Second week of the Summer Reading Program. I added a velociraptor patch to the T-Rex dinosaur one already on my t-shirt and headed in early for my shift. Good thing. The afternoon volunteers had been so busy they hadn't pulled any books requested by other patrons and Librarian Trevor wanted to know how much he needed to pay the Friends of the Library for last weekend's raffle. I just wanted to get my usual tasks completed before the children came in for the festivities tonight. From past experience I knew there would be some coming in early. Gave priority to Trevor's request and entered all of the transactions from the daily receipt slips. Got that done and gave it to Trevor. Printed out the list of books that needed to be pulled and went into the stacks. The first two on the list were easy to pick up but got stuck on the third which was no where to be found as was the the next book on the list. The front door began to ding as kids and their parent(s) began to trickle in. They all wanted to spin the wheel and pick over the small prizes they won for that, leave off the books they read last week, pickup more books for the week ahead. I was suddenly busy. Just before the start of the program the volunteer reading the story that night came looking for a book she'd requested to be waiting for her on the hold desk. It had been on the pull list but I hadn't gotten to it yet and was pretty sure I'd seen a book w/ that title checked out by a child already tonight. She picked out a backup book and all went quiet as I heard her in the amphitheater starting to read the story out loud. Could also tell when she finished because of the roar as the kids went to one of four tables set up in the library. At each table they could build a dinosaur but each had a different age/ability level. One pasted cut out pieces to poster board. Another constructed a dinosaur from different materials. The treat was tumblers of fruit w/ whipped cream served just outside in the parking lot. If only the kids had stayed outside w/ those treats. Nope, parents brought them back into the library to spin the wheel, use the bathroom, or check out books. One little girl protested to her parents that she hadn't spilled her blueberries on the carpeting all the while upturning the rest of them onto the floor in front of her. Another volunteer asked for wipes to clean off chocolate fingerprints from the front door. The program ends and library closes at 7 but I didn't walk out w/ Trevor until 7:30. I think children become less adorable the more there are of them.
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