Librarian's Daughter

My mom, for most of my life has worked as a librarian. I find it absolutely awesome. There are some awesome aspects of growing up as a librarian's daughter.

Bookworms tend to talk about how they are known by the local librarian. My mom is the local librarian and she knows just about everyone. There is not a chance that we will go and do something in our area without her running into someone she knows. (I have twittled my thumbs through many spur of the moment "how are you?" conversations.)

From elementary school, I have known the Dewey Decimal System. (You wouldn't guess it by the fact that my mom still asks if I can find a book by the call number.) If I pull a book off the shelf without marking where it came from, I can reorganize it into the proper location without thinking about it. I can even spot a book that's out of place and reorganize it. I have been saving librarians work for over a decade.

Being in charge of inter-library loan, my mom can find almost any book I wish to read. Even the one's that are no longer in print (Picnic At Hanging Rock). I have read so many awesome books and seen so many awesome movies due to the magic of the inter-library loan system. (I am singularly responsible for driving mother mad with over requests of movies and books no one knows about.)

I have spent hours in a library reading kids books and no one even looks at me weird. At my mom's library no one even glances twice when someone over four feet tall enters the kid section (without kids). At other library's when I check out what's new in the Hundred Acre Wood, I get stared at by all manner of children and disgruntled parents. My mom even on occasion brings home the new kids books and I get to learn about Skippy John Jones.

I can suggest books for the library and can almost garantee that they make it onto the shelves (manga and comics excluded as well as the occasional other book). When I read a good book I want the world to know about it and if not that, then the residents of Cripple Creek will suffice.

The one thing that has happened to me as a result of being a librarian's daughter is I can't stand when people miss handle books. I'm not talking the accidental coffee spill or even notes in the margins. I'm talking about laying them down face first (it's horrible on the spine), folding the paper back cover around (also horrible on the spine), and above all else, I hate dog ears.

When someone dog ears a book I cringe (I physically cringe). It doesn't matter if it's a library book, a book you own, or a magazine, it drives me insane. Dog ears are the equivalent of Satan to me. In my favorite movie (But I'm a Cheerleader) the lead character dog ears the page of a book. Out of all the movies I've seen it's the most cringe worthy. It's worse than the vomiting scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
DON'T DOG EAR BOOKS!!!!!!!!
JUST DON'T DO IT!!!!!!