This is my first day as a shelf reader at the San Juan Island Public Library. What a shelf reader does is go through each library shelf to make sure that all the books are organized correctly by call number. Since I’m also dusting as I go, I take all of the books off one shelf and place them on the shelving cart. Then I dust both the shelf and the books. Doing the books is kind of like flossing, since you have to turn the duster sideways to reach between the covers of each book, but you only dust the top of the “text block.” (There is very technical language involved in my work.) This is the perfect volunteer job for me, since it makes dysfunctional OCD habits very utilitarian. Like, straightening all the books on a shelf so that their spines line up. This is called “fronting.” By shelf reading an entire rack (not just one shelf) I can line up all the books perfectly—except for the bottom shelf, which has a block behind the books to make them stick out a bit so that they’re easier for patrons to find. Well okay. And then, people will come and rifle through the books and mess them up, but that’s actually gratifying. It shows the library is being used. This first day was a revelation in many ways. For one thing, it was a bit like encountering old friends and familiar faces, as well as making unusual discoveries. For instance, the library has two books by Philip Zimbardo (which I recognized by the ZIMBARD on the spine label)--The Lucifer Effect and The Time Paradox—along with Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. By these very titles, the astute reader, or expert in the Dewey Decimal System of library cataloging, would know that I was working in the 100-series of the library. I did peek ahead into the 200-series (religion), because I saw the distinctive maroon of an “Everyman’s Library” book. They have beautiful cloth covers, nice print, and a ribbon to use as a book mark. This Everyman’s book was an edition of Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. And there, on the shelf directly above was a paperback copy of Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. This library rocks! But mainly I was dusting and examining books about death, grief, the supernatural, self-help, libraries and books, Freud and Jung (who share the same call number = 150.19), and more, all of which apparently belong in the philosophy and psychology section. I found the business card for someone at the Family Resource Center stuck in a book on Nonviolent Communication, and wondered if the book had been referred to a client. My work did give me the opportunity to wonder why Feng Shui Your Life was sandwiched between The Sacred Power of Your Name and The Vampire. Yes, there is the cataloging reason—133.33 comes before 133.3337, which comes before 133.423—but that doesn’t explain why those subjects are cataloged in that particular way. (That will have to be another posting.) While I did find a half dozen or so books slightly out of order—like a patron put a book back on the shelf where they thought they’d picked it out—my most gratifying rectification was finding two identical books (except for the year) that had different catalog information on the spine sticker. Had they been cataloged incorrectly? Was it a simple typing error? These were questions greater than my abilities, and were therefore duly reported to Higher Powers. Looking forward to further adventures as a shelf reader, that’s for sure!
E.E. Smith
1/15/2020 12:34:22 pm
I’m so happy for you, in fact I’m a bit envious. Your venture allows you instant gratification as well as peace within...
Rebecca Moore
1/17/2020 07:04:16 pm
Instant gratification is right!!
Kathy Thomson
1/16/2020 03:47:50 pm
For some reason I never thought about there being a library in the San Juan Islands. That is awesome. I thought a shelf reader would be someone who reads the books from one end of the shelf to another. Glad to hear it is something more interesting and useful than that, although I suppose reading that way might yield some unexpected treasures. Libraries have been among my favorite sanctuaries since childhood. When we lived in El Centro I just couldn't seem to get connected to the community (we were only there for a year- thank God!) At some point I decided I would read all the "dirty books" in the El CentroPublic library. I started with "Lady Chatterley's Lover," then "Lolita," and one of Henry Miller's "Tropic of...." and then we moved back to San Diego (1977). I started reading Richard Broadigan (sp?) novels while I was finishing up at SDSU. I think the one titled, "The Abortion, an Historical Romance," had a description of a unique library of lovingly crafted unpublished books. I don't remember anything else about the story but I remember that library fondly.
Rebecca Moore
1/17/2020 07:04:51 pm
What a great story!!
E. N. Genovese
2/7/2020 03:50:39 pm
Ah, yes, Melville Dewey’s system © 1876, not Herbert Putnam’s 1897 Library of Congress system. Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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