Catch a Glimpse From Inside the Library…

Library Moments brought to you by Librarian K

April was Financial Literacy month. Our business librarian has been working hard to promote the month and spotlight the library’s many resources on finance.

I couldn’t help but think of the time one eight year old boy came in to pay his fines.

His father is often upstairs in the loft working and his older sister is a regular library user. She’s always looking for new books and talking to the librarians about the things she’s learning in school. Her little brother, however, is more reserved. He likes to come in, grab his books and be on his way.

One day his older sister marched him straight up to the desk and in her slightly accented English said, “My brother has something he’d like to say.” With his head hung low, he handed me some books and murmured that he wanted to pay his fines.

When I told him that he owed $2.40, his eyes opened wide. He glanced down at the $2.00 that he had very carefully stacked into four sets of 50 and taped together. I saw him nervously look at his sister as if to say “I don’t have enough.”

It was obvious that he had taken great care to bring in the appropriate amount to clear his fines so I told him I would waive the remaining 40 cents. His face lit up in an instant.

His sister helped him learn a very valuable lesson about financial responsibility and saving: he paid that fine over a year ago, and has been in good standing ever since.

I can’t say our administrative finance person was very happy when I forgot to remove the tape from all of those pennies!

 

What are your library stories?