Our "Experience" at the Riley City Library

For those of you new to my blog, you might not understand how crazy about books I am. I LOVE books and have tried to pass that love of books along to my family. I spent many hours and days sitting in the library in my hometown, just reading, searching, amazed at how many books there were and how much information there was to be found. Here is a story though of my first terrible experience at the library here in town and pictures of my own home library(s).

Last summer, our city library was trying to make a come-back. They had a summer reading program, which I tried to take part in with the boys. However, after that experience, let me explain why I will NEVER go back!

The Riley City Library is a SMALL library, of course, for a small town. And, we are fortunate to have a free library service here in town. It was open for a few hours here and there throughout the week and I tried to take the boys to it to 'experience' the library. Zachary was almost 4 years old and was already reading some simple books, mainly easy readers. I was a bit offended when the librarian there told him that he memorized the book rather than actually read it. He was SOOO proud of himself for reading that he was showing what he knew and she stated that no kid that young could read that well. So, right off the bat, I was a little offended, but no problem, we'll get past that.

Then, we checked out some fun books to take home and read. When we go to the library, we have a special library bag that all our library materials go in and they stay there unless they are in our hands. I do NOT want them getting mixed in with our books at home or our many 'libraries'. So, we brought a couple books home, read them, and then returned them promptly on their due date. However, when we returned to the library to check them in, the librarian was absent and a volunteer was helping out. The boys and I tried explaining that we were bringing these books back, but she kept insisting that we need to give her our number to check them out. So, she looked up our number and wrote something down, kept the books (moved to a very unorganized and cluttered desk) and we said our good-byes, not checking out any more books, since we would be gone before they were due back.

A week later, I received a phone call from a stern lady telling me that I owed over $50 for 2 books that had been checked out and never returned. I tried to explain that we had in fact returned them and the librarian was not present, yada, yada, yada. . . However, by the end of the conversation, I'd broken into tears. (It was last summer and I was newly pregnant, so hormones did not help either.)

I knew we didn't owe the money and it was a lot for 2 books. I wanted to teach my children the right thing to do, but I wasn't sure in this situation that that was the 'right' thing to do. I felt so frustrated that they didn't have a better tracking system and they were so rude about understanding that we didn't have the books. I know most libraries have a 'write-off' for books that are damaged or not returned. They are more interested in return business and getting people to love books than to hound people for money for expensive books. Anyway, I called the Manhattan library, where the books were originally 'rented' from for the library here (a rotating book truck or something like that). They also said they had no recollection of the books, but knew that the organization system at our library was lacking tremendously.

It was difficult to explain what happened to the boys as we took our daily walks and walked right past the library each day. I did tell them the truth though, in a way that was kid-friendly and without all the details. And, besides the fact, I think I had WAY more quality children's books than this library did. The city library seemed to be filled with more fiction and romance stuff for adults, things I don't necessarily enjoy reading. We were just trying to patronize it to promote it and keep it running since it is such a good thing for this small town.

Months passed, school started, our daily walks were done. And, one day, out of the blue, I recieved a phone call from a very polite & nice lady at the Manhattan library. "Do you remember those books you were so upset about eariler?" (She heard my emotional break-down at the thought that I could quite possibly be accused of losing books!) Then she told me that they had in fact turned up and were back to the proper place. Imagine that!

Have I ever gotten an apology for the rudeness or false accusations I recieved from the library here? No! Do I really care anymore??? No. We just travel 20 minutes to attend a real libary that actually has it's 'stuff' together and doesn't treat people like crooks. And I will forgive the librarian for her attitude and how upset she made me. It's over and done with. But, I learned my lesson and have decided that visiting this library here is not worth my time.