You can never truly leave the children

The library opened at 9:00 a.m. today. I wasn't scheduled to work the reference desk until 10:00 a.m. When I arrived at the desk, I discovered that there were two high school classes visiting our floor today. Luckily for me, we are scheduled to work the reference desk in one hour increments.
When helping someone in a group; once you have helped one person locate what they are looking for, the news spreads like wildfire. I helped one young woman almost as soon as I arrived at the reference desk. For the duration of the hour, I was helping others in her group. She was looking for a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Another student wanted the Autobiography of Malcolm X. One young man wanted art books, which aren't on our floor and I had a hard time convincing him of this. It didn't matter that he had been walking the floor for 15 minutes before he finally asked where he could find the book he was looking for. The next to the last search question was the kicker for me.

The young woman said that she was embarrassed to ask for my help. She said that she had been looking for the book and wasn't having any luck in locating it. She gave me a sheet of paper with just the call number. I checked the online catalog, to make sure the book was actually on the shelf. The title surprised me, "Lesbian sex scandals." I think that she was more embarrassed by the title than by not being able to find the book. She went on to tell me that she would hit herself if I found the book. I found the book and told her that I was waiting for her to hit herself. She did hit herself. She was accompanied by her girlfriend the whole time. After retrieving the book, they sat down to read it.

The students were supposed to find a book for their research paper during their visit. I learned from other students that they were given a list of choices for their topics. I am sure that lesbian sex was not on the list.

They were running, laughing, talking loudly, yelling, and eating. They were also more concerned with their access to the internet, than they were with finding a book.