I, a young ice bear, have been on an amazing adventure to learn more about the library, and so far, I've learned a lot! For those that don't know me, I am Vanilla Ice Bear, a member of the Children's team at the Main Library. I mostly help out with Story Time with my mom [Haylee Blystone] but these days I am fully committed to being an investigative journalist. This time, I sit down with a Jill of all trades, Stephanie Ruhl! Stephanie is a dear friend of my mom, and I had the chance to bug her about what she does and what knowledge she has to share. Let's see what we can learn this time!

Sitting down with Stephanie Ruhl

Vanilla: Hi, it’s so nice to meet you! I'm Vanilla. 

Stephanie: Hey Vanilla, nice to meet you. I'm Stephanie. How's it going? 

V: You know, can't complain. I don't think we really had the pleasure of actually talking to each other, but I am really excited to talk to you!

S: Oh, me too. I really wanna come to your Story Time sometime. 

V: Well, you know, it's really my mom's Story Time, but I do think that I'm the star, yeah.

S: You're the star, you are the attraction. Don't sell yourself short. 

V: I mean, I am the cutest. The babies do love to see me. 

[Stephanie laughs]

V: How long have you worked here?

S: Let's see, I was a Page right after college, and I did that for like a year, a long time ago, but then I came back to the library many years later, and I was a Library Associate, and I did that for many years, and now I am in circulation. I supervise a team here at the Main Library.

V: So many years, that's kind of vague. Let's get a timeline. One year, exactly. 

S: Back in 2014. 

V: 2014!? 

S: Yeah. 

V: My mom graduated high school in 2014. 

S: Wow.

V: But I think Pages are the best! Pages have the most fun part of the job. I feel like when you think of library work, you think typically of what a page would do.

S: You're in the stacks the whole time. You get to touch all the books. You try not to think about how dirty they are, yeah.

V: But it's a fun job, and also, that is a great foundation for working anywhere else in the library.

S: That's true. Especially if you get trained by the one and only Rita [Main Library Page].

V: Wait, were you trained by Rita? 

S: I was. So was Carlos [Main Teen’s manager], and we were all buddies, yeah. 

V: She is a staple here at Main. She's been here like 20 years. 

S: Rock star. 

V: That's crazy that you were trained by Rita. Wow. 

S: We're tight, we go way back.

V: I guess, yeah, if you started here like 12 years ago, that makes sense.

S: No, I mean, when I was fresh out of college, she trained me, so that was 2006. 

V: Wow!

S: I was here 2006-07. 

V: So you've known Rita a long time, huh? 

S: A long time! I was just a baby. 

V: That's how she knows everybody—because she's trained everybody. 

S: And because she's such a wonderful, outgoing person. 

V: So then, that was here at Main, because Rita's always been here. 

S: As far as I know. I've only ever worked at Main. 

V: Your entire career has been at Main!? 

S: Yup, besides our stint at Donelson during the closure. 

V: Wow, okay, so you were a Page here. What department were you a Page for?

S: It was different back then. 

V: How so? 

S: We were all stationed out of circulation, actually. My supervisor, Miles Scott, was back here in this corner, actually [points]. He would assign us to particular departments for each shift. So, there were no department-specific pages, except that Rita was mostly in AV, the AV part of Popular Materials, because we had such a huge AV department at that time. She would repair all the jewel cases on the CDs. 

V: No, she didn't! Oh, my goodness. 

S: That became her focus because she was good at it. We even had VHS tapes back then, I think. 

V: Okay, I would love it if we still had VHS tapes. 

S: So many DVDs, so many audio books. I cannot begin to describe how full Popular Materials was back then. Even where the board games are, that was part of the CDs, and then DVDs and audio. I remember VHS shelving went around the wall, near the Summer Reading Challenge closet. Like, not floor-to-ceiling, but every wall was covered. Anyway, this place was booming back then. 

V: That's really different!

S: And this whole workroom was totally different! 

V: So, the Pages were kind of like how the branch pages are? Like, you report to one person, but then you work out in the whole branch.

