The Sanborns

Since today’s Friday5 is not up yet, I’m going to skip it and tell you about my library visit yesterday.

I got a membership at the local library after we got married. I spent a good deal of time at the library as a child. I was always reading and I entered their summer reading contests every year and won for my age group. It’s how I earned my very first copy of the game of Life. 

Well, reading wasn’t just a summer thing, I read during the school year as well. It sort of started in the 5th grade when my school introduced us to the Accelerated Reader program. Basically, you checked out and read a book which was part of the program. The book was marked by a reading level and points. When you finished reading the book, you took a quiz over the book and earned points based on how many answers you got correct. 

When the program kicked off at school, my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Wertz (who is to this day, the teacher I hate the most from school, another story, another time) decided to hold a classroom contest. Whoever read the most books (Maybe 20-30) before anyone else, got a prize. 

Now, I loved to read, but this contest gave me incentive to win! The contest ended up coming between myself and a girl named Jennifer in class. In the end, she won, but I continued to read in the program and ended up retiring from it in the 8th grade. At the time I retired, I was the most advanced reader by several hundred points. I don’t even remember how far ahead of the other kids I was, but the closest kid had about half the amount of points I had accumulated over the years.

With the points we earned, we were able to trade in at the end of the year for toys or books. The librarian became a dear friend of mine. She always encouraged me and gave me book recommendations.

So, I signed up for a membership at the library in town. I did this for a few reasons. While in college, I had access to the University’s library. I only used it a few times for pleasure reading because I was so busy. I still have access through Gray, but I didn’t want to harass him constantly to check out books for me. Instead, I want the freedom to check them out whenever I want to.

Initially I got one book, a few months ago, and when I finally returned it, it was overdue. About two weeks ago I returned for another visit, mainly because I had bought a book that was part of a series and wanted to read the other books without buying them. Luckily, the library has the entire series in some form or fashion. I put a few of the books on hold because they are very popular and you can’t check them out otherwise.

A few days ago I got an email from the library system letting me know that my book was available. So yesterday I drug Gray to the library. I browsed for a while before I settled on some book choices for the next few weeks. Gray asked to check out a James Bond book and we headed to the circulation desk. 

I handed the assistant my books, library card, and informed her that I had a book on reserve. We stood there for a few moments, noticing there were firefighters milling about, but not paying much attention. The assistant returned with “my” book, but I noticed the book she held was not the one I had requested.

“That’s not my book.”

“You aren’t Rebecca Sanborn?”

“No, I am, but that’s not the book I requested.”

“Oh, well let me have a look.”

A few minutes later…

“What was the book your requested?”

“Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin”

“Oh…”

A minute later…

“Ok, well, we don’t have that as a book, it’s only audio CDs.”

I argued with her, saying I had reserved a book, not CDs.

“No, there are only CDs available, here take a look at the screen.”

I saw her screen, but I knew I was right. The library search system shows you what is available and where at. It covers a few libraries in the county. I went over to the search computer and searched for the book. Sure enough, the book was listed but it said it wasn’t available for a few days.

Back at the computer, I asked her to look up the book under the author’s name as I had. So she did, and it said the same thing to her. I was frustrated and decided to just take the CDs because I wanted the book, regardless of what format it was in. 

At this time, more firemen have showed up. Gray recalled the smell from upstairs, burnt marshmallows he claimed. I thought it smelled more like burnt popcorn. Regardless, the fire department is searching everywhere for an answer.

I could tell that I had upset the assistant, but I know the email I received told me to come to their library, not another one in the county. In fact, I have proof:

from sirsi@unicorn1.linebaugh.org to becca.sanborn@gmail.com date Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 3:10 AM subject Library Notice mailed-by unicorn1.linebaugh.org

hide details Sep 30 (4 days ago)

Reply

So, I’ve decided that in the future I may be printing off my emails to bring in. I have no doubt that someone else in the library got my book, especially since they were handing me the wrong book in the first place.

As far as what was on fire, I’m not sure. When we left they had yet to find anything and there were four fire trucks parked outside.