#31 Gingerbread

Dear diary,

It was a long shift this morning. The hours seemed to drag on forever. I'd finished all the shelving ages ago and the other staff were off doing their own things, so I decided I should get some shelf-reading in. Now, as much as anyone who works in a library loves being surrounded by books (well, maybe not Sylvia as she's never read one in her life), there is nothing more tedious than shelf-reading. Making sure every single book is in the exact right place is mind-numbing and turns you into a zombie. I've fallen asleep more than once in the middle of a shelf-reading session, I'll admit.

So I was grateful when, ten minutes into the soul-destroying task, a man approached me asking for my help in locating a book for him. I thanked him profusely for the interruption, slapped my leg several times to get rid of the pins and needles and we were in business.

He took me to the catalogue terminal which was displaying the title, "101 ways to raise dogs" by Marc Beaumont, to be on shelf. Weirdly enough though, it didn't have a call number or anything. This was a Challenge. I took him to the most logical place where it might be, (a) 636 - Pets. We scoured the shelves but to no avail. I then suggested (b) 599 - Mammals, which would mean the book was about dogs in genera, but no luck. He then told me it was to do with different techniques used in other countries, so we tried (c) 394 - General Customs. He explained that the 'dog' was a metaphor for an unruly teenager, so we looked at (d) 649 - Child Rearing, (e) 373 - Secondary Education and (f) 305 - Social Groups, but there was nothing. The man offered that it was also about coming to terms with your own problems and theirs, so we tried (g) 616 - Mental Disorders and (h) 158 - Psychology, unsuccessfully.

I pushed him for any more details he could think of. He thought for a while, then said it was about the author's personal hardships. I took him to (i) Biographies and we looked at all the areas it might be there. When the man offhandedly mentioned that the author was born in the area I checked the (j) Local History Room.

By this point the man was getting confused at being taken back and forth, and I was getting annoyed that it wasn't anywhere to be found. I decided to call in the big guns. I found Ernesto, who gladly accepted the Challenge. He asked the man if the book detailed actual events or whether it was loosely based on the author's experiences. When he responded positively to the latter we scoured (k) Fiction, (l) Large Print and (m) Paperbacks. Suspecting it may even be for younger readers I quickly dived into (n) Teenage and (o) Junior, but there was no sign of the elusive text.

The man was getting uncomfortable, and said a quick prayer in another language. Ernesto jumped upon this, and we discovered that there was a chance the book might be in French too. The man said his English wasn't so good and that's why he wanted to read something easier. This alerted us to scan through (p) Community Languages and (q) ESL Books. Ernesto checked the (r) Display Stands while I peeped (s) Under The Shelves to try and find it.

The man was completely befuddled and ready to walk away from the Challenge, but Ernesto kept a cool-head under pressure. He recommended that he check the (t) Internet or the library's (u) Online Library, but the man said he couldn't use computers because of his vision impairment. Then Ernesto suggested he look in (v) Reference to see if he could find some information on the author there. We took the man over to Reference, and I just happened to notice the very book lying (w) On a Table.

As it turned out, the man had been reading the book and left it on the table, but had completely forgotten until he saw it. He apologised repeatedly, then sat down to read. I saw him walk out of the library five minutes later, and that he'd just left the book lying on the table. I picked it up, looked at the cover and smirked. I knew exactly where this book went, and why we hadn't been able to find it. I replaced it on the (x) Books For Sale trolley and returned to shelf-reading.

-Jay