Child's play

A little guy in our library knocked his head on the shelving and started crying -- and Mom was nowhere around. So I sat with him and we read a book until Mom returned from the bathroom. He was happy to see her again.
Bob, branch library manager

I had a call in the Hotline from a mother wanting books at a particular library about spaceships and the moon. I walked her through searching the catalog and using the limiters to select the library location. She was very happy for the tutorial, and explained why she put items on hold in advance. "I have a 1 1/2 year old who will pull more books down in two minutes than we can put back up in two hours, so I need to do as much as I can beforehand as possible!" We had a chuckle and I assured her that one day she would be able to actually come in to the library and not just run to the holds shelf, but for now, that was perfectly acceptable! 
Laura, associate librarian

Every field has its giants, its intellectual leaders and early thought-creators. Melvil Dewey, he of the magical mystery cataloging system, is a big one for libraries (obviously), but there was also S.A. Ranganathan, who culled library thought into five simple "laws" that all libraries should strive to uphold. One of the laws -- still revered today -- is "Save the time of the reader."

Libraries do all kinds of things, from having the newest books on one shelf to making self-checkout machines available, to accommodate this law.

Michael Gorman is a latter-day library leader who has proposed a few supplemental laws to Ranganathan's. The Gorman law that resonates most deeply for me is "Libraries serve humanity."

These two stories, while sharing mothers and small children in common, are also perfect examples of a combination of these two laws.

When libraries serve children, we are also serving busy parents -- and an easy-to-navigate catalog and ability to place items on hold in advance are great ways to help parents save time (and the hassle of re-shelving books their little ones may pull down).

But what Bob demonstrated is that we also serve humanity in the form of little boys who bang their heads and need some comfort in the form of a warm lap and a story until Mom gets back from the bathroom.

Technology can be wonderful -- in the service to real people -- but kindness will never go out of style.