I'm fascinated by the patrons we get in the library. Today, a guy came up to the desk who looked like a David Bowie-style glam rocker, complete with velvet jacket, rings, necklaces, and long hair. Right after that I got an elderly British man who had just become a U.S. citizen and wanted to know how to vote in America. We get over-achieving teens who want to know how to get a head's up on their future, and there are the teens who slouch in and ask for a guest pass for the computers every day.
I love seeing the people who come in regularly. Some just seem to have no where else to go, so they come to the library. Others are here because they're looking for jobs and we have the classifieds. Sometimes people ask for help and then immediately launch into stories about their children or their flu shots just because they want to tell someone.
It's one of the things I really love about public libraries - that we serve everyone and get to see people from everywhere. I can help a homeless man sign up for a beginning computer class one minute, and help a student with a paper the next.
I think it's really interesting how many times a day I help someone find a phone number. Typically, this is a transaction that takes me about 30 seconds on the phone, because I just type in a search and give them the number (or address). I always wonder if these people don't know how to use the computer, whether they're just in the habit of asking the library, or whether they have reference in their phone on speed dial for when they're out and about. No matter what it is, I love it - it's just not something I'd ever think to do.
