Saturday, January 18, 2014

A guided tour of the McKay Library by a bored Library Aide before her shift

Submitted to BYU-I's last poet Standing 2014

Hi! How can I help you?
This is the circulation desk, check in, check out, put money
on your I card.
Only I can’t do that yet,
let me get a supervisor for you.
This way is the Commons-
cluttered with the coolest rolling tables and chairs ever.
You can meet people here
and read reference books.

A bank of computers,
 yes, they all print to any printer.
We have handy dandy cheat sheets with a how to,
or I can show you
if you like.
 Just there, by the elevator:
the post a poem board
with a mix of art and doggerel
for your enjoyment.
Oh, those are the stairs,
but don’t go down to the basement.

Alarms will sound
and  the creepy things kept captive
down there, who knows what,
will probably eat you,
along with the Monday clean out lunches
from the break room
like my hot pockets.
Follow me?

Here are some of the general collection books.
Everything is sorted
by the Library of Congress system,
so forget you ever thought you knew dewey decimal
it can’t help you here
but I can
or one of those posters on the shelves.
but I’m cooler than paper (and paler too
as I’m always inside.)
Now, upstairs?

The tutoring center—math and writing
and all are here
above the east wing.
Make an appointment!
Down this way we have,
surprise, surprise,
more books,
even some fiction
(hush, it’s literature, old bindings with older text)
no, not Harry Potter
this is a college library.
Harry’s upstairs.
Also: study rooms! Perfect for writer’s circles
or private tutoring with friends
or hiding from zombie dinosaurs
(it’s been 65 million years since the last
Incident
but it never hurts to prepare.)

Past the special collections room
we have a bunch of neat stuff,
Like a book no bigger than a child’s palm
and Bibles just a few years younger
than dirt.

Shhhhhh. This is the quiet section.
turn off your phone
and for the love of Dickens
whisper.
Or you may be mobbed by
over worked study-stressed students
and the odd octopod.
Third floor,
you can talk again.
No really.
You can even chatter as you browse
our popular books collection
and books for the young
and young at heart
(yes, we have Harry Potter here,
and Hunger Games
and a great many books
you’ve never heard of
but may fall in love with)

Down the hall is the computer help desk
in case your macbook gets the flu
or gives up on chemistry.
And if you’ll look to your left,
the dragons are loose
walk, don’t run, for your life.
elevator’s around the corner.

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