Library Nerd

Seeing as I'm regularly in the study room at the library these day and I've spent 5-6 hours there everyday this week, I'm starting to get to know the place and the people.

During the middle of the day there are usually Asian people reading books or the paper, and one or two mentally ill people looking like they're reading something. None of them stay that long.

There's one man in the corner doing his taxes. He's running a bit late.

At around 2:30pm the students start arriving. The year 12-ers wear their jerseys. The private school kids look stressed and study hard. The public school kids visit each other at their desks and don't seem to do any work all.

If the student is any younger than year ten then they're probably Asian and a girl.

When I look at the students I find that I can't picture them writing any of the comments left on the desks. They all look too well behaved to tell Sarah about the size of her bust, or inform fellow studiers that Asquith Girls have various diseases. But you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Though whoever wrote "I'm so horny" could be one the regulars.

There's a tall skinny man who wears a green button up shirt, tucked into brown pants, and brown boots with elastic on the sides who comes in every day. He is balding and has a little moe and a little bit of chin hair. He isn't married or he doesn't wearing his wedding ring. Maybe he comes to the library to pick up.

He works on a laptop and he'll ask someone to move if there are no spare desks with a power point nearby. When he has secured his desk he spends 5 minutes wiping it down. He then methodically and carefully plugs everything in and sets it up just right. Finally he sits up very straight and types.

After a few hours he eats a banana.

People often sleep at their desk.

People with laptops work around the edge of the room. The people with pen and paper sit in the middle. The locations of power points have created a micro, geographic, socio-economic divide.

I like to sit by the window so I can look out onto the reference section. It also means no one can sit next to me.

There is always one person every few hours who answers their phone then says, rather loudly, "Nahh, I'm in the library."