Library hold ‘em
Featured in the Dec 2025 Montevallo Chamber Chatter
Written by Leslie Smith, librarian
Mornings are quiet in the library, dark and sleepy, each holding the ritual of pulling the holds accumulated overnight. The librarians search through the stacks, lights still off, to find whatever it is patrons from Montevallo and beyond have decided they want to read. However, occasionally, we can’t find the books we’re looking for.
Usually it’s a board book. The usual culprits are the palm-sized Clifford books, wedged snugly between two slightly larger board books, easy to miss. Other times it’s a summer themed romance that is upside down and on the wrong shelf two shelves away from where it’s supposed to be. Or the book has been checked out by one of the librarians themselves, as we are just as guilty of hoarding library books as everyone else. Perhaps the silliest example was our search for “For the Love of Autumn”, an older picture book by Patricia Polacco that was requested. After emptying every picture book bin looking for it we ordered a new copy, only for it to vanish as well. It was finally found, a week after ordering it, tucked in a cupboard because it was thought to be a duplicate.
In the end, our holds go out and new ones come in. We get fifteen volumes of Dragonball Z for one patron, and several murder mysteries for another. Our younger patrons rush the counter each visit to inquire about where their books are in transit. We hope that the latest nonfiction book on a US president will arrive before the requester leaves for vacation. We empty the picture book bins to find yet another book that has migrated elsewhere; the sun takes its time to light up the windows as we move further into winter.