I  want to keep adding to this blog daily, but the posts will probably short most days, depending on my work schedule.

I work at the public library in my home town.  I am one of the luckiest people in the world, in that I get paid to things I love to do.  Chief among them is talking to patrons about books and movies.  Sometimes the talking gets in the way of the work, usually because I'm talking and not looking at the computer screen to make sure there aren't any problems with whatever patron task I'm doing.  It's the worst when I'm talking to a mom who has a stack of picture books: something often goes wrong with an early scan, I don't see the error message, and just keep blithely scanning away.  I usually blame on lack of coffee and we all laugh.

I've started really trying to read what the patrons recommend to me: we have some sharp cookies in my home town and they have great recommendations.  Sometimes the books pile up and I might not get to them, but at least I've given it a go.

One patron writes an occassional science column for the paper.  The first one I really noticed included a great plug for the library.  I mentioned it the next time he was in and we started talking about the books we were both reading.  I told him about one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde, and he ended up getting the first title in Fforde's Thursday Next series for his daughter for Christmas.  Score!

Just the other day, I was talking to a volunteer about watching "Across the Universe."

"Were you a Beatles' fan?" I opened.

She started a bit and then said, rather proudly, now that I think back on it, "The called me Ringa!"

"Wow!" said I, "Have I got a movie for you!"

We went to the video collection and pulled the movie.  When she brought it back in, we gushed over it some more, I asked "Have you ever seen 'This Is Spinal Tap'?"  Our library copy was lost [not unusual for movies I like - and it wasn't me (I have my own copy!)], so we put a hold on a copy from another library in our consortium.  She'll be coming in tomorrow for her volunteer shift, so we'll have another great conversation.

And they pay me to do this!

I'm also the main cataloger (although not a MLS librarian - as with almost all smaller libraries these days, most of us staff are paraprofessionals), so I get to fondle most of the books and movies that are added to the collection.  My wife and I catch lots of news shows: Democracy Now, NPR, The Majority Report, The Young Turks, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  These generate lots of purchase requests.  I sometimes have some of the patrons "request" them, as those requests usually get filled sooner than mine or my wife's.  All of these patrons know about my ruse, and are more than happy to get a surprise book.

Get to know you local library staff, if you're any kind of a reader.  Once they know your tastes, they might steer you to something you didn't know existed.

Back in the interval when I wasn't working at the library, I got a call about a book waiting for me to pick up. When I went in, I didn't recognize the title.  "Oh," said Maggie.  "I remember now.  I put that on hold for you because I thought you'd enjoy it."  It was "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and it turned out to be one of the best books I'd read up to that point.  Now, I try to pay that kind act forward, a lot.

I could go on and on.  Later I'll share some stories about helping people on the Internet, but now I have to get my fanny in gear to get to that dream job.

Have a great day and keep readin'!