Guilty secrets

Was saddened to hear of the death of JD Salinger - his "Catcher in the Rye" has long been a staple book among young people and students especially. They generally come in on a Friday tea time to borrow the book so they can read it and hand that long overdue essay in on the following Monday morning, and then bring the book back complete with notes in the margins. We also had the odd earnest teenager who would request it and then renew it endlessly, and who always hated giving it up to another student. (I won't mention the one or two who borrow the York notes instead of the text itself. I frown at them!)
I have to confess to a slight sense of guilt here, for I have not read it. I'm sure every reader has one or two of these up their sleeves - books you think you should read but inexplicably haven't. Anyone with a love of reading has that list of stuff they should read, and "Catcher in the Rye" is on mine. Along with "Ulysses" and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and anything by Trollope (Anthony, not Joanna), and "Moby Dick"........ and so on and so on. There is a certain amount of snobbery about the so called canon - the books that anyone who claims a love of books should read. But should there be any should about reading - surely it's about enjoyment? If you don't like Jane Austen, well you don't. I don't like caviar, so I don't feel obliged to eat it just because it's expensive and highly thought of.
And yet, and yet....as a librarian I have to admit that I get a certain amount of pleasure when a child asks for "Treasure Island" or "Huck Finn" instead of the latest sub-Potter fantasy book. Or when a teenage girl who you expect to ask for Manga asks for Charlotte Bronte instead.
I'm also at the age when it seems an awfully long time since I read certain things, and some things are surely better a second time around, but how to find the time to re-read, when my to-read heap of books is tottering out of control?
It's about taste, time, inclination, a certain amount of trying stuff out, and the occasional rich indulgence (mine is Georgette Heyer). Bit like eating really. Books are food for the mind, after all.
What is your guilty secret or special pleasure?

Lizards in the library (with apologies to Lucy Daniels)

"It's a crocodile! It's a crocodile!" shouted Mr Borrower from the reference department. Ann looked around, and saw that a child had left a toy animal on the floor. It looked like a crocodile, and was lying under the bookshelves.
"No, Mr Borrower, it's just a toy" said Ann kindly. Mr Borrower was always quite excitable. Ann went over and bent down to pick up the toy. And then it blinked.
Ann jumped and gave a little shriek. Mr Borrower said "It's a crocodile! It's a crocodile!"
Ann thought fast, and grabbed an empty box, and put it near the creature, which ran in gratefully.
Luckily for Ann, she knew someone who worked at the vets, so she took the box and showed them.
"That is a bearded dragon" said Mr Harris the vet. "It won't bite you, it's just a baby." It looked like a big baby to Ann, but she thought that maybe someone had it as a pet, and it had got out somehow, and come to the library to keep warm. When she told Dave the caretaker, he thought it was a joke.
Dave came in the following morning, and was putting up some shelves. All of a sudden he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and when he looked around, he saw a lizard on the floor. Mr Borrower wasn't there, but if he had been, he would have said "It's a crocodile! It's a crocodile!"
But Dave knew it wasn't a crocodile - he picked it up gently, and took it to the vet, to be reunited with its friend. They will stay with the vet until someone comes to find them, or the vet can find them a new home - a library is no place for a lizard.
But now, when anyone comes into the library, they always look down to see if there are any lizards on the floor.

The first in an occasional series of stories - do you have a library animal story? Squirrels in the Stack? Rabbits in the Reference Library? Lions in lending? Chameleons in the Community Room? Iguanas and Index Cards?
Please let me know.

Snow business like library business...

So the carpet is a disgrace I agree - mud, snow, and grit do not mix well with 80's issue carpet tiles. And yet we are open, and have remained so throughout the bad weather, despite being regarded as "non-essential." Depends who you ask on that score. We do not, granted, supply food or fuel, yet the woman who staggered in on a snowy Wednesday afternoon and spent a grateful half hour in the (relative) warm of the library, choosing books for bed, was awfully pleased we were open. Several people seemed to not realise it was snowing at all, and were startled at the suggestion that we may close early because of a lack of public transport. My local high street bank, which shall remain nameless, but did receive a hefty wad of taxpayers money recently, were shut this morning because of the weather, and when I saw the staff stood outside, I was told that "they need a cup of tea before we open." Hmm. Public money, public responsibility.
So it hasn't been easy, and I'm sorry, Mrs Snodgrass, I don't know when the binmen will collect your recycling, but we are open as usual.

Reviewing the situation

Managed to crawl into work through the ice and snow, and a fog of post-chemo tiredness, to make sure I still have a job and to check my emails, and it seems that as well as all the invites to xmas dinners and parties, and the news that the fax machine at such and such a library was out of order on the 18th of December, I have also had several emails about "the future of the library service." "My views" are wanted!
Scary stuff - apparently this is part of a national review of library services, to "empower, enrich, and inform." So, what are libraries for, and who are they for, and how do we make sure they do what they are supposed to do? Big stuff for a little old librarian to deal with. And yet I do believe we make a difference, and can continue to do so.
So, library folk everywhere - make your voices heard. Talk to your bosses. Email Margaret Hodge at libraryreview@culture.gsi.gov.uk , and speak to your borrowers/members/customers to see what they think. Leave a message on this blog and join the debate.
Shout now or don't complain when they bulldoze your library!

Christmas chemo

Sorry folks - no post for a month and here's why. Chemotherapy. I am being steadily poisoned in the name of good health, and I've barely been able to lift my head off the pillow, let alone wave my fingers across a keyboard. Christmas and New Year in hospital, a lonely cracker and a drip for company...yeah ok, I'm laying it on a bit thick. I have had one or two visitors - even librarians have friends you know. But oh, those lonely hours on the ward. Still trying to find suitable reading matter - am two volumes into Proust. Seems appropriate reading for a hospital, as it was written by a famous hypochondriac obsessed with his bed, although the library copies I have got hold of came blinking into the light as if they had not been read for a very long time indeed! I have got some audio books but I keep falling asleep and struggling to find my place again - some readers have very soporific voices.
So - any recommendations for sickbed reading most welcome.
I would also love to hear from hospital librarians, and hospital information centres - big shout to the Robert Ogden Centre at St James's Leeds.
Please get in touch and I will post when I can.