Tracy scanned the pile of books the large middle-aged man set in front of her. A high fantasy book of high renoun stuck out to her. As she reached out to scan it back into the system, a gruff voice asked, “Actually can I renew that one?”

Looking up, Tracy gasped as an ork put a green hand with leathery skin on the cover of the book. He shot her a questioning look and pulled the book closer to himself as if it were precious. Collecting herself, Tracy cleared her throat.

“Of course… I just need to scan the barcode and I can get you a new due date,” Tracy explained, holding out a hand.

With a grin spreading across his fearsome face, the ork passed her the book and expressed his thanks. Tracy smiled and nodded as she took the book gingery from the giant palm and quickly scanned the code. She pushed the book back across the table quickly.

“It’s due next Thursday, I hope you enjoy it,” Tracy said with a smile.

As she watched the ork lumber away from her desk with its nose in the book, she laughed to herself. “What a friendly ork,” she thought to herself as she began to scan in the rest of the books it had dropped off.

She nearly finished checking in the pile when she noticed some movement out the window. A tree tapped on the glass and waved to her. Smiling, Tracy waved back. “The ents are lively today,” she thought as she finished her task. “It’s been awhile since that one has moved!”

“Excuse me,” a small voice interrupted Tracy’s thoughts. She turned to find her self face to face with a young man holding a fictional tale about a famous pirate.

Looking up, she noticed the boys eye patch and large pirate hat for the first time. As he took a few uncertain steps towards her, she also noticed his wooden peg leg and flint lock pistol. “Can I help you,” she muttered with a bit of trepidation in her voice.

“I’d like to check this one out,” the boy said, placing the book in front of her with a solid thud.

“Certainly, matey!” Tracy replied quickly, scanning the book and returning it in haste. “I’ll just need yer’ card of the library!” Chuckling, the pirate slid his library card across her desk. Tracy scanned it into the system and nodded. “It’s due next week on Thursday.”

As the pirate took his leave, Tracy scanned the lower level of the library. Young dinosaurs stomped around in the children’s section, roaring, running and laughing. A few monks sat by the more religious self-help tomes and studied them carefully. Some scientists, wrapped in their white lab coats, sat at tables in the non-fiction section and studied pages through their safety goggles.

Amid the hustle and bustle, a small voice asked, “Excuse me, where can I find the next book in this series?”

Turning to the teenage girl who spoke, Tracy noticed she was carrying the second book in a very popular urban fantasy series about wizards and magic. Addressing the young witch adorned in black robes, Tracy answered, “Has the book disappeared from the fantasy section?”

“I couldn’t find it…” the witch admitted. Her dark eyes turned down towards her shoes and her curly brown hair fell in front of her face.

“Well, let me work my magic,” Tracy offered, turning to her computer. “It looks like all of them are checked out… could I put you on the wait list?”

Slumping her shoulders, the witch seemed to shrink into her robe. She shuffled a bit and muttered to herself. Suddenly, a middle aged woman ran up to the desk and pushed the witch aside.

“Excuse me,” the lady said. “I’d like to return this book—now.”

Tracy looked down at the exact book the young witch was looking to check out and stammered, “Oh, of course, I’ll just-“

“Hurry up, I don’t have all day,” the lady snapped.

“You are good to go,” Tracy said after scanning th book. The lady nodded and walked away, disappearing into the crowd at the library as if she never existed.

“Can I get on the waitlist now,” the witch asked in a small voice, tucking a wand back under her robe.

“The book just became available,” Tracy told her. “Do you just want to check it out?”

“Yes please!” The witch beamed from ear to ear and set the book she was carrying on the counter.

“It’ll be just a second,” Tracy assured the witch. “Also, your charm was quite impressive… I’ve never seen anyone that desperate to return a library book.”

The witch smelt a small smile spread across her face as Tracy scanned the books and handed her the one she wanted. Giggling, she ran into a corner of the library and opened the book. Tracy imagined she would learn a new spell or two by the time she had to return the book.

Returning to her work, Tracy managed to get some books back on the shelves without too much distraction. She did have to help a zombie find the bathroom and avoid a young crowd of vampires that cackled at her menacingly, but it was a productive afternoon.

“I love my job,” Tracy thought as she stood up to leave. “It’s amazing what you can find in a book.”