i think i travelled back in time

don't worry dear blog readers, i am not lost in the space time continuum. i am here in the now and i am fine (except for a slight cold). but i digress.

in libraries, every so often i will get an older patron asking me where the typewriter is. and then i kindly explain that we no longer have typewriters. we haven't had them for years. maybe even a decade. and i oh-so-helpfully suggest that said patron log onto a computer and use Microsoft Word for their typing needs. usually, this is met with angry looks and mean stares. "what do you mean you don't have a typewriter?!" they ask, as though we are missing some very crucial item. like a front door or something. i could see getting all up in arms if we didn't have a front door, but an archaic piece of office equipment like a typewriter? do you think that it's not too late to join the secretarial pool?

what's next? do you expect me to provide you with an abacus to get your math homework done? are you shocked that i use that weird round thing on the wall to tell time instead of a sundial? c'mon people.

anyway, i was assigned a task that involved re-labelling the Harry Potter books. the other children's librarian here is SUPER organized, and she has labelled things in a very pleasing manner. i love it! i love good labelling! anyway, when i asked her where she kept the fiction labels (these have the first 3 letters of the authors last name on them. it makes it so easy to find things and keep things in order!) anyway, she tells me that she "types" the labels up as needed, then points to these mini sheets of labels.

"you can print those?" i ask, not understanding her use of the word "type" in the above-mentioned sentence.

"no," she says, i type them up on a typewriter."

"really?" i ask, flabbergasted. "a typewriter? here?"

and that dear blog readers is how i wound up typing 18 labels on a typewriter for our 18 HP books. and i'll tell you, it was kind of enjoyable thing using this crazy contraption of the past. i felt very old timey and sophisticated. you know, once i figured out how to put the labels in there.