Pick and mix books.

Good morning. The mobile library came yesterday, this is Stan's first week out since about March April time. Can't remember when the plague first started, it seems like ages ago. Stan has now turned into a long haired hippy, it suits him. 

It was nice to see him again. We chatted, him stood inside the van at the top of the steps, me stood on the tarmac a good distance away. It seems the library staff weren't given much notice about how this new system of lending books was going to work. They haven't been able to do all the preparation needed. Stan has to ring all the customers to ask what their preferred reading matter is. He compiles a list and a staff member of the Central Library picks a selection of books and bags them up. Stan then brings them with him on the van. 

The trouble is that the picker works part time, so is not able to fulfil the requirements of everyone. Stan has started the week with only three days of ordered books. When he goes out on Thursday and Friday, he has no books to deliver. No one can go onto the van to choose books, so technically Stan is just a delivery service. So why does he need to drag the whole caboodle, big van, around the villages? Bit silly really, he could come in a transit van. 

I got two brown paper bags, each with three books in them. I think this is a pretty good selection. I won't read them in their entirety, I never do. I pick bits out of them when I want to sit down for half an hour. 

Sometimes I would swap my books as often as weekly, but these I will keep a bit longer. If the picking lady is swamped with work, I had best be patient and not add to her already hefty workload. She might need a breather to catch up. 

When books are returned they are to be dropped into a plastic box on the table outside the van. Stan is not allowed to re issue them to someone else because they have to go back to Central and be quarantined for 72 hours, before they are put back into the system. I asked Stan if I should quarantine these books when I got home. He didn't know. 

I am not sure what I have to do when I am ready to change these. When I take them back there won't be any replacements, I assume I have to order those in advance. Perhaps I will have to wait until the following week for some more to arrive. If I return these in the two brown paper bags I was given, would they have to be quarantined as well? Will we be getting the same bags over and over again, or will they issue new bags every time? 

It's all a bit strange, seems a bit over the top to me. But as Stan explained, they have strict instructions to protect the customers and staff. Fear of anyone suing the Council because they caught something from a book, is at the heart of the new system. We shall see what happens next.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.  ilona.