beep....beep....beep....beep....beep....beep...

Inventory at the library.  I've got my ipod in my ears and a cordless scanner in my hand.  I'm scanning in the non-fiction section, one book at a time.  Beep . . . beep . . . beep.

Our school's twin servers crashed about 2 months ago and we lost track of which patron had which book.  When we re-installed our circulation program, last year's graduated seniors were back in the system and the freshman were nowhere to be found. 

In an effort to get back as many books as we could, we promoted a "no fines" campaign.  People thought we were so generous, to delete all  previous fines and not charge any more through the rest of the year.  Little did they know we simply wanted out books back.  I posted witty announcements like, "A Child Called It . . . Bob Marley biographies . . . Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl . . . Come on ya'll we need our books back.  Don't be lazy!  No fines for late returns!"  and stuff like that. 

We did get a lot back, our section holding The Outsiders looks pretty full.  Got back both copies of Always Running.  My grin was huge when someone returned our seriously late copy of Brisinger, the only copy we had.  Then the staff thought we should get a jump start on the inventory because 1)  I am probably getting transferred to another school and 2)  Who knows how many days of summer the new person will have to devote to inventory.  Our inventory program is very unforgiving, however, and I goofed and ALL our books were marked to "missing status".  Needless to say, an inventory was needed in a real bad way.

I am on this "consciously conscious" kick and am watching my thoughts a lot.  As I was scanning and scanning and scanning, I was thinking about the site where I am proably going to be transferred to.  It is a middle school, but not the one I started in.  I thought about the decorations I wanted to put up there and looked forward to reading some more of the fiction there.  I am big-time into middle and high school lit these days. 

Beep . . . beep . . . beep. . . I noticed my thoughts and feelings touched on sadness and regret.  The incoming freshman to the school I am currently assigned to were my 7th graders a year ago.  My biggest wish was to see them again as incoming freshman.  I acknowledged the sadness and reminded myself to be unattached to the outcome.  All year I have focused on this detachment train of thought.  It is not easy to change how we think!  Soon I felt neutral in my feelings, though not before sending out a little wish to the universe to be able to stay at this site.

Beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . Summer school is being held in the library while I work.  I have my ipod on quiet enough to hear the beeps and in case anyone needs to speak with me.  The summer school teacher is nice but I can tell she can keep these kids in line.  The are upcoming seniors who need this make-up class in order to graduate.  I am amazed at her outfit.  At first glance, it is a matching floral top and skirt, but after a second-take, it is glaringly mismatched in a cool, don't give a sh## way.  She doesn't care.  She can make it work.  Beep . . . beep . . . beep.

My ipod goes randomly from one artist to the next.  Sarah Maclachlan, Tori Amos, Cypress Hill, Bob Marley, Rollins Band, Man is the Bastard, Soulfly, Emmylou Harris.  I take note of who is performing and which books I am scanning.  Tennyson, Basketball, Climbing Mt. Everest.

My brain turns to my idea of putting display shelves up on the non-ficiton walls.  They are blank and there are so many interesting books that haven't been touched since I did inventory last July. 

Beep . . . beep . . . beep . . .  There is a book out of order.  Reach and exchange it for it's rightful place.  When I remember, I put my hand behind the books to find any lost puppies.  Every once in awhile, I find one that's been pushed back when a student replaced a book. 

Then my brain starts thinking about all the creative energy put into all this music and all these books.  The Mars Volta kicks in as I scan a book of essays titled, How to be Alone.  Living Colour plays their funky jams as I scan SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld.  I didn't know we had this . . . Eric Clapton rocks on and I find a chewed lollypop stick.  Devo plays while I scan Walden and Civil Disobedience. 

Beep. . . beep . . . beep . . . Oops, Volume 2 is shelved after Volume 4.  Madonna croons a sad song.  Out of curiosity, I open a really old copy entitled Anthology of Romanticism from 1933.  It was last checked-out in 2003.  Not bad. 

Dig, Primus, Eagles of Death Metal, The BBQ (E and Jim's project band) play as I scan in the plays.  U2 comes on while I wait for the information to transfer from the scanner to my computer.  The section I just finished contained 728 books (read 728 beeps) with only 4 missing.  Not bad.

Tad kicks in as I go back to the stacks to scan some more.

Thanks for listening.