older woman with a hulking step and a short haircut, announced her arrival by complaining loudly about the directions provided. They were the “worst she’d ever read” and she’d “never make it back to the car.” Josh patiently apologized for the confusion and gave Pat her name tag and magnet. Ah, Pat. There’s one in every group.

A few minutes after 2pm, Josh closed the doors which helped immensely with the echo, and I kept my eyes peeled for Oompa Loompas. The 20 guests were introduced to a few library employees and new board members for the Foundation for the library. The CEO spoke briefly about the history of the library collection and their goal to “give the people what they want” in terms of reading materials and technology. Another thing I love about librarians is they love to get people reading.

Next we heard from the head of Collections, Jamie, who I was disappointed to discover was not an Oompa Loompa but a regular person. She reiterated the “give them what they want” mindset and scoffed at the “old” way of thinking, which was to provide what librarians thought people should be reading (her examples: Shakespeare and Socrates. Btw, Socrates didn’t write any books). I have to be honest here, this comment did ruffle my feathers which may have colored my thoughts for the rest of her speech. I was surprised at the informality of the selection process. We learned that selectors use book lists and popular newsletters to find new reads for their patrons. Jamie watches CBS Sunday Morning each week and automatically places orders for any books featured on the show because they are always commonly requested. I’m not sure why this was so shocking to me. I thought there would be less popular culture, and more library science involved, I guess. The desire to give people what they want was clearly the driving force. Jamie said of the approximately 6,000 requests a year, they do their best fulfill them all. The only exceptions were for out-of-print books.2 I was interested to learn that E-books are popular with readers but challenging for the librarians to stock on their digital shelves because e-books are not eligible for the steep library discount, they cost about 3 times the amount of a physical book and are only leased for a set amount of time or number of rentals. We were reminded the publishers are in the game to make money. Aren’t we all?

Next we met Jody, the head of Cataloging and Processing and a library employee for the last 21 years. Jody compared her department of 24 employees to a happier Amazon fulfillment center and she told us she’d be leading our tour today. Jody seemed like she woke up at 5am excited to teach us about how she does her job. I liked Jody right away.

Before she opened the door to the office side of the library, she told us that we would be walking through to the back first but not to worry, we would loop back at the end and we wouldn’t miss a thing. The twenty of us filed past a few desks and rows and rows of metal shelving to the loading dock at the back of the building. She explained that everything delivered to the library comes through this room, even the toilet paper. At this point, I was ready for a t-shirt with Jody’s face on it. She explained the catalogers determine where and when the books end up on shelves and how they optimize the titles and authors for digital search (adding both War & Peace and War and Peace to the catalog for the same book, for example). After they’ve done their part, the book moves to the processors who add the appropriate stickers and book jackets and sort them into boxes destined for each branch library. After politely greeting the other employees quietly working at their desks, we made it back around to the start just as Jody promised. As a reward, we were allowed to pluck through a small selection of titles sent from publishers with the hope that a collection buyer would place an order. They informed us that we could give away our selected book, but we could not sell it for a profit. It was against the rules, and when it comes to rules, librarians are by the book.3

We returned to the original meeting room to a plate of book-shaped cookies along with iced tea and lemonade. I happily ate my cookie in the room despite the echo. I wanted to give the Oompas one more chance. On the way back to our cars, I helped Pat figure out how to scan her free parking voucher and I didn’t say one word about her earlier objections to the library’s elimination of late fees. I drove home on a cloud.  

That evening, I sent an email to Jamie who invited us to ask her any additional questions we had. The comment she made about Shakespeare and Socrates stuck in my brain at an odd angle. Is there an effort to curate a collection of historically significant books? If so, what kind of criteria is used for the selection? I’m still waiting to hear back.

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1 The asterisks are stand-ins for the letters f, u, c, and k for anyone who doesn’t understand censorship.

2 I am also dubious of this claim, as I have made several requests that have yet to be added. Thankfully, I have the means to purchase them myself.

3 Thank you for indulging me.