5K Your Way for Libraries - Morning in the Library

This week I'm doing a 5K Your Way for Libraries to help raise money for EveryLibrary - You can donate by going to my page here - Amelia's Team Page for Lit Chicks

I'm doing my 5K by writing 5 thousand words.  I was going to do a 5k word short story, but it might end up being a series of flash fiction/short stories.

Sunday, September 26  - Word Count: 807

Morning in the Library

It started off like any other Monday morning. I unlocked the side door to our building, disengaged the alarm, and then locked the side door.  You would think patrons wouldn’t attempt to enter the library through a staff-only door before operating hours, but you’d be wrong. I dropped my stuff in my office before making my way to the break room to start the coffee.  It’s the unofficial rule of the branch, first, one to come in in the morning starts the pot and everyone needs to make it the same way, one scoop per 1 cup water. 

Coffee started; I headed out into our small brick branch of a large county library system. We might be one of the smaller branches, but I think we have the most charm. We are situated in the middle of a cute downtown on Main St. We get a lot of foot traffic so we hold programs on the front lawn from late spring to early fall. We don’t have a lot of space, but we make sure we use what space we have as best we can. I look over it all as I make my way around the building turning on computers. As the building hums to life I head back to my office to start up my own computer. 

As the computer turns on I look at my calendar to see what we have planned for the day.  We have a couple of storytimes, a lecture on healthy aging, a block of time set aside for one on one computer help, and a stuffed animal sleepover on the agenda. Logging into the computer, then the library software, I print the reports I need for the morning; holds list, holds shelf list, cash report, yesterday’s circulation stats, and a weekly spending report. Some of these I dread having to look at before coffee, so they wait. 

I take three of the reports with me as I leave the office. The cash report gets dropped on the head of circulation’s desk, the two holds lists are dropped on the circulation desk. Reports delivered, I make my way into the break room for my first cup of coffee for the day.  Holding the warm mug in my hands, I inhale the rich aroma. I have a few moments of quiet before the day really begins and had fully intended on enjoying that said quiet but then I hear the book drop open and a number of items bang as they drop through the slot. Then the phone rings, I walk out to the desk and see that it’s the public line and let it go to the answering machine.  Within a few moments, I hear the machine click on and start the recorded message:

Thank you for calling the Main Street Branch of the County Library System.  We are currently closed, our hours of operation are Monday through Thursday 10 am to 7 pm. 

The message ends as the caller hangs up. 

I head back to my office just as the first of the staff starts to arrive for the morning. The buzz of good mornings and chatter start to fill the building as my small staff starts their shifts. Someone takes the book cart with a squeaky wheel out into the stacks, the other book cart rumbles over the tile floor towards the book drop. A barcode scanner starts to beep as books are pulled off the holds shelf. 

I take a sip of coffee, a deep breath, and then glance at the circulation report. The weekend numbers are low, that’s not good. I’m going to have to reconsider my staffing for that day which means a complete readjustment of shifts. That means a memo to staff and administration and a headache I was hoping to avoid. I pull out my notepad, fully intending to get my thoughts in order when there’s a knock on my door frame. 

I look up from what desk. “Hey Mary, what’s going on?”

“We only got half the Sunday paper?”

“What sections were missing this week?”

She hands me a piece of scrap paper with the missing sections, it looks like all the special Sunday features and the weekly sales ads. 

“Thanks, I’ll put a call into the delivery service.”  Ever since a paid service took over delivering the papers we had issues with our delivery, when it was a local kid with a paper route we never had this problem.  Now I have to call the service, see if they can deliver the missing parts and also send an email to administration so they can keep track of the problems when it comes time to renew the paper subscription. 

I’m just picking up the phone to make the call when I hear the phone speaker crackle: Ladies we’re open.