S: Yep, but I think it's much better as it is now, because you really get to know not just the collections of a given department, which seems obvious, but the people too. Like, I was a page here for a decent length of time and didn't really know anyone. I did get to know Betsy Fisher somewhat because I had an Annex assignment each shift, and she was over that. But I didn’t really make friends outside of other pages.

V: You were just shipped out as needed. But that's so different.

S: It was very different and I was always distracted by things that were out of order that my numbers were actually low, because I was pretty OCD about it. 

V: Oh, did you guys have to have like a quota? 

S: I mean, not strictly, but there was a certain expectation. So, after a while, though, I got kind of specialized in Children's. I spent the majority of my shift in the workroom, getting carts ready for other Pages to shelve. I was good at that and enjoyed seeing new books. 

V: So they figured out your strength. Just give her a cart. She's gonna sort it. 

S: I would put it in perfect order and quickly. But if I'm out there, especially in Children's, I will get overwhelmed by all the stuff that's gotten moved by patrons, you know. 

V: The babies. The babies love to grab the books. 

S: Lovely children, yes. They just shove em back in. 

V: Yeah!

S: Yeah, so, that was a long time ago... 

V: Wow, okay. 

S: Yeah, like I knew Kipp [See June blog] back then when he was in Security. 

V: So, you guys go way back. So you were a Page when he was in security, and then you moved up to Associate. What department were you an Associate in? 

S: Adult services, but it wasn't even called that back then. I was in Reference. 

V: What!? 

S: Eventually Reference Department joined with Public Technology and Popular Materials. 

V: So were those separate departments? 

S: It was weird. There's been a lot of different clusters, you know? And when I first started, I was making the schedule for all the different desks, and it actually included Teens. So try to figure this out. Pub Tech was its own thing. Pop Mat operated independently, but we did their schedule and filled in if they were short. 

V: Okay. 

S: So I was doing a schedule with Non-Fiction, Pop Mat, eventually. I don't think it started with that. Anyway, and Teen.

V: That's crazy! 

S: It wasn’t “Adult Services” and I guess it wasn't “Teen Services” like it is now either. 

V: So when did it get all smushed together? Pub Tech, Pop Mat, and Non-Fiction? 

S: Probably like 2016 or so? That's just a stab. 

V: That is a random guess. 

S: Yeah, like probably ‘15, ‘16—somewhere in there. 

V: That's so different. See, I’ve only been here four years, and, you know, mom started at Edmondson Pike. I wasn't even there when she started. 

S: Did she birth you, Vanilla? 

V: Yeah, I was born after she came to Main. She needed a Story Time buddy, so boom, there I was.

S: Did she have a buddy at EP? 

V: She started as a Page at EP. 

S: Pages unite! 

[Both laugh]

V: I feel like it's really important to start as a Page because you do get a lot of really good collection maintenance experience, and you learn the collection, and you really learn the foundations of being in a library before you start programming, doing all that stuff.

S: And when you're an Associate, you work the desk, and you have to start answering questions, not even necessarily reader's advisory-

V: A lot of readers’ advisory-

S: But there is that too, or just like, who wrote that series, blah, blah, blah. You may not have, I mean, how could you possibly train someone to prepare for that? But if you've been in the stacks- 

V: Touching every book-

S: And seen those authors and those series over and over, you're gonna have it in your head. You can remember it because you've done it so many times, so it's cool. And you just kind of learn what's normal for condition, too.

V: Yeah, you learn how to grubby and withdraw, like you don't have the ability to do that, but you do kind of learn that process too. What's normal, or do we set that aside? Does this book look right? No, that doesn't. And the Pages are usually the first ones to find the water damaged books before we do because they're in the stacks.

S: Yeah, yeah. We catch a lot here in Circ, too. 

V: So, when you became an Associate, did you do any programs, or was it also different where it was mostly referenced? 

S: Very different, because that changed later on to have, like, the expectation of a certain number of programs. But also, my position was unique as the scheduler. So, the other thing is that we just had different focuses. So, scheduling took a lot of my time. That was before, like, now they're on LibStaffer, that team.

