New Library Meme

February is Library Lovers Month, so to celebrate I thought I'd try to start a new meme going around about the library. I know one went around last year. I answered it. But I'll try to think of new questions. I'd really appreciate it if you'd play along :)

How do you plan on celebrating Library Lovers month? By writing this meme. And by visiting my library, of course :)

How often do you accidentally spell library as 'libary' when you're in a hurry? Too embarrassing to really answer. It's funny how a few words can be tricky for me to type. My mind just rushes too much ahead I guess. I hope that's the reason anyway. I really really can spell.

What is the most amount of books you've ever had checked out at one time? From my university library, I've had close to a hundred books checked out at a time. It's like this. I was in an independent study--a French class--and the assignment was to write an annotated bibliography of French Women Writers. I'm not sure if it was more or less specific than that--limited to certain centuries, etc.--but I had to check them out and "browse" them enough to be able to write five or six sentences. The sad thing? They'd been in the library--the Woman's Collection--on the shelves probably since the library opened back at least sixty or seventy years if not longer--and I was the first person to check them out. Ouch. But for a public library, my record is for about sixty or sixty-five books. It was overwhelming and scary.

What is the longest you've ever gone without visiting the library? I didn't mean to write a tricky question. The truth is that I've always had access to either a public library, a school library, or a University library. Before we got our school library in fifth grade, my trips to the local library where few and far between. We might go steadily through the summer--earning free McDonald's hamburgers--but not visit it through the rest of the year. So my books were limited to what we had at the house--plenty let me tell you--and the classroom libraries of our teachers. But once the school library was open, I was hooked. And in college, I was hooked. And out of college, I discovered the joys of the public library.

What is the biggest fine you've ever had? I once forgot to return an interlibrary loan book for about a week or ten days. It was painful. I think it was somewhere around eight or twelve bucks. More than I wanted to spend.
When you go to the library, do you plan ahead and make a list? Or do you browse? I make lists on index cards most of the time. But I've always always been a deviant. I end up with some of the books on my list. And most of my books off the list.

Have you ever been shushed or hushed by a librarian? Not lately. I really do try hard not to make a scene.

What is the worst (against-the-rules) thing you've ever done in the library? Probably--gasp--bring in food and drink.

What's the worst thing you've ever done to a library book? Underline in pencil. My somewhat valid excuse? Remember the aforementioned books for the French project that had never been checked out? Well, I figured they'd be no harm done by marking them up a tiny bit to aid me in my notes.

Have you ever had a "favorite" librarian? Yes. Mrs. Lacy was my favorite and my best. She was *inspirational* in oh-so-many ways. Very self-esteem boosting at a rotten rotten school for the most part. I was her library aid for four years.

If you could change one thing about your library it would be... This one's hard. It's not that I dislike my library. But I would want a bit better selection. As I'm reading blogs day after day, week after week, I see many books that I'd like to read at some point. But my library doesn't have some of them--a lot of them.