Library Dream #4

As I have said in a couple of other pieces, I dream about libraries. I just had a dream that was a bit different than any others that I remember.

In this episode, I have gone back to college (a frequent element) and am going to be living in a dorm again (again not an uncommon dream). I am setting up the room with one of my old roommates, who has since gone on to become an architect and designer. We are both our current ages. We decide to create instant art for our walls with heavy art paper and calligraphy pens. I try to cover one sheet with large, meaningless, fancy script. We are going to stick it above a bookcase. When I have finished, my roommate holds it up and I step back to look. In the middle in very clear letters, I am surprised to see, is the word "Reference."

I am what I am, even in my sleep. I cannot get away from it.

Here are Dream #1, Dream #2, and Dream #3.

What do you think?

A Library Loss of Control Dream

Last night I dreamt I was at my first library, which was in the dream three times larger than it ever was. It had a maze of rooms and corridors. I found my way to the reference desk. Here is what happened.

Two insurance men come to the desk and one askes to use the meeting room again to present an "informative" program. He almost laughs when he says "informative." I tell them that they may not because they broke their promise not to promote themselves. The taller man says, "Wasn't that great! I sold five policies on the spot. He sold three."

While I am explaining that this is against library meeting room policy, I look up to see an older woman in a floor-length fur coat and her chauffeur headed for the emergency exit. I bound over and say, "Stop, please, the alarm will sound." They ignore me and go right through. The alarm sounds and I stop it with my key.

After I reset the alarm, I turn and see a long line of older women in floor-length furs headed my way! Then I wake from the dream.

Occasionally I have library dreams and almost all go back to the scene of my first professional position. I was new to the field and had little authority then. It makes psychoanalytic sense to have my dreams there.

Do you have library dreams?

Reproducible Tax Forms in My Dreams

Ever have a dream that seemed so real?

Late in December I dreamed that the Reproducible Copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions came and that I put them in an old, battered binder. What's more, I was very happy because the IRS had sent the set in one volume in one numeric order, instead of later sending a second volume, which starts the number order all over again. 2007 would be so much better for our clients who like to browse through the forms.

When awake a few days later, I started looking for the forms. I could not remember what I had actually done with the binder. For days I looked around the reference desk, in the work room, on the index tables, in the staff room, and around the library. I did a lot of cleaning looking for the missing binder. I asked all the staff if they had seen a white tax form binder. No one had.

I was very surprised when I called the IRS to get a replacement set. The telephone rep told me that the reproducible forms had never been sent, as some of the tax laws had been changed at the last minute, requiring that some forms to be rewritten. I felt senile.

Today is February 15, 2007. Our postal carrier just delivered the reproducible forms. In the top left corner of the cover sheet are the words "Volume 1 of 2." More are coming later in another numbering scheme. Some dreams just don't come true.

Dreaming About Old Libraries

In Free Range Librarian two weeks ago Karen Schneider wrote Being a Good Former Employee; she set out helpful guidelines for anyone leaving one job to go to another. I have left several wonderful jobs in the past to take on new challenges and I think I behaved well according to Karen's ten rules for leaving. As she would probably agree, these rules were easy for me to follow in most cases because I moved to another state; I had no opportunity to stay involved in the affairs of the libraries I left; my moving predated widespread Internet, email, and instant message access. Now there are easy ways to violate rules 7, 8, and 9 from wherever you are, but you should not. I recommend everyone who will be changing jobs take a look at Karen's essay.

Karen wrote her essay after dreaming about an old job, a position she obviously enjoyed with people she liked; in her dream something went amiss. This struck a cord with me, for I also have had dreams about my old libraries. In most of these dreams, I have gone back to the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Missouri, where I had my first professional library job as a reference librarian with a desk right beside the reference collection. The big picture windows to the north are still there and I look forward to again watching the drama of approaching storms. The second floor still overlooks the first and I look forward to the annual hanging display of quilts, which added so much color to the public space when I was there. Many of my former colleagues are still there in my dream, and I am eager to answer reference questions. Upon entering the dream everything is perfect, but then complications arise. I get lost in the new underground passage to the new staff room, or I misplace my desk, or I realize than I am still in my pajamas (or worse) and need to run home to change. I never answer a reference question. I awake with a melancholy feeling.

In reality, the Daniel Boone Regional Library has a totally new building. I am sure most of the staff have changed as it has been 24 years since I was there. I would like to see it some day. Daniel Boone had the most impressive community outreach program I have ever seen, and we had an energetic public service team. As my dreams indicates it still has a place in my heart.