...the "traffic" on your commute to work is 3 coyote and 2 deer.
- Southeast Kansas Library Consultant
your patrons arrive by 4-wheeler, tractor or lawn mower.
-Hepler (Ks.) City Library
... you sometimes get to work late because of the large farm implements going 15 miles an hour down the two-lane county road to your library.
- Eager Free PL, Evansville, Wisconsin
...you slow down for a parade of field mice -- 15-20 of them -- crossing the road.
-Pleasanton (Ks.) Lincoln Public Library
... your genealogy materials are rarely used because everyone knows each other and their family histories.
...the highway snowplow stops by your library for audio books.
-Stanley Community Library (Idaho?)
...you have to drive behind the herd of sheep that have to be moved down the main highway.
- Valerie
...you hear gunshots in the distance because it is turkey hunting season.
- Claremont, NH
...the explanation for overdue books is "there was overtime at the meat processing plant and Mama didn't have time to bring in my books."
- Kathleen
...fire engines go roaring by several times a day because it is pasture burning season and the fires have gotten out of hand.
...you are working late and someone drops by to make sure you are all right because they know the library should be closed...then offers to walk you to your car.
...automotive repair manuals are filed under "landscaping".
-Daryl
...the two books enjoying the highest checkout in the library are The Chicken Health Book and How to do Your Own Divorce in Texas.
-Texas librarian
...if a perfectly valid reason for calling off work is "my road flooded out again."
- Brad
...you get to work in the morning and the bunnies scatter from the parking lot as you pull in.
- Lambton County Library, Wyoming, Ontario, Canada
...you're late to work because you were stuck behind a tractor, or a combine.
...the UPS man knows to drop off your packages at the library if you are not at home.
...you are happy to adjust employee's schedules around their county fair competitions.
...your whole area's Internet connection goes down because a farmer's horse dies. (The farmer used a backhoe to dig a hole for burial and accidentally cut a cable in the process.)
-Beaufort Branch Library, Beaufort, SC
...a boy's book is overdue and his excuse is his mother kept him at the hospital day after day while she was sitting with her brother who had a log run through his stomach. (The man lived. EMS confirmed the story.)
- Alexander County Library, Taylorsville, NC
...you enjoy bird watching on the way to work --and can identify the birds you see.
- Pleasonton (Ks.) Lincoln Public Library
...Someone comes into the library asking direction to a person's house without having the address, and the library employee can give correct instructions for getting there.
- Stanton County (Ks.) Public Library
...a patron comes in and says "I want to read that book by that author that I liked last year..." and you just know what book s/he is referring to.
- Osawatomie (Ks) Public Library
...if the state library consultant is asked to run the library for a few minutes because the librarian is the only one on duty and a patron called needing help canning beans (true story).
- State Library of Kansas
...if staff members know the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of the kid checking out books. - Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System
...if you know -- and call-- the owner of the dog that wandered into the library.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System
...if staff members can walk to any store downtown during their break.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System
...if patrons bring you vegetables from their gardens.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System
...your director wants to have a "living display" for National Dairy Month and brings in a cow to show the college kids. Then when she says "Who has milked a cow before?" all three other staff members chuckle and raise their hands.
-Technology Center, Kansas State University at Salina, Kansas
...when your patrons see you coming in your vehicle and hold their returns out the car window for you to grab as you pass by.
- Weir (Ks.) Public Library
...UPS delivers to your home because the library is closed.
- Bison (Ks.) Community Library
...your maintenance man/courier is late getting from one building to the other because he had to wait 15 minutes for farmers on horseback who are moving a herd of cattle down the only road between two of your libraries.
-Coffey County (Ks.) Library
...you are stopped at the Casey's Convenience Store in a near-by town and are asked if you have such-and-such book.
- Bison (Ks.) Community Library
...you have a newborn baby goat in your office at the library because it was rejected by its mother, and you are bottle feeding it.
- Kansas librarian
...you come to work with chicken poop somewhere on your person.
- Kansas librarian
...you are late to work because you had to drop animals off at the sale barn.
- Kansas librarian
...you need to leave early to take your kids and their livestock to the 4-H weigh in.
- Kansas librarian
...a patron had to pay for a damaged book because it fell in the sheep dip.
