Library Deception

I spend a lot of time at the library. I am usually there soon after it opens in the morning, to reserve some computer time in this busy season of resumes and research. Once the mountain opens, I figure the library won't be as busy as people will likely have jobs and want to spend time on the hill.

The library is about a year old, and when I left town two years ago, it was just a hole in the ground and a drawing posted nearby. It's nice to see and use the new facility.

The library was supposed to cost $9 million, but ended up costing $15 million. That's quite a lot! It's caused some dissent in the village, but it's worth it because libraries are great and this one is too.

It was built to be environmentally friendly, and among other green features, has a grass roof that insulates the building. There's also lots of stone work and wood work, making the library fit in with the rest of the village's ski-town architecture.

I'm quite familiar with the library now, and can recognize other people that, like me, spend most of every day there. Another thing I recognize are the books on the first shelf you see when you walk in.



This shelf contains Staff Picks on the top, and New Fiction on the lower levels. New Non-Fiction is found on the opposite side.

You'll notice that on the Staff Picks section, staff members choose books that they enjoy, and put their removable nametag on the jacket. If someone wants to borrow that particular book, they take the nametag off the book, putting the tag in the small, handy box in the middle of the shelf, and take the book to the desk.

I've noticed in my numerous trips past this shelf that there is a high turnover of these recommended books. I've often thought about what I would put on the Staff Picks shelf if I worked at the library.

Then today, look what I found!



Three of my favourite books, all on the Staff Picks shelf! How excellent...three library staff have unknowingly chosen to promote my favourite books!

Either that, or a stealth library patron has scoured the library for good book under the guise of an interested reader, and craftily inserted them among the other Staff Picks. This wily fox would have affixed random names to the chosen books, making them look like legitimate recommendations.

It should be noted that less than two hours after the above picture was taken, Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma was absent from the shelf, presumably borrowed.

Success!