V: That's crazy that an Associate would do a schedule. 

S: But they, Liz Coleman [currently a Librarian at Bordeaux] and Betsy Fisher, did remember me from back when I was a page, and they remembered me as being detail oriented.

V: Shout out, Liz!

S: So, even if Miles Scott didn't appreciate me, they did, and they remembered. So, when they saw me on the Associate list all those years later, they were like, this might be a good scheduler. When they lost their previous scheduler, she moved on to a different position. 

V: Oh! So you were hired to be the scheduler? 

S: Like, to do all the normal Associate stuff, plus take that over, because Liz had been doing it. She was wearing so many hats back then, like she is wanting to do. So, I was hired for that, even though it was awkward. It was like coming in, learning the job. The ILS, learning all the different ins and outs, and figuring out this schedule, and telling people where to go and when. 

V: Oh, so did you have to boss people around? By email? 

S: No, that's by implication, is what I was gonna say. 

V: Oh, because you're assigning, and you're like, you're going here, you're going. You're telling me what desk shifts I have. 

S: Now, I had some guidance, but I also had a big job in maintaining periodicals, which was a lot bigger than what it is now.

V: And periodicals, I know what those are, but what are those? You know, for the people at home.

S: Yes. Thank you, that's a great question. Periodicals are magazines and newspapers. And we actually had to like, receive them in our ILS back then, because we did not want to pay for that facet, or whatever you call it. Millennium [software] had its own serials, which is another synonym for periodicals, magazines, and newspapers. 

[Vanilla laughs]

S: Yeah, so I would like, receive them in there every day, and I would place claims, and I would also like, maintain it looking good, weed out the extra ones every single day. 

V: Every day? You had to go through them? 

S: Well, I mean, I just maintained it every day, so if that meant taking out old ones, or straightening, putting them in order, you know, all of that good stuff. And it was a huge, huge section. 

V: Wow, things were really different back then. 

S: Yeah, so then later on, it became more of a focus to do programs, because there was less of the other stuff. Then we got LibStaffer [software], which, you know, saves some time for scheduling.

V: Even though I hear that only a couple places use LibStaffer.

S: Yeah, Donelson. 

V: Yes, you guys do and then Donelson. That's not something we use in Children's. 

S: We don't use it in Circulation either. It's helpful if you have either multiple floors, multiple desks, or both. It's really helpful. 

V: And we just have one desk. 

S: And you guys just have one desk, so what would be the point of using it? It's almost more effort than it's worth, yeah. 

V: I feel like, and also, you have to keep up with your outlook, and you know, some of us in Children's, we have a hard time doing that. 

S: We would too. 

V: It's so hard, you know. We like to live by our hearts. 

S: Yes, you wanna be able to be a little impulsive. 

V: Yeah, and once you put it in Outlook, it's like, that's committed. We're doing this thing at this time. I like a little wiggle room. 

S: Yeah, right? I mean, something like this makes sense to be in Outlook, but so many other things, oof. 

[Both laugh]

S: So I eased into programming, to get back to that. 

V: Wait, did you program? 

S: Yeah, I did. 

V: First, how long were you an associate?

S: Eight years. 

V: Eight years!? 

S: These numbers are really adding up to be a lot and it’s interesting you say you've been here four years, because it's almost my four-year mark in Circulation

V: You've been doing this as long as I've been here! 

[Both laugh]

V: Wow, and it's not like a, oh, you're so old. It's more just like a, it's very impressive that people are staying at the library this long. 

S: Yeah, it's a real wonder, isn't it? 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: But, okay, so you were an associate for eight years. Around what year, like how long were you an Associate before you started programming? 

[Stephanie pauses to think]

V: I mean, just roughly. Was it like towards the tail end of your time as an Associate? 

S: A few years in. But like I said, I had a lot of other focuses, so it was just like taking things over for other people at first to learn the ropes, because I had no idea about all the back-end stuff. And back then, Canva was kind of new, or else we didn't know about it for a while. 

