Kyler Horn
Dr. Allen
Informative Essay
02 November 2018
The Brady Librarian
“Drop and give me 20!” A booming demand fills the main room.
“What? I don’t really…” I start to trip over my own words.
“DROP AND GIVE ME 20! I DIDN’T STUTTER!” She Somehow manages to yell louder. I don’t even turn around to look at where the voice came from. Instead I stood like a statue, wondering if I should actually do the 20 push-ups or just walking out of the room. After a few minutes of intense silence I turn around to see a group of kids doing pushups. “Did you think was was talking to you? I saw you stand there like a man at gunpoint. I got you good, didn’t I?” She hits my arm, letting out a stiff laugh. “But, be careful, because next time…” She gestures to the kids “this could be you.” With that being said, she turns back to the kids and demonstrates how to do a proper pushup before she makes them start all over again.
When I first heard that our public library needed more volunteers, I didn't think I'd be signing up for more than just a librarian. But, to my dismay, I became multiple things. Soldier, snack snatcher, kid Wrangler, elderly educator, puzzle pandita, and coffee connoisseur became one of my many job titles. I have only volunteered at the library for about a year, but I have gained so much knowledge from it. Whether it be about books, how to sneakily eat Doritos around super-sonic hearing snack thiefs, how to keep a four-year-old’s attention for longer than two minutes, and how to keep an eighty-year old’s attention for a longer than two minutes. I've learned everything far and between.
When I think about my jobs at the library, the biggest one that comes to mind is Soldier. Yes, I do mean Soldier as in someone from the Army. One of our main volunteers, Echo, was raised in a military family and still strictly enforces it in her family. If you are an unruly kid of hers, of another parents, or any living breathing thing on this earth, you are subjected to sit-ups if you do something she does not like…. which could be about anything. Taking one too many Jelly Beans, asking for a favor more than once, or interrupting her in a sentence. Your punishment will be push ups, unless you make her really mad and then you give her a few laps around the library. You also put yourself at risk of hearing hours worth of stories about basic training, Army Food, or even their everyday duties. If your shift gets over in twenty minutes and you're looking to kill some time, choose wisely, otherwise you may be listening to military stories for the next hour and a half.
Another big part of my job at the library is spending my down time trying to eat snacks in the quietest, most ninja-like way as possible. When you work at a library full of very small, supersonic hearing, bloodhound children, eating snacks can be very tricky. Especially when most of your snacks are chips or animal crackers. The most efficient place to hide so far has been in the nook of the kitchen. One can easily slip into the nook, and not be seen from the other side of the wall. But, you can still hear and peek out to see the kids without you or your snack at risk. But, even in the nook, they can still find you. “Kyler, do you have donuts?” Little Josiah walks into the kitchen, his wide eyes bouncing across the room as I try my best to hide the bright blue, little debbies bag behind me.
“Hey! What’s up, Josiah?” I reply as calmly as possible, still trying to hide the bag on the shelf behind me.
“Well, I swore I smelled donuts and Nazonni didn’t believe me, so I thought I’d come and ask you.” He stops looking around the kitchen and turns back to me. “But I don’t see any so I must have been wrong, but don’t tell Nazonni because I’ll never hear the end of it.” He mumbles as he walks back to the kids section.
A pretty obvious part of being a librarian is the kid wrangling. Our library tries very hard to incorporate people of all ages, so we have days where little kids come in and do crafts. Some crafts we've previously made are reading passports, personalized hats, Christmas ornaments, and slime. Most days are pretty easy to keep up with the kids, and pretty easy to clean up after. But, I'll just let your imagination run with the idea of about 15 kids making slime and only 3 adults to supervise.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, we have elderly educator. Now as I said before, our library likes to try to incorporate people of all ages. Our volunteer president, Sharon, thought one way to get the elderly involved would be to teach them how to interact with social media. About once a month we would get a group of five to eight elderly men and women together to teach them how to use a certain social media platform, such a Pinterest, Facebook, and even Twitter. “So, I just take the arrow, click on the Google, type in Penrest and it gives me recipes?” Mr. Burkel asks as he pears over his giant glasses which I’m pretty sure are the same ones he wore in the 70’s.
“Well, I mean you have to ask for a certain type of recipe, and it’s called Pinterest.” I explain to him as I type Pinterest into the address bar.
“Yes, exactly, penrest.” He states, not looking up from his laptop.
“No, Pinterest. Like a pin you’re interested in.” I tired to explain.
“Penrest. I know.” He nodded.
“No… nevermind.” I shook my head, trying to hide my giggle. You can't really argue with your elders. You don't want to disrespect them and it's asking a lot for them to conform to our generation. So we usually let the little things, like mispronunciations, slide as long as we know they can get to the website.
The next job titles don’t really take up much of my time, but still play a big role in being a librarian. They get me through the short winter days, while I hover near the space heater. Along with the long summer days, as I bask in the sunshine of the front windows. That job title is Puzzle Pandita. After I’m done sorting, returning, remarking, and checking out books, I move onto the puzzles. We have a new puzzle set out on the main table each month. Not many people work on it, most people are just in and out of the library, but we do have a few that stick around. Freshmen Aidan Mullen and his friend Jacob Shaner can often be found sitting at the table, working on the puzzle. “My sister has practice, and I didn’t want to sit at the school.” He tells us everyday, usually between bites of a snack he picked up from the Get-N-Go before coming over. With cabinets full of towering puzzle boxes, I usually let them help me pick one out in exchange for a coffee the next time they come in.
The final role of a librarian is being a coffee connoisseur. Between our elderly customers, our late nights of organization, and the after school exhaustion, coffee becomes a staple to your life. It’s a way to connect to the elders when they come ask us questions about the internet and then end up staying for an hour, telling us stories while we drink a cup or two of coffee. Or when it’s the week before you grand re-opening to the town and you still have 3 bookcases to organize, coffee is there to help. But, the coffee that is your saving grace is the coffee you get when get coffee from Sharon, our coffee angel. She frequently meets me at the library after she runs errands in North Platte and almost always has a new type of coffee with her for me to try. “I don’t remember what type you like, but my daughter, Kate, likes this one so I got it for you.” Through this coffee roulet, it has broadened my coffee horizons and set me out to be the biggest coffee snob of them all. I’m pretty sure at this point I could tell you where a coffee is from and what is in it just from the smell!
Not only has being a librarian taught me what good coffee is, it has actually given me many great life lessons. Through the hours of stories from Echo, I have learned some great acts of loyalty and obedience. I have also developed a great deal of patience working with the elders, the children, and through the puzzles. Another great skill I’ve gained is the ability to be more personable. Being in the librarianship field is very rewarding. Especially for those of us who love knowledge, reading, and learning. However, while several personal skills and traits will help you be better suited for the position, there are also a number of skills that must be learned or built on. It takes much more to be a librarian than people think, and the list above should give you a good look into the unseen part of the constantly evolving field.