Sorting books at the library

Each Monday I spend two and half hours at the Rochester library. I've only done it for a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure what I'll end up doing, but right now I help out with donations.

On a busy week, the library receives hundreds of donated books, DVDs, and VHS tapes from readers, people who are moving, children who are getting rid of a deceased parent's possessions. I really had no idea that many donations came in, and I'm ashamed to say that I have donated books myself. I thought that they were needed (and perhaps some of them will be put into the collection), but processing the donations takes time and effort from the library staff that should be spent on library work.

I volunteered to come in one day a week as a member of the Friends of the Rochester Public Library to help process the donations. As a former "would be" librarian who has always loved books, I like the work. Plus, I thought it would be a good thing to be in the company of others.

I do whatever they need, and so far that has meant I either sort through the donations and box them up in specific categories or try to find the donations on the library catalog database. If the library already has the book in its collection, the staff checks to see if their copy is in better shape than the one that was donated. If they don't have a copy, as is often the case, then they decide whether or not to add it to the collection.

It's interesting work and I can see by the donations the type of books people like. I came across a whole set of Baby Einstein DVDs and a stack of novels that tried to imitate the inimitable Jane Austen. I took a look inside one of them and found that the style of writing was Austenesque while the plot was more on the level of a bodice-ripper. Kind of disgusting. Oh well, it's probably someone's cup of tea.