Library Note Goes Viral
On Friday August 14, 2015, staff at the Main Street Branch found this note pinned to an Asterix book in the book drop:
Staff were touched with the gesture and found the note adorable. The next day, on a whim, I decided to send the note to our social media team to allow others the opportunity to enjoy it. The note was posted to Facebook by Saturday afternoon. Over the next few days, thousands of likes and hundreds of shares began to pour in for Jackson's note. To our surprise, the news media picked up on the story, with dozens of articles appearing across Canada and the United States.
Having seen a news report, a neighbour alerted Jackson’s mom. The family was pleasantly surprised by the attention and reached out to the media. We were able to arrange a meeting with Jackson earlier this afternoon at the library, where we presented him with a gift basket to thank him for writing the note and for being such a great sport in dealing with the overwhelming amount of media interested in the story.
Jackson, an avid reader, says that the Asterix series is one of his favourites. The series follows the protagonist Asterix and his friend Obelix through various adventures as they attempt to resist Roman occupation. You can see the TPL’s selection of Asterix books here. It is one of the most popular comic series in the world, having been translated into over 100 languages.
Jackson also loves The Adventures of Tintin, another series carried by the TPL. Written by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi under the pen name Hergé, this series follows Tintin, a young reporter, and his fairthful dog, Snowy, as they embark on adventures full of slapstick humour, mystery, and science fiction.
Finally, you might want to also check out Jeff Smith’s Bone series. Smith combines epic fantasy tales with light-hearted comedy in a similarly structured comic format; it’s perfect for the seven to twelve age range.
Here’s hoping your children will enjoy these titles as much as Jackson does. Just be careful that they don't rip them when reading in their bunks 😉
5 thoughts on “Library Note Goes Viral”
A noble gesture on the part of this child. Thanks for sharing this good news story, and Jackson’s reading suggestions.
This story gives me the goosebumps. I love the TPL for so many things, most of all its incredible ability to build community engagement and foster a love of reading and respect for books (yes, actual, physical, books) among our children. The TPL staff in our local branch are so kind to my children and are genuinely interested in nurturing their love of reading. What a wonderful story.
“and for being such a great sport in dealing with the overwhelming amount of media interested in the story,” most of which accrued to the Toronto Public Library, which has used this lad to its own ends. (No one at TPL put this thing on Twitter “on a whim.”)
Given how hard it is for publicly funded institutions to survive these days, I applaud TPL for fostering community while at the same time enabling their own survival! If, in the process of celebrating a child’s honesty, TPL benefits, where is the harm done?
I don’t think the library had sinister intentions. They wanted to publicise a child’s honesty and care. Why shouldn’t they publicise the good stuff? Unfortunately it’s usually outweighed by the bad.
My son and I think that TPL is a major contributor to our happiness. We both max out our holds. The other day a librarian said that I am “one of our best customers”. I was shocked as I had never thought of myself as a customer, just a user. “Customer” implies that they perceive us as someone to whom they must provide good service, even though they’re not getting paid directly. It was impressive.