Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mediocrity Is Highly Underrated

This quote is from a cartoon I saw years ago when my children were little. The graphic is a mother and grandmother having tea in the kitchen while the children are playing outside.

Life doesn't always have to be in Big Bang mode to be good.

And so it is in LibraryLand. I like to look up from the Info desk sometimes and take in my surroundings. How nice it is to see patrons enjoying themselves. Patrons at the stacks scanning a book or looking over shelves, people at computers that are working properly, people working diligently at tables, maybe someone in the magazine section, families in the J area, and neighbors greeting one another.

We don't have to be conducting "over the top" programming to be servicing the community. Don't misunderstand, I love the programs, too--but simple contentment for the everyday rhythm of the library is a good thing as well.

1 comment:

Doris Andrews-Morgan said...

Hello Mindy,

Your thoughts are so right on. It is so wonderful to see soft activity going on in different sections of the branch that give a sense of the "pulse of the branch." I think this is equally as important as the programming activities because it establishes the rhythm that is the pulse of each branch and that draws patrons as much as the programs. It sort of creates the "branch family", the regulars. There is a woman who stops into our branch 2 to 3 times each week. She drives a public transit bus which she parks out front and dashes in to use the restroom. She is delightful and pleasant and much like the 4:15pm express train I used to take from D.C. back home to Baltimore. Thank you for putting a voice to some of my thoughts.

Doris