If you love books, HR 7661 seems like a terrible idea. I’ve been told it’s likely to make it through committee tomorrow. https://www.bookweb.org/advocacy

Caution: Extremely deep subject matter ahead. 📚🌊
Grab your floaties, your courage, and maybe a snack… some books don’t just tell stories—they pull you under in the best possible way. 🏊‍♀️✨

What if the book isn’t waiting for you… but coming to find you? 📚👀
Stories move. Ideas chase. Knowledge walks straight into the room and asks if you’re ready.
Are you?

Today, during the second round of Battle of the Books*:

Team Member: *anxiously* IS IT TRUE OR FALSE???

2nd Team Member: *hysterically screeching* IT’S TRUUUUUEEEE!!!!!

3rd Team Member: AAAAAAHHHH!!!!

Emotions were running high. lol

* A game where the kids read the assigned books and then answer trivia questions about them. At the elementary school I work at, we have 1 round where all the Grade 4-6 students who want to participate can compete, then a second round that’s the official game, where the top two teams represent the school against the other schools in the district.

Library Logos Around the World: Scioto County, US

POV: Your desk is beside the social media girl while she’s editing reels.

🤧I promise it’s for a good cause

POV: You dropped something, but you’re the Teen Librarian.

Video inspo: @maudmarkslibrary

Getting closer to the end of Dungeon Crawler Carl and I swear I can feel the eyes of all those that are waiting for me to finish my copy so they can get it next. SOONNNN

When you come to the library for “serious studying” but the WiFi connects automatically. 📚😤📱
This face says: I opened the tablet for research… and somehow ended up watching 17 videos about bananas. 🍌😂
Stay strong, little scholar. The books are judging you.

64/365 ✨ this poor, soggy, docile, sweet baby who was dumped at my workplace and was so patient with me detangling it from its hiding spot in a bush. thankfully taken in by @ooakpr and will hopefully have a safe, warm home soon #instagram #catscatscats #library #librarylife #picaday2026

Coffee That Got Cold Beside Me

The coffee was hot when I bought it.

I remember that part clearly — the steam curling into the cold air as I stepped out of the café near campus, the paper cup warming my hands through thin sleeves. I had told myself I’d sit down for just an hour. Finish reading. Start the outline. Be productive in a quiet, impressive way.

That was three hours ago.

Now the coffee sits beside me, untouched, a thin skin forming across the surface. The warmth is gone. The smell is faint. It’s strange how quickly something shifts from comforting to forgotten.

The library is quieter in the afternoon. Not silent — just softened. Pages turning. Chairs scraping lightly against the floor. Someone coughing two tables away. The kind of quiet that doesn’t demand anything from you.

I lean back in my chair and pull at the sleeves I always hide my hands in, stretching the fabric over my knuckles absentmindedly. It’s the same soft layer I throw on without thinking most mornings — familiar enough that I don’t notice it until I need it.

Outside the window, the sky looks undecided. Not sunny. Not fully grey. Just suspended between moods.

I scroll through notes I’ve already read twice. Nothing new sticks. My thoughts feel heavier than the textbook in front of me.

There’s a version of me, I think, that would have finished everything by now. That version drinks coffee while it’s still hot. That version doesn’t get distracted by the sound of footsteps or the way light moves across the table.

But today isn’t about that version.

Today is about sitting still. About letting time stretch longer than planned. About watching the steam disappear and realizing you didn’t rush to save it.

I finally take a sip. It’s lukewarm. Not terrible, just different. Less sharp. Less urgent.

Maybe that’s how some days are meant to be — not intense, not dramatic. Just slightly cooled at the edges.

Around me, students pack up and leave in slow waves. The chair across from me empties. The space grows wider.

I close my notebook without finishing the outline.

Some work can wait.

I slide the cup a little farther away and stand up, adjusting the soft fabric at my wrists again. The air outside feels colder than before, but manageable.

The coffee got cold beside me.
And somehow, I don’t mind.