Find Peace by Lynn Grieveson
Alpha Jumble No 1 by Lynn Grieveson
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When I was in tenth grade, I got my first paying job at the Sturgis Public Library as a page. What is a page? Official errand-runner, book-put-away-er, shelf-reader, and straightener. I worked after school from 3-5:15pm two or three days a week, except once a week I worked until closing at 8:30pm. I worked 7.5 hours every third Saturday. I would come in and re-shelve the returned books. Around 4:15pm I would run errands to the bank & post-office. If I ran out of books to re-shelve, I would tidy the shelves by ensuring the books were in order and lined up. I also picked up and returned books, magazines left on tables, etc. I loved working there as I would see classmates from school, there to do research, etc. I even got to see the boys I had crushes on.
During the summers, we worked longer shifts and more days, but none of us could work more than 37.5 hours. The city did not want to pay us benefits. When I first started I had to ride the school bus from the high school to the middle school and then walk across the street to the library. It got easier when I got my first car at age 16, which is what I used all the money on.
I worked there all through high school. When I went off to college, they had me work holiday weekends when I was home and summer vacations. My title was no longer page but assistant. They let me work the circulation desk - checking books out for people and checking books in. I also worked a lot in the back room, learning how to prepare new books by putting on plastic covers, prepping magazines, filing things, etc. Again, I got to see people I went to school with when they came in for research. I enjoyed the library so much that for awhile I considered being a librarian.