V: I had never heard of Canva before we started using it here. 

S: Yeah, there was just like a lot to learn. So, I know Crystal [Deane, Adult Librarian] had way too many programs, and she was doing like all the music-related programs, which used to be plentiful. So I would just take over this or that, and I took over her meditation program. So things that weren't like me doing the thing, but doing all the arranging and prep and hosting. 

V: Okay. 

S: There were a lot of the music ones, like the recorder people, they have like all these different iterations. There was like a, you know, there's one-off music ones that happened all the time, where there was a flautist.

V: A flautist?

S: Yeah, I think that one was a flautist. My sister used to play the flute, and she'd say, I'll play the flute. She wouldn’t say flautist.

[Vanilla laughs]

S: Yeah, what else? I can't remember. 

V: So you, did you ever come up with the program? Like you came up with an idea, you pitched it, and then you got to do it, or was it mostly just like working with a buddy or covering? 

S: Either, well, no, I mean, a lot of them I did solo, but they were people who reached out or something that was already established. 

V: Oh, so bringing people in? 

S: Yeah, like if musicians reach out and say, I'd like to perform and I would take them on and get it all worked out. So then when that started, I had to get the meditation teacher in, you know, in the system, all that boring stuff. 

V: Oh, yeah. All the behind-the-scenes fun stuff. 

S: I don't know if there was ever one that I just dreamed up and created, and I would love to, but it was just like that around that time when it was like, okay, I need to have a certain amount. I know I've always done MTC too, Main Triage Center, in the Annex. 

V: So even when you were an Associate, you did that? 

S: Mm-hmm. 

V: Man, Annex is so cool!

S: Yeah, I did a lot of stuff that was kind of unusual for an Associate, or at least just like unique. So, I don't know, it's, like I did the book sale with Betsy, and she trained me on all that stuff, MTC, book sale. Then she retired, and I did the book sale all by myself, and then when Katie [Adult Librarian at Main] started, or when she came from Hadley Park, I trained her.

V: Wow.

S: Yeah, it's fun. It's fun getting to do a lot of different things. 

V: So you went from Page to Associate, then to what you are currently doing, Circulation Supervisor?

S: Yeah. 

You know nothing, Vanilla

V: Was there a reason that you wanted to be a Circulation Supervisor, or did you just want to get promoted? Like, you know, you had a baby? More money?

S: I initially did not make any more money and my workload and stress quadrupled. But I was ready for a change and a challenge. 

V: Okay. 

S: To boil it down simply. And there were and are some perks. I was focused on that because my daughter was very young and working even every third weekend was a challenge for my family. So now it would be easier. One of the appealing things is that the supervisor schedule is Monday through Friday, and that was established before I started. It's just that so many more issues come up during the week. So that was a huge perk. And I still have that. And I love that. And having an office is nice. 

[Vanilla looks around Stephanie’s office]

V: This is nice. I mean, you could put some more posters up, but it's alright.

S: Look, I used to have a beautiful office. Everything was thrown away, remember? 

V: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The fire.

S: I have that lovely map, but it's also kind of beige. 

V: You gotta put something up. 

S: There were photographs, you know. Everything got busted up. I used to have a beautiful bookcase with wonderful books. Glorious. So now I have what looks like a doctor's office.

V: Yeah, so cut you some slack is what I'm hearing. 

S: Loud and clear. 

[Both laugh]

S: My daughter does love coming here, by the way. We just don't get to come very often, but. 

V: Because you're working. 

S: Well, I mean on weekends that would be ideal, right? But do I wanna come all the way back downtown on a day off? 

V: And weekends can be crazy. I feel like everyone's waiting until like Saturday to be like, let's go downtown, let's go see the puppet show, and then you don't see them again for another week. 

S: Yeah, I mean, a lot of people work during the week. 

V: I mean, I get it, I get it. 

S: But it kind of makes me miss being at Donelson though, sometimes. 

V: Oh yeah! Because you were stationed there during the closure. 

