I have worked really hard to put a positive spin on so many things that happen differently on the island than what we are used to. And usually it isn’t very hard. But lately I am struggling with the Library here. I have struggled with it since moving here and starting to use it. It never ever takes me less than an hour to check out our children’s books. And many days it takes two.
The women who work there are usually very friendly towards us. It took a while to get to this point but we go there weekly so of course we are recognized and known. Which is to our benefit with this establishment. And there is a lot of change happening for them. Right now the library is in a historic building on Main street with all the tourist shops downtown. Which for the employees it can make it difficult to get to and from work. But not for all of them. There is a new location built in the “country.” It is a brand new library with up to date computer systems etc. When we first got here they would stamp the back of the book similar to my childhood. They still stamp them but they can also scan them into the computer. I think the wait to move from one location to another has been a long one. Maybe over a year or so. Which means the employees may be feeling like they are in flux for longer than they are comfortable.
So here is what happens. We go in and check out 15 or more books. It doesn’t take long to pick them. We then go to check them out and the librarian is still checking in the ones we were bringing back. There are usually one or two other librarians hanging out. So an hour later the librarian checking me out still can’t figure out how to check us out because it says we have over due books. Each time I say we turned those in. Each week they usually can’t use the computer system so they tell me it is broken and write down the book info and our card info. Each week the books go back on the shelf but don’t get checked in properly. No worries. Each week I spend time with cranky kids as we have now been there for over an hour almost two. And I search the shelves for the missing books. Fortunately most days we find them. And thankfully a friend here warned me that this happens often.
When I use the bookmobile this doesn’t happen. She takes care of everything so for the week we go there it takes less than a half hour to pick out books and turn them in and check them out etc. I HEART this librarian. She is just phenomenal. Yesterday after two hours I left without taking care of the so-called “overdue books.” I was done and the kids were done. I tried to pay a 50cent fine which then became me owing a dollar cause the librarian hasn’t learned the new computer system. She is very sweet and always tries her best. But OMG I was just done yesterday. My patience for this was gone. So we left. I called back today and fortunately they were having a x-mas party. The beautiful, wonderful bookmobile librarian answered the phone. And within 20 minutes called me back with the news that my books were on the shelf and checked back in properly. She also took all the books we had already checked out which turns out all had different due dates. And she had them all due back on the same day. Just awesome! I owe her. Sadly the bookmobile will not be back in circulation till mid January.
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