Where I Was: Week of February 1

I realized this week that I am not always going to be able to tell you about where I go in the course of my job as a library consultant. Not because I don't go interesting places and have interesting discussions, but because sometimes my job is about not sharing those discussions, which definitely rules out putting them on my blog.

But I can tell you about bringing my nephew to the library on Saturday, which just so happened to be Take Your Child to the Library Day. (Or as I choose to interpret it, Take A Child You Adore To The Library Day.)  I can tell you about that.

My nephew loves the library. He is nearly three years old. He loves books, loves the toy train that chugs around a track in the children's room, loves scanning the barcodes when we do the self-check. Once, when the self-check was being used by someone else, he picked up the mouse from a public computer and pretended to scan his book's barcode with that.

My heart grew three sizes that day.

When we arrived on Saturday, the first thing he wanted to do was play on the AWE tablet that was set up at the online catalog station. That kind of surprised me, though it shouldn't have. He knows what a tablet is and can use a touchscreen. It was just the first time he'd ever noticed it. Maybe they were new, I don't know. Usually, he makes a beeline for the coloring pages set up on the little tables. But that day, the early literacy tablet was the big winner.

I have sat with my nephew and helped him scroll through the music on my phone to pick out a song to listen to. He knows which icon will take him to photos, and knows how to get a video to play. I understand that digital media is a part of this kid's formative years in a way that it never was in mine (unless you count the Speak & Spell, which...do we?). And no matter how much of a throwback I am (Exhibit A: That time I bought a rotary phone and it was the 21st century, Exhibit B: That time I told the college I would not be needing an e-mail account, because I had stamps), I do get that screen time is not inappropriate, especially when I am right there helping. (Right, media mentors?)

We played together on the tablet for about ten minutes, then we went to look for books. He selected one picture book from the new book display, and then put some puzzles together on the floor. We watched the train go around the track, then checked out our book and made our way toward the exit...and the Penny Racer. 

The Penny Racer is a name invented by my niece for a coin donation funnel - which is basically the most fun you can have donating money. There are two sides to drop the money in, and if you do both sides simultaneously, it does look like the pennies are racing each other. It is how we end every library visit.

The most fun you can have donating money.