S: Indeed. We were stationed there. Both closures, HVAC and the fire.

V: Oh, you were there for the HVAC?

S: Yeah, so I got to know a lot of that crew very well during those few months, yeah. 

V: We stayed at Main during the HVAC closure. Kind of at Edgehill too. 

S: Oh yeah, there was a rotation. 

V: I got to go to Edgehill because we were over there doing Baby Story Time for a while. 

S: Oh, that's right, so they had a vacancy or something, okay.

V: I don't really remember, that was when Ashley [currently the manager at Edmondson Pike]] was the manager though. I remember her being there! I think we were at EP for a second too. But then eventually we were just still at Main because we had like a million holds every day, so. 

S: And it wasn't that hot after a while because then this side of the building was done, yeah.

V: And once you're in there for a certain amount of time, you just become numb to it. You're like, it's hot, it's good.

S: I was gonna say acclimated. 

V: Yeah, that's a better word. I remember like you're there for a couple hours and then after a while, you're just like, like you're just like zoned out. 

S: Well, seriously, you have the earbuds in, you're just pulling holds, you know. 

V: It was cool because that's, you're not allowed to wear headphones when there's patrons. So that was fun. I mean, I wish we could have been here during this closure, but. 

S: That would have been nice. 

V: But at the same time, Donelson was great. 

S: Yeah, it was nice. 

V: I feel like we ended up talking about Donelson in every blog these days. 

S: Well we were there for, God, like almost a year. We got really close to the people.

V: I miss all the people a lot! 

[Stephanie laughs]

V: I think we got a little sidetracked. What were we talking about? Wait, hold on. Let's see... You guys do you guys do a lot of work here because you guys are essentially the hub for transit, aren't you? 

S: That's a good way to put it. We also are a hub for library card signups. Because you don't necessarily think about it that way, but we do so many library card signups. And that is by far, for circulation, that is the most involved transaction. You have to communicate a lot of things to them. Make sure you have a lot of information correct. And you might have a line behind them. You know what I mean? But anyway, we do a lot of those because people like to come here for that. 

V: Or if they're out of town?

S: I was thinking of the service area. But yeah, we used to have a lot of service area signups. And they would be visiting downtown, you know, doing the downtown thing and signing up for a card. There might be less of that with the changes to our service area. But it's still a lot of signups. 

V: Well, that could be good then. We get to better serve our service area and you guys don't have a line out the door waiting for library cards. 

S: We usually have two people on desk while the volume is what it is. 

V: Do you ever have people, they're like, they'll be out of state, and they'll want a library card because they like collect library cards or whatever. Do you guys ever get that? Do you give them the library cards? 

S: Yes. Oh, I don't. I was asked by a manager recently if that was a thing. We really talked it over and I was like, oh, maybe I should not be doing that. But I don't know, I never took the perspective of what this conversation went through. But at least if we put a sharpie through the bar to void it out. 

V: Oh, that's smart! I just say no, because I'm like, why do you want it you can't use it? 

S: Especially back then, we didn't always have bookmarks and stickers. We have a few more now. 

V: We have a ton of stickers now. 

S: But again, we didn't have that traditionally. So I was like, we should have more giveaways. So at least I would just treat it like a, you know, like a merch giveaway.

V: Now we have the main trading cards. You can just give them that. 

S: Oh, yeah, we don't stock those down here. But we should. 

V: I can give you some! I don't know if you knew, but my mom is the one that made the design for it. She's very talented!

S: I do know the talented bit. 

V: It’s got bears on it!

S: I can't imagine why.

V: I know that's crazy. 

[Both laugh]

V: I got a question. Wait, wait. I'm thinking, okay! We’ve been talking a lot about like what you do at the library. I want to know just about you. Did you know that this month is National Ice Cream Month? 

S: Somewhere in my brain. And I actually have had ice cream several times this month, which is unusual. So I'm a full supporter. 

V: That's good. What's your favorite ice cream? 

S: Seriously? 

V: Yeah! 

S: I have an orange and cream at home. 

