No more late fees for me!

For a while now (maybe since the library renovation?) you can sign up to get an email from the library about when a book you reserved comes in. This has saved much marital strife, as often they would call to tell my husband that a book was in for him, and of course I'd completely forget, and then about a week later he would say, "I have nothing to read" and I would say, "Oops."

But now we get an email when our books are ready and problem solved.

But the other day I got a new email, with the subject "Library reminder, items due in 2 days"!  This is going to be an even bigger savior as who in the world can keep track of all the stuff we take out...and the fines for a late DVD are $1 a day, and believe me, that adds up fast.

So, all this library technology has been a huge boon, in my opinion. I see a book review that sounds interesting, I log on to my account and reserve the book. They email me when it's in, and I go get it. They email me when it's due back, and I return it. 

Life is good. 

A librarian's privilege

While anticipation ran high last week over the pending release of the last Harry Potter novel, Lilly Library children’s librarian Kim Perez quietly had her hands on three copies of the book.“I feel all powerful,” she said on Thursday, two days before the Saturday release. “I could blow the lid off the whole thing.”But of course she didn’t.The books arrived at the library on Tuesday while Perez was home for lunch. When she came back, the rest of the library staff jumped all over her, she said, and they opened the boxes with the precious books inside.When she ordered the books it came with a list of conditions and prohibitions to keep it off the shelves until Saturday, but it didn’t say anything about librarians not being able to sneak a peek.So Perez grabbed a copy, sat at her desk (hiding the book as best she could), and flipped right to the back of the book to skim the last few chapters to find out who dies in the end.After that, the books were kept in a safe place until Saturday, when they went right to the first three patrons who reserved the book back in the winter. Others on the waiting list may not see the book for quite a while. There are more than 300 Potter fans on the list already, Perez said.