We recently had a small branch of the public library (or, as they are known in Boise, the Library!) open very near our house. I decided I should finally take Max to the classes they have for little kids that I have been intending to take him to for ages. We found the classroom and had a seat on the floor. About halfway through the first or second story, read by a non-enthusiastic librarian, Max turns to me and says, "Mom, I want you to read the story."
Flash forward to after the story time: the librarian takes us on a "tour" of the Children's section of the library. Remember I said it's a small branch? The tour was completely unnecessary. We obediently followed our tour guide as she said, pointing to the short stacks of children's books, "These are the pictures books, starting with A..." (Walk 3 or 4 more feet.) "These are the picture books, starting with H..." Etc.
After our vigorous walk of 10 feet, she says, "Here are the puzzles and games." Guess what Max wants to do now when we go to the library.
There are also small tables with computers in the children's section. That first visit, after Max and I each got our own library cards, I logged into one of these computers for Max and got him set up watching Thomas videos...which we could watch at home. I thought I would log on at another computer at the same table and look for a book in the catalog while Max was otherwise engaged. No such luck. You have to have a children's library card to log into the computers in the children's section. And yes, I tried logging into 2 computers with Max's card. It was a no go.
There are also small tables with computers in the children's section. That first visit, after Max and I each got our own library cards, I logged into one of these computers for Max and got him set up watching Thomas videos...which we could watch at home. I thought I would log on at another computer at the same table and look for a book in the catalog while Max was otherwise engaged. No such luck. You have to have a children's library card to log into the computers in the children's section. And yes, I tried logging into 2 computers with Max's card. It was a no go.So, I decided that I would go to the nearest bank of adult computers, (in a very open setting), sitting in a specific seat so that I could keep my eye on Max. The man sitting next to me sort of flinched when I sat down, and slightly turned his monitor away from me. Are you kidding me?
If you are thinking that this other library patron was looking at illicit websites, you would be correct. Yuck and yikes. I quickly logged out and went to find the librarian. Her response, "oh no." And that was it.
Well, I guess we know now why it's known as the Library!
Epilogue: I take Max to a children's class on a different day with a little more lively librarian, and I put my books on hold before I get there, so I don't need to use the computer.
1 comment:
Ew - I can't believe the guy next to you was looking at dirty sites at the LIBRARY! That's when you know you're hard up. You don't even have your own personal computer to look at nudies on the internet. I can't even imagine having the guts to do that in a public place!
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