A Saturday afternoon at the library is something special.
I once pulled that trick quite a bit back in the day, back when I was in university, and quite frankly the boys in residence were starting to get on my nerves.
Off to the campus library I would go, and I’d usually park myself at one of the big tables which, on the weekend, were usually there for the taking. During the week, you’d either share one of these with several others, often in groups, or you would go for the semi-privacy of a study carrel, where you could sort of slice yourself off from the rest of the world inside your own little demi-cubicle.
I will say that I managed to get a ton of work done on these occasions, since you’re at the library, and, well, why not? But it was also an exercise in people watching, something I’ve always been keen to do, the student of humanity that I like to think that I am.
And in a big city library, or a big university library, you get all sorts of folks coming through, setting up shop at their own tables or just going through the process of examining books on shelves. To be honest, I was always kind of hoping that I was going to meet a nice girl there, but I never did, not because there weren’t any nice girls, but mostly because I didn’t have the juice that caught the attention of those nice girls, or any girls for that matter.
At the time, any girlfriends I had were probably met in a social environment involving alcohol. The library wasn’t a licensed establishment, and honestly, who’s going to bring a wineskin in for a Saturday afternoon’s worth of whatever it was that I was doing. And who, ever in the recorded history of time, has come back to a student dorm pasted after an afternoon at the library? The reason I didn’t would mostly have to do with the simple fact that I never thought of it.
It’s Saturday afternoon here in Renfrew, some forty-four years later, and I find myself parked at the Renfrew Public Library. I come here periodically to work on stuff, in fact stuff like this, while at the same time managing to get out of the house for the afternoon. I find some things are the same as that long-ago time, but things are different too.
For one, the people working at the library these days are all pals of mine, as they’ve been for the past several years. So if I’m ever in need of self-affirmation, coming here is just the ticket, since these people are some of the friendliest I’ve found anywhere. Sharon’s here today, so I was happy to slide over and have a chat with her for about five minutes, maybe even ten, and she was cool enough to indulge me. I think that she, and they, do this kind of thing all day, every day, to anyone coming through those doors and up those stairs. Making them feel welcome, making them feel they belong, and making them feel they’re important. It’s this by itself that would make a trip here worth it in its own right, never mind what book you find, or what table you work at.
I’ve got the place to myself for the most part, whereas usually there’s quite a few people here on a Saturday, on the computers, reading newspapers, in the conference rooms, and going about their business of informing or entertaining themselves. For me, I’m just hoping to get a column out of the whole exercise, since tomorrow morning approaches and I’ve not yet come up with a topic that has nothing to do with politics, government, hospitals, hockey rinks, parking spaces or IT contracts.
What has always impressed me was the commitment library staff seem to make to accommodate those who struggle with aspects of society, or being able to fit in with these aspects of society. Setting them up with a computer is a big deal on its own, and managing these people and their needs is something that goes well beyond the strict job description. Yes, I understand that helping people navigate the library, its resources, and its processes is part of what they do, of course it is, but the level of patience required is not exactly minimal. I can’t say enough about how well they handle this sort of thing. With patience, good humour, and the impression they set that everyone has value, regardless of where or how their day started, and regardless of who or what they are. It’s the kind of thing you’d want to see anywhere, everywhere, and I suspect it has little to do with training and/or library policy, and more to do with who they are as people.
My hopes of disengagement from politics for the weekend didn’t survive this Saturday afternoon trip to the library. In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve heard several politically-motivated statements, including the last fellow who said he wanted to run the Secret Service so that he could throw the current prime minister in jail. You nod, and you smile, and you move on secure in the knowledge that this guy will likely never run the Secret Service. You also learn that if you don’t engage in that story, he’ll come up with another story or anecdote that has nothing to do with throwing Trudeau in the clink. Just don’t be the guy that engages with him or your afternoon might be toast, since by the look and feel of it, he’s got lots to say.
They even serve coffee in the place, which is less expensive if you bring your own cup. I always feel like a bit of a cad for bringing my own, but I drink decaffeinated which isn’t available, so there we are.
All told, ,there are worse places to spend an afternoon. And, as I said, you can get a whack of work done, as I already have just by sitting her and talking about more or less nothing.
But it’s a good nothing, and it’s a guarantee that, for as long as they’ll have me, I’m going to be coming back for more.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 