A Paperclip

Today I was down at the Canisius College Library to pick up a few books. It had been a while since I last borrowed a book there. It has also been six years this month since I retired from the Library. I was surprised to walk in and see Kris sitting at the desk. She was surprised to see me too. We talked for quite a while before I wandered off to find the books on my list.

Later I came back to the desk with my books. I had really enjoyed browsing the stacks and it took me much longer to bring my books down to be checked out. There was a problem because the IT department had recently purged and then uploaded the new patron database into the library system and for some reason my record didn't transfer over to the system. No big deal but it was going to take a few minutes to get me back into the system and into the library software. In the meantime a student approached the desk behind me for some service.

I quickly stepped aside to let Kris help the student who then asked for a paperclip. We were both surprised but the funny thing was that initially Kris could not find on at the desk. She looked in several drawers and eventually came up with one and the student went away happy.  Years ago when I was working the desk in the library there was always a large bowl or container full of paperclips. They were always in demand along with a stapler for students who had just printed out papers. They often wanted paperclips to sort the printed papers. 

We would often provide all kinds of little services for students at the reference or circulation desks. Next to the container of paperclips was usually a bowl of candy. Students were also always asking for a pencil and there was also always a large container of pencils available to them. 

This incident also reminded me that when I worked at the downtown public library and sat at a reference desk it was always interesting to think about the conversation you would soon be having as a person walked up to the desk. This conversation could be about any subject on anything in the world. Of course the librarian was expected to know the answer to the question but was expected to know how to find the answer. But of course often the person walked up to the desk and asked where the bathroom was located. The students in the college library knew where the restrooms were but they liked to ask for a paperclip.