Quest in the Library
A few days ago, our hero was on a quest to find a Christmas songbook. She was bored of the scanty holiday sheet music she had available at home and was hoping to find something like the Readers' Digest Merry Christmas Songbook that she had seen at her parents' home and other places.
She was searching at her local library. This library is called the College Hill Library because it is connected to the Front Range Community College. The public library is on the bottom floor, and the college can be reached by various staircases that climb to the second floor, which is the main level for the college.
Our hero first bravely approached the computerized catalog, typing in the search box the words, "Christmas Songbook". Only one result came up: The Time-Life Christmas Songbook.
That might work, our hero thought to herself. She checked the availability information. It was checked in. The location? Second Floor main stacks. (Dun dun dun)
Our hero had been to the second floor before. She had even been to the part of the college with classrooms - that's where she had taken the test for her ham radio license several years before. But it wasn't a place she knew well. She was much more familiar and comfortable with the main floor, with the children's room with the castle in the center, with the teen's area, with the orderly shelves of adult fiction and nonfiction. She had been coming to this library since she had come to live in Colorado twelve years before.
Feeling some trepidation, (and yet feeling stupid for feeling trepidation) our hero began climbing up the circular staircase in the center of the library. She glanced at the librarians at their desk below, and wondered if they were going to holler at her for leaving the public area of the library. (And realized that was dumb. She was perfectly permitted to go to the second floor of the library.) She passed by the huge crack in the wall with the date above it: 12.21.14 (A promotion for a Doctor Who Party that would be held at the library. There was also a life-size cardboard cut out of the 12th doctor in the foyer and a chalk drawing of the TARDIS on the ground outside the front door.)
Finally, she arrived at the second floor. In front of her was another circulation desk, with librarians talking to customers and on phones. To the right and behind her were the stacks. In a moment of panic, our hero contemplated asking a librarian for help, then thrust down the thought. She was more afraid of talking to strangers than she was of searching a strange room for a book. Silly girl. Each shelf had a code labeled on the end, with letters and numbers. She had written down the strange call number of the book she was looking for. (M 1629.3.C5 T55 1987) She could find it. She found the shelf labeled L-NA, and turned down the aisle. Eventually, she found the M section, and way down, on second shelf from the floor, she found the book she had been searching for. It was a skinny book, almost a thick magazine, but it contained the sheet music for twenty-four familiar Christmas carols. It would do.
As our hero straightened up, she was surprised to see, on just the next shelf up, a set of four thick blue books, with the words Brigham Young University printed plainly on the spine. What's this? She thought to herself. Curious about this set of books about her alma mater, she took out book 4 and opened it up. The chapter she opened to discussed the Oaks Era in the 1970s. Apparently it was a history of the university. Interesting, she thought. She took a picture of the books just to prove to herself that they really existed (and maybe to blog about later) and then, taking her songbook with her, retreated back down the stairs to the familiar part of the library. She'd had enough adventuring for one day, and even found a treasure.
She was searching at her local library. This library is called the College Hill Library because it is connected to the Front Range Community College. The public library is on the bottom floor, and the college can be reached by various staircases that climb to the second floor, which is the main level for the college.
Our hero first bravely approached the computerized catalog, typing in the search box the words, "Christmas Songbook". Only one result came up: The Time-Life Christmas Songbook.
That might work, our hero thought to herself. She checked the availability information. It was checked in. The location? Second Floor main stacks. (Dun dun dun)
Our hero had been to the second floor before. She had even been to the part of the college with classrooms - that's where she had taken the test for her ham radio license several years before. But it wasn't a place she knew well. She was much more familiar and comfortable with the main floor, with the children's room with the castle in the center, with the teen's area, with the orderly shelves of adult fiction and nonfiction. She had been coming to this library since she had come to live in Colorado twelve years before.
Feeling some trepidation, (and yet feeling stupid for feeling trepidation) our hero began climbing up the circular staircase in the center of the library. She glanced at the librarians at their desk below, and wondered if they were going to holler at her for leaving the public area of the library. (And realized that was dumb. She was perfectly permitted to go to the second floor of the library.) She passed by the huge crack in the wall with the date above it: 12.21.14 (A promotion for a Doctor Who Party that would be held at the library. There was also a life-size cardboard cut out of the 12th doctor in the foyer and a chalk drawing of the TARDIS on the ground outside the front door.)
Finally, she arrived at the second floor. In front of her was another circulation desk, with librarians talking to customers and on phones. To the right and behind her were the stacks. In a moment of panic, our hero contemplated asking a librarian for help, then thrust down the thought. She was more afraid of talking to strangers than she was of searching a strange room for a book. Silly girl. Each shelf had a code labeled on the end, with letters and numbers. She had written down the strange call number of the book she was looking for. (M 1629.3.C5 T55 1987) She could find it. She found the shelf labeled L-NA, and turned down the aisle. Eventually, she found the M section, and way down, on second shelf from the floor, she found the book she had been searching for. It was a skinny book, almost a thick magazine, but it contained the sheet music for twenty-four familiar Christmas carols. It would do.
Comments
Post a Comment