I Suck At The Library

Last night, I attended the monthly Board of Trustee meeting for the public library. Too bad I suck at the library.

I think being elected to the Board has ruined my fondness for the library. I used to enjoy going there as a patron. Now, I sometimes dread going to the library. I think the turtle-like pace of government with its rules and regulations is what frustrates me about being on the Board.

Of course, it also may be the fact that my opinion seems to count very little on the Board. To say I'm the most technically savvy member on the Board is an understatement considering my day job involves developing web applications and the rest of the Board is in public education. Yet somehow, my thoughts on the possible redesign of the library website had fallen on deaf ears because my perspective was considered too technical.

For anyone curious, I had suggested that the public library site be redesigned to be "responsive" to the device viewing the site. Thus, viewing the site on something like a mobile device would not be a pain for users (like it currently is). At the time of my suggestion, I was told that my perspective was too technical.

Interestingly enough, during the meeting last night, the topic of the site redesign came up. Lo and behold, someone mentioned that another library had a site for mobile devices. Shocker. Someone beat us to the punch.

Anyway, the meeting was status quo. The main highlight last night at the library, was not the Board meeting, but the actual surprise I received at the library. The library director had told me that someone had made a donation to the library in my son's (Braden) name. For anyone curious, Braden passed away four years ago. His birthday was near the beginning of the month.

As part of the donation, the following books were inscribed with dedication to Braden: "Garden of Dreams" by Richard Wainwright; "How do I love you?" by P.K. Hallinan; "If you give a moose a muffin", "If you give a pig a pancake", and "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Joffe Numeroff.

The donation came from Karen's cousin (Karlene) and Karlene's husband (Tommy), who reside in the great white north known as Lowell. There apparently is a lot to like about Lowell. I was pleasantly surprised by the news and it meant a lot to me. So thank you, Karlene and Tommy. As an extra bonus, I got to be the first one to take the book out of the library.

Needless to say, the donation was very touching and it made my day. I had no idea that Karlene and Tommy even made the donation. Thank you again.