How Can I Help You

by Laura Sims

But I know what he thinks about libraries. He’s told me before that he hates the miasma of social welfare and desperation filling the air of even the nicest, newest, most sleekly designed libraries. Contemporary design doesn’t make it any less of a homeless shelter, he’s said before. I’ve told him, of course, about the library’s role in fostering equity, providing a physical and digital space for its diverse community . . . but eventually I see his eyes glaze over, the way mine glaze over when he talks about his job. Libraries are homeless shelters, sure; there’s no convincing him otherwise. They’re certainly nothing like his bright, blandly decorated office on the twenty-first floor, the one that holds him high above and safe from the dingy masses.

What a cunt