V: An orange what? 

S: Orange cream. I said orange and cream, but like an orange creamsicle. Yeah, orange creamsicle. That one's really good. Kroger brand. I do like the Kroger peanut butter chocolate one I have at home. It's delicious. 

V: So your favorite flavor is specialty flavors? 

S: Yeah, that's not a great answer. 

V: Or specifically Kroger brand? 

S: Nope. That was what was on sale. 

V: Okay. A cheap queen. We love it. 

S: No. Bargain shopper. 

V: Oh, okay.

[Stephanie laughs]

V: Anyway, my next question is, do you have a favorite book? And if you don't have a favorite book, what about like a favorite book you have when you were a kid? 

S: Oh, good one. My first chapter book was Charlotte's Web. I'll never forget that. And I was very young. I was an early reader. Yes, yes I was. And I loved, what'd you call it? Little House on the Prairie. Read the whole series before I was in like second grade. 

V: That really dates you. 

S: I wasn’t around when it came out! I just read them when I was younger, Vanilla. Rude. Wait, do those not circulate? 

V: The TV series does. I don't see the chapter books get checked out that much, but we do have some picture books that still get checked out. I think it's more of like grandparents that come in and they're like, I remember this one. And then they want to get it for their grandkids. 

S: Wow. Wow, Vanilla. 

[Both laugh]

S: But I also loved Babysitter's Club and Babysitter's Little Sister pre-graphic novels. 

V: So have you seen the graphic novels? Because they look really cool. 

S: They do. And of course I have mixed opinions on that, but I just come around. It's like whatever keeps them interested in this series because it's such a great. 

V: Are you anti-graphic novel? 

S: Not at all, but it's just, it's hard I think for anyone to see anything beyond books even like that they love or even like when your favorite movie gets remade and you're like careful. Don't mess this up. 

V: Yeah. Like with Percy Jackson. Those movies sucked! 

S: And you know, that's hard. It's hard to go from a book to a movie a lot of times, but, um, oh, I read lots of books. It’s hard to think of something that stands out. 

V: It's not a pop quiz.

S: I loved Anne of Green Gables, the old movies—Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, but I love them so much that I never picked up the books because it's hard to go in the other direction, you know? 

V: Oh, like if you watch the movie first and then you try to read the book? 

S: You feel like it's all in your head already. 

V: Yeah, but shouldn't that make it easier to read the book? Cause then you already have what the character looks like instead of having to like try to, well, I think they look like this.

S: Maybe so, but I've never been into that, I guess. 

V: You like what you like. 

S: Yeah. And currently, like, I just read a little bit of everything. I don't have like a specific genre or like an author that I follow. I, because I've worked, I've always worked in, well, for the most part, always worked in books. So I just like to discover cool stuff. Okay. So like, so not picky, open-minded. Yes. And I like to discover, not a hidden gem, but like a lesser-known gem. 

V: So you're not going to read like the, the, the New York Times bestsellers? 

S: Not always. If there's tons of hype and it's a new author, like Yesteryear, isn't she a brand-new author? 

V: Oh, that book was weird though. 

S: I've heard people who absolutely love it. And then so many reviews where they're like, this did nothing for me, or I didn't finish it. So that intrigues me. And I'm like, I'm going to wait for the audio book and then I'll, I'll listen to it. 

V: I do like an opportunity to form my own opinion. Everyone's like, this is the best book ever. I want to be like, well, let me see about that! I'm not like a go against the grain kind of, kind of bear, but I do want to just be like, well, let's see about that. You know? And then sometimes there's so much hype, at least for me, I gotta wait for it to go down. Like I waited a long time before I started watching Game of Thrones because everyone was so obsessed with it. I gotta give it a second. I did end up getting into it before it ended though. I did get to see the ending live. 

S: Were you disappointed? 

V: Yes, it sucked. 

S: I haven't read the books though. And to hear people who have, talk about the way that the show ended and how it could have been so much better. 

V: The books aren't bad necessarily. Do you like, the only thing I can really think to compare to, do you like to read books that are in like old English or like Shakespeare kind of stuff? 

