An Interesting Day at the Library

Today was not a particularly busy day at the small-town library where I work, but there were complications.

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We'll come to the reason for this picture soon, but first, there is a lot of smoke blowing into my neck of the woods from distant forest fires. The air is hazy and smells like stale campfire smoke. Second, we have a heat wave with temperatures flirting with the wrong side of 100°F. Third, we had internet issues. Whether the smoke and heat were interfering with our internet connection somewhere along the line, or the provider had an issue, I do not know. Our IT guy checked everything on our end.

Part way through the day, I left on my one residual outreach job left over from when I worked with the Bookmobile team. I used to drive a Sprinter van up to this small town to visit a retirement home once a month, and my return to working at the branch library led to me continuing to serve this facility from my new HQ. Today was delivery day.

I had some CDs for the facility, a stack of books for the prolific reader, a large print western for a new resident, a local history book for a rather crotchety resident, a novel for an odd old lady, and a romantic fiction book for an even odder old lady who always says she wants stuff but then refuses it on delivery. Deliveries and refusals proceeded as expected, and I was talking with a staff member about a lost item when another staff member called down the hall, "Hey _______? Could you call the paramedics? She fell again and she's bleeding pretty badly."

As I understand it, this particular resident suffers from MS or the like, and is of an advanced age to boot, but refuses to use her walker, much less wait for staff to help her with anything, and consequently has had several falls. She was even apparently still recovering from another fall a week ago. This new injury was described as a head wound at least 3 cm. long and likely to need stitches.

Fortunately, this facility is mere blocks from the fire department, and their ambulance and paramedics arrived quickly. Much as I hate the State, the local fire department is at least competent and professional. Like the library, they provide a service the public actually values. I waited until they had wheeled their stretcher through the lobby, and made sure my own departure wouldn't get in their way before I made my way out the door and back to the library. I am confident she is getting the best medical attention possible. Too bad there's no cure for being bullheaded. Then again, I may be that bullheaded myself should I make it to that age.

On a lighter note, shortly before we closed tonight, one of our usual computer users showed up. A few minutes later, his mother came in the door and scolded him for ignoring her instructions. The whole time, he was responding by saying variations of, "But just a couple more minutes, mom! I just wanna finish this level!" I would have been utterly mortified myself to be so scolded in public.

The life of a librarian can intersect with all kinds of strange circumstances. Fortunately, today was largely as a spectator than a participant in the drama.