Puzzled...Or Not?

Ethan, Matthew and I ventured to the library today to see if we could find our favorite truck book. It's a relatively tiny library located in a strip mall down the street from our house. A great location for us, though it doesn't have a huge selection or big kid's corner, but big enough (especially with our county's great inter-library transfer system). While we were there today, a five- or six-year-old girl wandered back to the kid's section with her grandma in tow. The girl sat down at one of the tables and started flipping through books while her grandma looked around through the shelves and in the corners. I couldn't tell what she was looking for because she wasn't reading any of the book titles or pulling any off of the shelves, but she appeared to be really dismayed. She finally stopped looking around and we had a conversation:

Grandma: Excuse me, do you know if they have any puzzles here?

Me: No, I don't think so.

Grandma: What about games or puppets?

Me: No, I don't think so. They do have those stuffed animals up there for the kids to cuddle with while they read.

Grandma: So, nothing else?

Me: No, I think it's pretty much just the books mainly.

I wasn't being sarcastic or snarky with that last bit, I was just sort of put off kilter by her questions given our location. In the meantime, her grandaughter was contentedly reading to herself at one of the tables, but upon finding out that this library location didn't have anything for kids except the books, the lady said, "C'mon, Julie lets go. This library isn't as good as the other one, is it?"

...

I weep for the future.

What is the World Coming To?

So, I'm looking at my local library's website, looking for the Baby and Me story time, and I find this:

Teen Gaming Event Type: Teen Program Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Start Time: 3:00 PM Library: Oak Harbor Description: DDR and Guitar Hero for Teens. Take a break from homework and try your PS2 skills. Age(s): Teens

Playstation 2. Video game time. At the library. Instead of homework*. Someone please get me a fainting couch.

*I know all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and all that, but if a kid is going to venture out of the house to go to the library, please for the love of books encourage him to read something!