Jorge the Bird and..

Why Working at a Library is Full of Surprises.

I was hanging out at the circulation desk this morning trying to get our printing system software updated and got to be witness to the following story:

A patron approached the desk (he's a regular) and put a box down on the counter. He told my co-worker that he needed the number for animal control so he could get the number for animal rescue. In the box was an injured bird - a dove - that he thought had been hit by a car. So she looks up the number for him and let's him use the phone to call, even though normally patrons can't use that phone.

He calls up animal control, gets the number he needs and makes another call. In talking to the rescue group it sounds like the poor bird might have been hit by a car but was still alive with some damage to its wing and eye. He then proceeds to ask if they can pick it up from the library circulation desk. Normally they won't do pick ups but he convinces them to do it and hangs up.

Next he tells us that he is leaving the bird with us for pick-up and then walks off. So now we are at the circulation desk with a damaged bird in a box. There was no idea when the rescue people would be coming to pick it up either. We all took turns looking in on it and I decided he needed a name and thus - Jorge.

Another co-worker printed out a sign for the box - "Bird Inside - Non-Circulating - Do Not Open."

There was a whole discussion about what kinds of food a dove would eat which then lead to the types of diseases it could be carrying. We found a little lid to put some water in there, just in case, but I doubt it really could drink.

The rescue people came and took Jorge away and I have no idea what will happen to him from this point on.

So it seems that anything can happen where I work.