Wednesday, July 18, 2007

first day back

I was gone for a week in the hotness of florida summer. I expected to come back and find the place in complete disarray. But even though it was chaotic by the look of the guestbook there is a new volunteer and he did a fantastic job cleaning up the place...I am sure there are messes hiding.

Last Wednesday at the height strung-outness i was checking someone out and heard 3 girls yell 1-2-3-4... by the time i looked up there was monopoly money flying through the air and the girls stood there giggling. i said "seriously?!" then joined in with their laughter, because what else could you do? a second later i collapsed on the floor in hystericallness. I couldn't yell at them, they picked it all up... though i am still finding money scattered about. I found a large quanity today stuffed in a purse with the dress up clothes. When i went to put it back into the game i found it was checked out. Of course.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I am the Toybrarian

I work in a toy library. The collection is about 5,000 items that can all be checked out. It is also a play room. Childcare, day camp and home providers can all bring there children here to just play and explore.
We are open 2-3 days a week and I work 15 hours a week and I am in school to become a librarian. I will be the first one to say that I have the coolest job in the world, While it is part of the public library system here, it is in a world (room) of its own. The same rules that apply to books don't seem to apply here. There is no shushing preschoolers as they come screaming in, the bags of toys do no fit neatly on the shelves and there are random stacks as you wander through. The chaos is on the brink of unbearable, 50 yelling kids, my OCD going through hell cause i can't clean up until their gone... but then there are the days where you have that moment with a kid- the moment of discovery, where they find something new, learn something new and that is why i come back everyday.
There are things you care about at work. Things that you only worry about there, that affect you there. Like I'm sure Dentists worry about teeth products, Grocery managers worry about shipments and truck drivers running late. At work today the things that has driven me up the wall is that kids have dumped out bags of food toys, then put them back in bags but not the ones they came out of. In no other world would i or anyone else be concerned about that. Part of me wants to give in to them, let them have chaos. But knowing that its a mess makes me cringe, makes me feel lazy for instead sitting here and blogging. Instead I sit on the floor during quiet moments and methodically put the right pear with the right fruit bag, because there are many versions of plastic fruits ya know, and certain ones have to go together. Not that the kids care. I care. Because it is the librarian in me-to archive the toys. To collect and keep them in their original form. Because I hope one day someone will care as much as I.