Double Fold

Reading Double Fold, by Nicholson Baker, has led me to reflect on the many changes I've seen while working in a large suburban public library. When I had my first job there as a page (30 years ago!), I was frequently called to the circ desk to get magazines out of storage for patrons - either from a room on the same level, or from the attic of the adjacent building (an historic home).

I soon became a helper for the desk assistant who was in charge of periodicals. A few times a year, it was my job to move magazines from the Adult Library into storage. The shelves were very crowded, and my supervisor always told me to "save everything." (Baker would have been pleased.)

By mid-week, there were piles and piles of magazines and newspapers that patrons had requested - waiting for me to reshelve them.

As the years went by, we saved less and less (although we still have National Geographic back to 1917 in the attic - not the best place imaginable). Now we use only two or three bookcases in the first-floor storage area for magazines - just enough to temporarily de-clutter the display area in the library. At the beginning of next year, the custodian will put most of those magazines in the recycling bin.

Oh, I almost forgot. Bound volumes of The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (back to 1929) reside in the attic, too. When I point them out to our new student pages on the "tour", they look puzzled - then amazed when I tell them how they were used.

Once in a long while, a patron wants to see a volume or two!