The Shrine in My Office

Oh the Things You'll Find at the Library

I have a shrine in my office, though it didn’t begin that way.

At first there was just two rocks - a hunk of petrified wood from Arizona and a volcanic stone from Iceland. I brought them to my library because my office sits right on the path to the circulation desk and that means, literally, every child that walks by says hello.

And I want them to. And I want to say hello right back. Every librarian accumulates patron groupies. (If you work at a library, you know what I’m talking about.) So, kids will stop by. And kids love rocks. They all do.

So, my initial thought was I’d have a couple cool educational things to show them; they could touch the rocks, hold them. We could talk about how they were formed.

But then, well, things started to spin out of control. One kid brought me a rock back from a trip to France. Obviously that had to be displayed. Little Bean made me a yarn octopus for the lava rock, and gave me a blue “reading buddy” cat. She also collected a bunch of corn kernels in a bag “for you to squeeze” whenever I was stressed. Colleagues gave me pins. The apple is a throwback to the library’s previous director and my mentor, a reminder of whose shoes I’m walking in

And a few weeks ago, a patron stopped by with a silver elephant bank full of pennies to donate to the library expansion fund. It was the kindest gift we’d ever received. I think it came to about three and a half bucks. “You can keep the elephant,” she said. Of course I would!

I have a drawer of Star Wars stickers as well to give out and a pile of snowflakes from my daughter. And in a real pinch, when I need the big treasures, we have an emergency supply of Girl Scout Cookies.

For a while I had a reading panda as well, but I gave him to one of my favorite kids, and every time he comes back to the library, he brings his panda. I can’t beat our children’s librarian just based on the shear amount of love and attention she - rightfully - receives from the kids, but I try to keep up.

And so the shrine grows, and it will continue so long as those little readers keep bringing me rocks and stuffed animals and whatever else they wish.

You see, a library isn’t a cubicle, isn’t a place where you just pay bills, or fill out paperwork, or get your tires rotated. (Though we’ll help you find those places!) Our library is a place where you bring precious treasures because you know - you just know - that we’ll take those glorious, special trinkets and we’ll put ‘em on display for everybody to see. We’ll do that because a library isn’t a dusty book warehouse.

We’ll do that because your library, is home.