The Rules of Renewals: Reading Books the Library’s Way

Stranger In A Strange Land – No. 11
My library branch is conveniently located for many people, but not for me. This is why I opted last week to renew all the books I had (which can be done by phone or online) so I didn’t have to brave the trip through a torrential rain. I intended to return the books I’d finished on the next dry day so someone else could read them. But my plan backfired.

One of my books—the one with only 600 more pages to read—was on hold for someone. I could NOT renew it.

“You can put it on hold,” suggested the librarian.

“You mean, I can let the other person get, say, 452 pages into it and then take it away from him/her so I can pick up where I left off weeks earlier?”

“Yes,” the librarian confirmed. “Sorry about that.”

Hmmm. I didn’t know what to make of this. Everything else about the library has been a monumental improvement over what I was used to. The building is fairly new with murals climbing the children’s section walls and natural light pouring in through the windows. Signage is easy to follow and I can always find something from my long wish list of books. The day I signed up to become a member, life-size foal sculptures of fiberglass stood everywhere, painted or appliquéd by local schoolchildren in honor of the World Equestrian Games. I applied for a card online at a kiosk and received it on the spot. Checking out works the same way: self-serve and bar-code efficient. Plus helpful librarians are never far away—with a smile.

Back in my Land of Lincoln library branch, smiles were hard to come by. So were librarians. There was one at the checkout, of course, and if you waited in the line long enough you could usually talk to a reference librarian. But other than that, the only other employees were an outsourced security guard and a part-time book-shelver who was typically three days behind with the inventory. The building was ’60s old, architecturally insignificant, and wholly uninviting. Sometimes the branch closed because the air-conditioning wasn’t working; other times it closed to save money on electricity. To get books from my wish list, I usually had to request them through the interlibrary loan system. It could take weeks before they arrived at my branch, even if the books were only coming from a few neighborhoods away. But one great thing about that branch was that I could walk to it.

Well, this new glitch is a small price to pay for an efficient, well-stocked library. Once I acclimate to the rules of renewals, my membership should be smooth sailing.

This is part of an ongoing series regarding my transition from the Land of Lincoln to the Bluegrass State. For a list of previous articles in the series, type Stranger in a Strange Land into Lull’s search function on the right.

[Pic of Lalique brooch used on cover of A. S. Bayatt’s The Children’s Book; pic of foal covered in Beatrix Potter characters.]