S: Like that kind of writing? Absolutely not. 

V: You're not going to want to read that because it's like super big and you're like, yeah, it's daunting. And then just the, the way it's written, it's like, dang, is it the Middle Ages? Why are we still writing like this?

S: I don't get that. 

V: I get that it's fantasy, but it feels like high fantasy, you know? But I mean, you know, you could spark note it maybe. Or is that cheating?

[Both laugh]

S: Isn't House of the Dragon Season 3 about to drop? 

V: That's a prequel. I don't like prequels. 

S: Well, I mean, for me, I could totally agree with that, except Game of Thrones. 

V: Here we go, I think prequels are lazy. I think that it's just another way to make money off of something you’ve already made. Because you can't think of a way to continue it, let's go the other direction. Like with Hunger Games. Hunger Games was good. Did we need all of those prequels? Several different prequels that some of them actually kind of like contradict some of the stuff in the original series.

S: I've only read the original trio. I haven’t read anything but the trilogy. I haven't gone back and gotten to the prequels yet.

V: A lot of prequels do that. Some of them will contradict what the actual series is doing. And it's like, why did you even feel the need to do this? 

S: You need some extensive storyboards. And like, make sure you're very fresh on all your actual thoughts. Like go reread them. 

V: But the same could be said for sequels too. Like a lot of sequels can also contradict and they feel kind of lazy. So it's just like, especially if it's been out for a while. Like Hunger Games had been out for a minute. There was a long gap between that and the prequel. 

S: Well, I've heard some really positive things about, what’s the most recent one?

V: The Haymitch one? 

S: Yeah. But not as many good things about the other one.

V: How can you make a character like Snow likeable? It's like, that's crazy. But yeah, what can you do? 

S: Well, Vanilla, what children's novels would you recommend? Just something you've been into lately. 

V: So there's this picture book that we just read at story time. It’s A Good Day for a Hat. That one's fun. It's not super new. 

S: Wait, did Miss Rebecca from Donelson recommend that? 

V: Nah, man. I know about this one. But it is one we read last week. It's not terribly new.

S: I'm trying to remember if that's the one she recommended to me.

V: It's about a bear who wears hats every day. So each day something happens and he's like, I have the hat for that. 

S: Oh, that's cute. 

V: That one's really fun. I like any picture books with bears in them. 

S: Of course.

V: So have you heard of Who Wet My Pants? 

S: Of course. That's a classic, right?

V: I love it! Oh, there's this one we're going to read at Music & Movement that is new. It's called Shmoof. It's about a dog named Shmoof. Not a bear. Shmoof is the Shmoofiest. 

S: Okay!

V: Then then there's a companion book called Floof and Floof is the Floofiest. 

S: Fascinating. 

V: Right? It's really going to be interesting to see if we will be able to read this book correctly at story time. 

S: Correctly? Like pronouncing the words? 

V: Yeah, because the whole book is like, the Shmoof is Shmoofy. Shmoof is the Shmoofiest. Shmoof is the Shmoofiest Shmoof and so on. 

S: Lewis Carroll-esque, maybe? A little like tongue twister, kind of. 

V: So either way, I think the kids are going to laugh. 

S: But made-up words, right? Or not always. 

V: Is Shmoof not a real word? 

S: I hate to be the one to say it, but I don't think so. 

V: Well, on that note, I think we're about of out time. Do you have anything that you'd like to share with the people? 

S: I wish I had some big news to drop. 

V: Do you guys have anything you're promoting right now? No new library cards or anything? 

S: Well, they're coming in September. 

V: Okay, so be on the lookout. New library cards in September!

[Stephanie laughs]

V: So hey, this was great. This was fun. I feel like I learned so much, not just about you, but about this library too. 

S: Isn't that crazy how, how much history, yeah. That was one of my favorite things about starting here, was I was around librarians who had all kinds of stories. 

V: Now you're the one with the stories.

S: Bye Vanilla, this was great. 

V: Thank you!