Sorting Books

The confusion about volunteering at the library was finally cleared up yesterday. Turns out there are two groups of volunteers, those at the library and those working as Friends of the Library. The two groups are very “upstairs-downstairs”, literally.   The librarian said, “Don’t come in to the library. Go around the back to the loading dock.”

I had misgivings about working in a basement but as soon as I opened the door and saw the huge space, rows and rows of shelves, I was fine. Kay’s granddaughter, Michelle, who had twins five months ago, is the coordinator.  She has short very black hair, which she said last week was turquoise. I liked her immediately.  I met some volunteers, elderly men and women, who one by one left while I was there.

Michelle explained that the two groups raise money for different projects. Friends has quarterly book sales, so we’re getting ready for November 12-13. Friends will have first crack at the books on Friday, open to the public Saturday.

The “regular” library volunteers are probably more into white wine galas. But I don’t care. I loved being in that big quiet space with all those used books.

Michelle put me to work shelving science books.  I soon found that some books were misfiled and that there was shelf space between dog/cats, rivers/oceans and astronomy/physics, so I had to move things around. I was in heaven! I made it my goal to get the whole row re-sorted.

I’ve always loved sorting. I remember working at the Sand & Sea Club on Sundays, opening the drawer of receipts from the day before, and being happy when there was a big thick stack of pink slips from the bar.

I’d sit at my desk and make piles: the Cabana members, the 100s (original members), the 1000s (Doug’s volleyball friends who got in free), the 2000s (members from and before my first tour of duty at the club), the 4000s (singles) and then the 8000s which I started in 1983, so that I could tell by looking at their number what year they joined.

The gin players were the heaviest drinkers, followed by paddle tennis players. I could tell when someone bought a round.  The most popular drink was called a “Grabber”, the pink drink bartender Zeke Webster created which had grapefruit, grenadine and at least four different kinds of booze. It tasted great and could land you on your ass if you weren’t careful.

Sorting books gave me the same sort of satisfaction, making order out of chaos. My natural curiosity was piqued when I’d find a book that had a cryptic title.  Happily I finished my task with rivers/oceans on a bottom shelf and astronomy on the next top shelf which seemed only logical.

Before I left I made sure the spines were all straight. I called to Michelle, “Come see!” and she admired my work. Next week I get to deal with the horrible mess of gardening books. The volunteer quit. It’s going to be a huge task.

I can’t wait!