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October 25, 2011 by Travis Jonker

Anatomy of a Bookcart

October 25, 2011 by Travis Jonker   5 comments

To see into a man’s book cart is to see into his soul.

-Anonymous (me)

So we work around these things every day, we hoard them occasionally, and they never seem to be empty. Let’s dig in to the anatomy of a book cart. Here’s an example of one currently sitting in my office:

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This isn’t the standard to-be-shelved cart, but more of a to-be-dealt-with cart.

1. Huge glob of that tacky putty.

I know this isn’t actually on the cart, but I felt it deserved comment. Formed from random bits of stray putty over the course of years, this could be the oldest single object in this library, nay…the world.

2. Recent donations.

Donations seem to be a touchy subject at times. We all receive books that scream “spring cleaning” louder than “goodness of my heart”, but a quality donation is always a welcome sight – we get a good number of those.

3. The Runaway Bunny.

I work in two schools serving lower elementary students and the stuffed animals are definitely out and about. Kids love them, so who am I to deny it? They add a welcoming element to the library.

4. My donations.

One of the perks of occasionally getting a book or two in the mail is that I can eventually pass them on to eager students at my schools.

5. New books.

Here are some books that were recently purchased for the library that we have to put the finishing touches on. As we know, processing (as I covered in this golden oldie post) takes more steps than one might think is humanly possible.

6. Donations.

Wait – how did those get down there? This is how you know this cart was not tampered with before this picture was taken – my (shall we call them eccentric?) organizational skillz.

7. Mysterious books on the other side of the cart.

Look, just don’t turn the cart around. Don’t do it. Let the shadows do their work.

8. Equipment.

School librarians know their way around some plastic containers. Inside these unassuming tubs are webcams getting prepped for teacher checkout.

9. Books to bring to other schools.

Working at four schools, there is occasionally some reshuffling that takes place with books. This is why my car frequently takes on the characteristics of a rolling library, with books and the occasional overhead projector hanging out in the trunk.

10. New books, continued.

More of the new stuff.

11. Handsome book cart.

Take a moment to appreciate this cart. Solid steel with faux woodgrain panels on the sides (sadly, not visible), this is a cart that proudly kicks it old school.

What does your cart look like? Any photos out there? Post it and I’ll include it here.

Katie is up to the challenge:

 

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Comments

  1. adrienne says

    October 25, 2011 at 11:58 am

    I also have a decade-old-ever-growing-and-shrinking ball of blue putty.

    I used to have a book truck that was mine for keeps, but I got rid of it some years ago when I realized I was using it as a place to store things I didn’t want to take care of. So now instead I pile things on my desk. I will not take a picture of that right now, though, as I just got back from vacation and my desk is more frightening than usual.

    • Travis says

      October 25, 2011 at 2:18 pm

      Ha – yes the cart can quickly turn into the shelf if you’re not careful.

    • Travis says

      October 25, 2011 at 9:09 pm

      Cart shame – I understand

  2. katie says

    October 25, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    I work in the youth department at a public library…

    http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/215998_10100171084666833_8200405_48021598_1608291_n.jpg
    Pre-Summer 2011, a milk crate full of the local school district’s summer reading books

    http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/154194_893091505383_8200405_46453186_6569759_n.jpg
    My beloved book cart with new books I was processing at the time. I forget what those books on top were for…

    https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PDCCAP3dqBg/TqcnatRNeXI/AAAAAAAAAg4/Z4EKnHR1g_k/s640/IMG_20111025_170956.jpg

    My cart right now.
    Top shelf includes posters we were going to discard but I have chosen to save, YA non-fiction that needs to be weeded and paperbacks that were mislabeled and need to be changed.
    Bottom shelf: a total mess. There are books I have to catalog, a kit (cd+book) that needs processing, books&audiobooks that are half-processed (can’t fully process since our ILS is offline today), items I need to take to our cataloger, and some more non-fiction titles that need weeding attention.
    Finally, always trying to maximize the small amount of space I do have, I use the space under my cart (it doesn’t move too often) for stashing items that need to be put away or we will be using very soon.

    • Travis says

      October 25, 2011 at 9:12 pm

      Thanks for sharing, Katie – I’ll add these to the post

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