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So many things to say before I even get started. This blog will revolve around my volunteer work at my local library, Cedar Mill Community Library in Beaverton, OR. I've been a page, a tasketeer, finder of lost or missing books, and return desk maven since the spring of 2010 and it didn't take me long to realize how forgetful people can be when they return their borrowed items to the library.
It's been fun to learn and gain insight into how the library's circulation department works. It's an efficient system of volunteers of all ages and paid staff that ensure the swift turn around of the returned item being placed back on the shelf and ultimately re-borrowed. A circulation volunteer may learn up to three major tasks that help keep the system working. A page is someone who takes rolling carts of returned books and re-shelves them, a tasketeer is a person who sorts through the daily delivery from the other county libraries, and the return desk is exactly what it sounds like...up front and interacting with the library patrons who are returning their borrowed items.
As a tasketeer and return desk volunteer I noticed as I sorted and inspected especially the books, that personal stuff kept falling out. Sometimes a grocery list, to-do list, family photo, greeting cards, postcards, drawings, etc. I could relate to many of the forgotten items I was finding...for instance if I was having a particularly bad or out of sorts kind of day, it seemed I would find a prayer card left behind in a book. I recently had to put my 14+ year old beloved kitty Josephine down because of a serious illness, and during the next shift I worked a photograph of someone's cat fell out of a book I was inspecting. I've never been one to ignore these "a-ha" moments...and since the first day I found something was left behind in a book I took it upon myself to keep and collect these items. I couldn't bare to just chuck them in the trash...they had DNA, a human connection attached. At first I imagined I would organize and compile them into a 'zine by the same name as this blog...but as time has gone on the pile has gotten larger. So I hope you stick with me and enjoy the little tidbits I share about the somewhat varied box of people's random forgetfulness. Until next time...
As a tasketeer and return desk volunteer I noticed as I sorted and inspected especially the books, that personal stuff kept falling out. Sometimes a grocery list, to-do list, family photo, greeting cards, postcards, drawings, etc. I could relate to many of the forgotten items I was finding...for instance if I was having a particularly bad or out of sorts kind of day, it seemed I would find a prayer card left behind in a book. I recently had to put my 14+ year old beloved kitty Josephine down because of a serious illness, and during the next shift I worked a photograph of someone's cat fell out of a book I was inspecting. I've never been one to ignore these "a-ha" moments...and since the first day I found something was left behind in a book I took it upon myself to keep and collect these items. I couldn't bare to just chuck them in the trash...they had DNA, a human connection attached. At first I imagined I would organize and compile them into a 'zine by the same name as this blog...but as time has gone on the pile has gotten larger. So I hope you stick with me and enjoy the little tidbits I share about the somewhat varied box of people's random forgetfulness. Until next time...
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