- Kansas librarian
...you stay open when the electricity is out because people will be in for books to read until the power comes back on.
- Kansas librarian
...it doesn't surprise you when the reason for the power outage is a combine took out a telephone pole.
- Kansas librarian
...the book is dirty "because I was reading it in the field why I was waitin on..." makes perfect sense to you.
- Kansas librarian
...you suggest checking the trucks and tractors for that missing audiobook CD.
- Barton County Community College Library, Great Bend, KS.
...your first reference question is from a 4-H member asking how long to leave a rooster with hens before what he wants to happen, happens.
- Hays Public Library, Hays, Ks.
...the regular library person forgot that it was her day to work, so an 8th grader who volunteers on Saturdays finds the key, opens the library and runs it.
- Sabetha, Ks.
...you are late to work because the railroad crossing was blocked by railroad cars moving forward and back while switching to the grain elevator tracks (this can take 20 minutes or more!)
- Abilene (Ks.) Public Library
...patrons use your car as a bookdrop, anywhere within a 60-mile radius of the library
- Kansas librarian
...you are late for work and kids knock on your front door to ask why you are not at the library.
-Courtland and Formoso (Ks.) Libraries
...people meet you at the grocery, then run to their cars to find library books to return to you.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library
...you come home to find book donations on your front porch.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library
...patrons ask you to bring books they have on hold to meetings and baseball games.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library
...patrons come to your house when the library is closed and ask to check out a book because they have nothing to read.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library
...staff members bring chickens, calves and horses to visit storytime.
- Belleville (Ks) Public Library
...you carry bits of paper in your pocket when going to the grocery store, etc., because you know someone will request a book or have a question.
...you check out and take books to an elderly patron because she kinda, sorta threatened to tell your Dad if you didn't.
- Cedar County Library
… a firefighter stops a young vandal from damaging your vehicle by saying "No, that car belongs to one of the librarians
… the only time you lock your car is in the summer so people won't leave bags of squash in it.
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… when delivery people bring packages to the library, not your home, irrespective of what the address says.
- Debra, a former rural librarian
… your library has a hitchin' post.
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… your library has a watering trough. Though no longer being used.
- Darla
... the grandfather across the street is your security system (True!)
... you list the names of probable readers next to every book you order (in the order of their VIP standing or watch out!), and if there aren't enough possible readers you won't be ordering it. (Sadly, also true)
... you know every card-holder by name, and could take a stab at age and ancestry for two generations in either direction.
... you walk to work (because you CAN), every car stops to ask if you need a ride and what happened to your car?
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… patrons are personally affronted if you ask to see their library card at checkout.
- Melissa (another former rural librarian)
… you refuse to issue a card to Billy Bob jr. because the picture ID he brought in is his father's. You know this because you know where both he and his father live, and the address on the driver's license is the father's.
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... a patron asks to trade you either a dozen eggs or a freshly baked pie in lieu of paying a fine.
- Algonquin Area (Ill.) Public Library District
… in the winter, "I can't get out of my driveway" is due to the snow.
- Beaufort (SC) Branch Library
… Everybody knows you have not been walking very well and one night as you leave and head for your car a pickup going the other way stops and just sets there until you are in your car then goes on their way.
… the Chief of Police lets you park in a no parking spot while you are at work in the library.
- Sedan (Ks.) Public Library
… "there's a
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… you cannot open the library's dumpster because a bear was jumping on it and smashed the top, and you have chipmunks living the ceiling of the library eating the wiring (both true stories from another library I worked in).
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… every other patron asks about your mama-by name.
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...a man walks in with a shoe box in his hands, asking for the Reader's Advisor. He then takes the top of the box and says, "Can you identify this (very much alive) snake? I've never seen one like this around here.
- Alexander (NC) County Library
… when you ask a patron applying for a library card his phone number, he rattles off the last four digits (sadly we now have to dial the area code but natives or long timers still rattle off just the last four digits)
… you get a call at home on a Sunday to your unlisted (for personal reasons) phone number telling you the book drop's overflowing and it's raining
… you go to lunch and a patron hands you a book and asks if you can return it for her
… you get complaints about staff when you're at the roller rink in the next town
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