Tuesday Slice: Still a thrill

Five years ago, sometime in November, I placed my first book order as a librarian.  I am fortunate to work in a district that allocates a book budget for every school, based on population.  My first order came to thirty-five hundred dollars, about half of my budget.

Thirty-five hundred dollars for two hundred twelve books.  It was like Christmas to me, buying presents for my students on the district's dime.  As the boxes of books arrived, I squealed with delight and set up a special section on top of the shelves to highlight the new collection.  Then came the anticipation every gift-giver experiences--will they like the books?  Did I make the right choices?  After a few days, I would talk up the remaining books on the shelf, and a few more would go home with students.  There would always be two or three left, worrying me with their presence.

Yesterday, I placed my last big book orders for the school year, one hundred sixty-eight books in all.  Many of the books are replacements for worn out titles, continuations of series, students' favorite authors.  I started a new club--a student readers' advisory, which meets four times throughout the school year to review our collection and suggest new books.  Several of their recommendations are in this book order as well.  They will most likely arrive after our last checkout in mid-May, but that's okay; we will have brand-new books to display when the students return in August.   

My shopping carts are already filling up for fall.  Lucky me--I get to have Christmas whenever I want, just by opening up a box of books.