Morgan was selecting her bedtime book tonight and asked me if her books was “ours” or did it belong to the library.  We keep our library books in a bag for easy transport, so I selected one from the bag and said to her, “If you open to the title page, the library usually stamps its name and address in the book.”

Then, I flipped to the back of the book and showed her the library stamp there.  I know that the advances in library science and in technology have brought us to our current usage of the barcode to check out materials, but I miss writing my name on that little card that fit nicely into the pocket in the back of the book.  Seeing you checked out the book before you, examining signatures was part of the allure of going to the library and checking out books.

I pointed out the barcode at the top of the back cover, explaining to Morgan that the library uses this to scan items, like at the grocery store.  “So, if you ever want to know if a book is ours or theirs, you can check that way.”

Morgan traced her finger over the barcode thoughtfully and said, “Or, you can just look to see if the book has a call number on it or not.” She held up the spine of the book for me to see and smiled.

That’s my girl.