Sitting On the Other Side of the Library Counter

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I am sitting in the Margaret Estes Library on LeTourneau University’s campus on a Thursday morning. This is where I hibernate every other Thursday when the housekeeper comes in to clean house. Yasmin is an amazing housekeeper, and all humans and animals vacate the premises while she performs her magic. Sam and Rosie are dropped at the Canine Beauty Shop to be bathed. Tater and Tot, the now-grown cats, spend the day outside. My Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie are also on campus, mom teaching, daughter learning.

The library’s namesake, Margaret Estes, became publisher of the Longview newspaper when her husband, Carl, died in 1967. I began working there as a paperboy the following year, only occasionally catching a glimpse of Mrs. Estes when I wandered through the newsroom. Eventually, I became a part-time photographer for the paper, until I was fired for rather stupidly wearing a Farenthold for Governor T-shirt to a press conference for her rival, Preston Smith. The follies of youth. I still wish Sissy had won, though.

I grew up behind this campus on South Twelfth Street and often walked through it to go to Howard’s Mobberly Avenue to peruse the albums. My buddies and I explored the abandoned crematorium at the rear of the campus in what was then a wooded area. It was rather creepy. We played touch football on the fields, and swam in the outdoor swimming pool, long replaced. The campus was a giant playground for us in the late 1960s.

The campus has changed markedly in the half-century since. My Beautiful Mystery Companion has been a professor here for a dozen years, and I served for a time on the university’s advisory committee. LeTourneau University’s faculty and students by-and-large are truly impressive. Our daughter is receiving a fine education, with small classes and considerable individual attention and care.

I’ll leave the library about 3 to get the dogs, then return to the library by 4. That is because I have begun working here as a librarian assistant from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday. I am considering pursuing a master’s in library science online, starting in summer. So it made sense to actually work in a library to see if it suits me. I don’t know if I will truly go back to school, but it is certainly an option. I have already been accepted to University of North Texas.

Working as a librarian assistant is also sharpening my research skills for whatever next long-term writing project arises, as I learn to use the tools librarians use to assist students and faculty. With the thousand of hours I have spent in libraries, sitting on the other side of the desk so far has been enjoyable. Right now, there is not much activity since the semester just began, but I am told it will pick up in a few weeks, as students begin working on class projects.

I have learned how to check in or out books and other material (headphones and phone chargers are popular), to order an item through inter-library loan, reshelve books, and to make coffee. The biggest hurdle for me has been trying to decipher what people are saying when they use their “library voice.” I am a bit hard of hearing (my BMC says I’m deaf as a post, but she exaggerates), so I have to lean in when a co-worker or a student asks me a question. I often ask them to repeat what they said. I figure an audiologist is in my future.

The best part of this job, by far, are the students I meet, who hail from all over the world. They are unfailingly polite and friendly. The regulars stop to chat every evening before settling down to study. This library is an inviting place to study, with couches and comfortable chairs along with the traditional carrels and tables.

This library gig might only be a temporary stop on my life journey, or it could be a new path. Time will tell.

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