Intern Diaries: The Library

Before starting my internship at the library, I had just finished watching The Office. It was so stuck in my head that on the first day I couldn’t help comparing everything to the show. Hearing the words “branch manager” immediately made me think of Michael Scott. As I went around being introduced to everyone downstairs in the big office space, each person sitting at their desk, I couldn’t help but feel like I had stepped into an episode. In my head, I started matching everyone with characters from the show.

One librarian reminded me of Pam. I learned that she actually graduated from art school, even though she isn’t doing anything directly related to art now. But after watching her work, I realized she genuinely loves what she does. The way she interacts with the kids shows that, and she always finds creative ways to bring art into the library through decorations and activities like Kids Create.

A couple of weeks later, it’s pouring outside. It actually has been raining all week. I come in, take my headphones out, and get greeted like usual before heading downstairs. The computers are acting up again, but that has nothing to do with me. I go to story time and the wheels on the bus go round and round and the itsy bitsy spider climbs up the water spout. One toddler (the cutest ever) can’t stop asking when she’s going to play doctor with the toy kit.
After we clean up, I go upstairs to mirror the librarian and sit at the desk. Secretly, this might be my favorite thing to do because it makes me feel like a grown-up. I’m so used to being the kid who comes to the library, that sitting on the other side of the desk feels strange. People come up asking about printing, the computers that keep going down, and how to get a library card.

I’m tempted to pick up The New Yorker and read about the world getting bombed and the newest Chanel bag, but instead I start asking questions about how the library actually runs. I ask who the branch manager is, because when everyone was being introduced to me earlier I was too busy thinking about The Office to remember.
When the assistant branch manager tells me who it is, I realize it’s someone completely different from who I thought. The branch manager here is nothing like Michael Scott. If anything, she reminds me a little of Phyllis, but only because she seems calm and actually sane. Even her voice has that same calm tone. I imagine the branch probably runs a lot smoother with someone like that in charge.

Now I’m back talking with the assistant branch manager (not “assistant to the branch manager,” which I keep wanting to say). I wonder if she ever had to compete with someone for the job like Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert. Later, when I ask about someone else, I learn he’s the circulation manager, which, in his words, is basically a babysitting job. But for some reason, right now he only has to babysit one person. If I had to compare him to anyone from The Office, it would probably be Creed.

While I’m sitting and reading books for an upcoming Ready, Set, Kindergarten, club, a librarian walks up and asks me, “Can you guess which book gets stolen the most from the library?”
“The Bible?” I think to myself.
“I don’t know,” I say. “What is it?”
“It’s the Bible. Our Bible got stolen, again”
How ironic, I think. I guess that’s today’s trivia.