just sitting there…
August 5th, 2005
Ever since I started working for libraries, I’ve noticed a few people in the library - who don’t work there - spending their entire day there. Just sitting there.
As a library page working part-time for just 19 hours a week, I noticed them. I assumed they went about their daily non-library life outside those 19 hours when I’m pushing around a booktruck. But as I went full-time, working 40 hours a week, I still saw them - sitting down, reading, sometimes sleeping, or staring blankly out the window.
They’re sometimes there in the mornings, waiting outside for us to open up. Neither rain, nor hail, nor snow (which is sadly not a recurring problem here in this part of Florida) can stop them from coming inside. I often wonder what they do on Sundays (or holidays, for that matter) when we close.
I constantly glance at my watch and look at the desk schedule, wondering when I can grab a quick cup of coffee, and looking forward to the lunch or dinner break. But as I walk out the building to grab a bite to eat, they’re sitting there. When I come back, cursing myself for upsizing that value meal - they’re still sitting there. They haven’t taken a 15 minute break, or grabbed a bite to eat.
They’re just sitting there.
I’ve since moved to another library in another part of town. This one doesn’t seem to have the same people coming in, sitting down, and spending more hours here than I do. There’s always a different face coming in, returning their books, browsing around, checking their e-mail, checking out books, and leaving. Once or twice I’ll see someone spending hours on end in the library, but sooner or later they’ll get up and walk out the door.
The other day I visited my old haunt - which has since moved across the street into a newer building. I walked around, envying their children’s section, gawking at their college-prep materials, and longing for a cup of coffee from their indoor cafe (I’m sure it was a library I stepped foot in, and not a Barnes & Noble.) As I walked back downstairs, I noticed them. The same people I watched years before while shelving books - in a new library, with new books and new technology, doing the same old thing - just sitting there.
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