Rule Breaking Librarians! The Bookmobile- Part 3

The Driver 
The Bookmobile driver gets his own post. If you read the last post about my horrible memory about Bookmobiles, (LEARN ABOUT IT HERE) he's got a bad rep, and so I thought I'd make it up to him, because he's stuff of librarian legions.

It was the same driver for my entire Bookmobile experience. Same really cool wild hair, same smile I was petrified to disappoint, same eyes bearing into me like I was a Bookmobile villain. But! for the love of writing, I can't remember the guy's name. It was so simple, too. I tried looking him up, but Google didn't have him listed under my cool bookmobile driver. So if you're out there, please give me a shout! I haven't seen you in at least 15 years!!!!!

Well, regardless, he left an impact on my life. I can still see him sitting there, watching me hunt for books in his neato shirts. At first, I was really scared of him, and I think he was a little afraid to make me cry like that again, so we kept things very silent between us. But, I was very aware of the little extra things he did for me.

This is how I remember him (and as all memories go, might be a little distorted)
  • He let me on the bus before school, which was a big no-no, but really, he was already letting me get away with a card I shouldn't have, so what did he care?
  • It never failed that he'd suddenly have a question for the nun if I needed to make a quick get away with a book she hadn't approved. I know, I was a real bad seed. 
  • My favourite story was the time I asked him to drive to my "not in his jurisdiction" town for the summer. He gave me that doubtful look that told me I was pushing it but didn't say a word. Yet...OH MY GOSH! He did roll through! Funny guy said he was lost.
  • I was granted a limited card that was pretty much unlimited. "Told you, it's three reference books, six novels." Next time, "It's a total of twelve books, any combination."  "I can just add these onto your brother's card, he didn't hit his limit today." Shhh, don't mess with power like that.

I still call him the driver, but he was the librarian of this library on wheels (LEARN ABOUT IT HERE).

He was very very good at his job. 
  • He knew where every book was, and he always had the book(s) I needed, wanted, and would be sure to ask for. 
  • He'd get us excited to read without even getting out of his seat. "Got a new Steven King, but doubt you want to brave that, I was saving it for the older grades..." Of course we would!!! 
  • He'd ask us nonchalant questions about the sci-fi books we brought back. 
  • He'd pay attention to us, watch where we went, what we pulled off the shelves, and how we talked about the books.

Truth be told, every librarian I know has been wonderful at their job! I just love walking into a library and the librarian has a stack of books ready that I might like. Or even better, when they ask me what to order!

But I really wanted to give him his dues since he came off a little shaky in an earlier post and he was a hero who touched my life in a very magical way. So thank you.

Is there a librarian in your life that makes your experience magical? Give them a shout out and tell us why.

9 comments:

Victoria Lindstrom said...

Librarians definitely change lives. One of my favorite librarians presently works at our local library - Amy Lee. She is like this super-librarian: she encourages, guides, oversees, shares presentations from her trips around the world. However, the biggest thing is that she is one of my very best friends. Thanks, Tanya!

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

What a great memory. And I think Bookmobiles are such a wonderful gift to neighborhoods that don't have easy access to libraries. This was a fun share.

writing and living by Richard P Hughes said...

Cool guy after all. Maybe he lives in that house that was about to fall down.

Vicki Tremper said...

LOL, Richard!

Librarians are awesome. I don't have a story about one from my childhood, but I love all the children's librarians at our public library here. Always friendly and helpful.

Jess said...

I was uber intimidated by my elementary school librarians. They all seemed really severe and determined to keep the place as quiet as possible. I'm sure they weren't, but I was a little kid who didn't like to be told "Shhhhh!" Rooms that got too quiet made me nervous back then, I guess. Now that I'm a Mom, I would love to find more quiet time :)

Golden Eagle said...

Great story. :) He sounds like an awesome librarian!

My mom is a librarian, so for obvious reasons she makes visiting the library a lot better than it could be.

Teresa Cypher said...

ha! lol... I love it. So cool that he made such a lasting impression on you. Such a bad seed you were. Unapproved books? And no one can give a person the evil eye like a nun can. :-) I just stopped to say hello and see how things are in your neck of the woods. :-)

Juliana L. Brandt said...

How interesting. I always hated having to go talk to librarians when I was little- I was such an introvert. That sounds so amazing, Tanya. I bet that's what ever library would love to hear about themselves.

(p.s. I'm collecting last addresses for the snail mail campaign if you're still interested :))

Shallee said...

What an amazing guy! I love this tribute to him and librarians in general. I don't specifically remember any librarians by name, but the one in my elementary school was always awesome at helping me find new, great reads.