A girl came into the library today asking for a lotto ticket. I was a bit surprised. What made her think we were a newsagents? She said there was a sign out by the entrance advertising Lotto, so she thought this was the place. I put her straight, that she had entered a library and directed her to the nearby newsagents. After that I just had to check outside to see if it was true, and sure enough, there was the sign advertising Tattslotto and Powerball right near the entrance. A colleague said yes, it has been there for a while and it does confuse some people who, like the girl, come in asking for a ticket. We were both amused by that, but it got me thinking. In a way, coming into the library is a bit like winning the lottery – at least, to my mind it is. You come in and you get free books, magazines, audiobooks, cds and dvds, plus computer and internet use all with free membership. And there are thirteen other libraries in this system that you can borrow from, so your benefits are exponential. There are no odds or probabilities to be considered either, it’s a sure thing. The next person who comes in asking for Lotto, I’ll give them that spiel! “Yes, come in, you’re in the right place. You’ve won the lottery!”
A corner of the cover was slightly dog-eared. That’s the only reason I noticed it, a children’s picture book called The More Monster Book sitting in the picture book section. I was looking for slightly worn books to go onto our ‘grubby’ list. (To be discarded. Yes, we throw out books, we’re a library. Deal with it.) So, sometimes I’ll be shelving, or sorting, or selecting for discards, not paying attention to the contents of these things, when a book will want to make itself known to me. This was the case with The More Monster Book. I flicked through it to see what this More Monster was, and it turned out it was Capitalism! A giant mechanised pig that forced all the little pigs on the island to work and which endlessly consumed things. Then one little pig asked why it was like this, and she rebelled and discovered the More Monster was just a machine that could be controlled if the little pigs worked together. I borrowed it and took it home. It was a fun, subversive read, and it definitely belongs in our library. See, you don’t need the illusory and selfish quick fix of Lotto. Why not work towards making a good life for yourself and others?