Interim Week

Silence. Stillness. Calm. Peace. Death?

All words that are synonyms to quiet, as defined by Dictionary.com's Thesaurus, and all words that describe the library at this current time-except for the last one, I hope.

It is interim week. This means the second summer session of classes has ended, and the fall semester will not begin until the 30th of this month. It is an odd time. At this current time, 9:00 on a Monday morning, the library is lifeless. Most of the noise is coming from the full time supervisors behind the circulation desk, and the light above the circulation desk, which, until last week, I had always thought it was the vent making that noise. I was wrong.

Over yonder I can see the student reference librarian, whom at any moment may be impaled by the giant "Ask Us" sign. I'm sure it will happen one day, what with the sign placed merely on fishing line nailed to the ceiling.

But with such nothingness, the library still goes on. Cleaning whiteboards that haven't been used in 3 months, shelving endless children's books, sending our books to other libraries to be enjoyed by students who don't go to UP. Its almost like when parents send their children go college. It is sad, but you know they will be back for a short while, only to leave you again. Finally, at some point, they leave forever. Often by force. This happens at the library too. Its called weeding. A sad time when books that haven't been used for years get the boot. We remove all identity that we ever owned them with harsh permanent markers, and often times they sit and wait for their doom.

OK, maybe it isn't like that in real life, but wouldn't that be sad if it was?

Has anyone ever noticed the striations in the white carpet of the library? It almost reminds me of a terrain maps my stepdad has lying around our house when he is preparing to go hunting. Or the water stains on the ceiling that remind me of clouds. Its almost as if I'm in the woods, with all of the knowledge I need to know at my fingertips.

However, instead i'm sitting at a computer, in a quiet building, reading the Dentist of Auschwitz. Yes. it is quite a Monday morning here at the library. The life of a Student Supervisor may not be that great, but it does have its pluses. Just wait and see....

Signing off,

Madison