Book Group Roster & Schedule: Check-Out

One of my favorite clients needed her book group's roster made up for this year's schedule and member contact information.  She loves square anything, that was pretty much her only input for the project.  I had several ideas in my mind, but I was still loving the old-book style from my recent projects.

Remember checking out books at the school or city library where they stamped the lined 3X5 cards?  We even had to sign our name on some of them.  I remember in the summer going to the old Mesa Library.  I loved the smell of the stamp and ink pads.  I loved the little manilla pockets glued on the inside of every book cover with 3X5 cards inserted in the pockets.  Why was that fun?  I don't know, maybe because the summer was so hot that office work inside seemed like play to me.  I loved to play librarian at home, with my mother's stamp supplies, I'd stamp plain white cards and papers and make stacks on the roll top desk.  I'd fuss with pencils, staplers, paper clips, rubber bands and anything else I could find that represented office work.  Then after all that fussing, I'd smile at my playmate, hand her the stack of books and say, "Thanks for coming to the library today."

I guess with this project, I was still trying to play library, this time in my grown up office.  I got to stamp 10 different dates on 15 different cards.  I got my fill of stamping.

Last year my dad gave me an old black phone, at my pleading, like the ones we use to use in our house in the 70's.  They had a rotary dial.  Do you know what a rotary dial phone is kids?

Sometimes I think about the process of doing things the long way, and feel a longing for the way things used to be.  We hand wrote phone numbers in a pocket roster book, we didn't synced them to an electronic device.  Remember typing everything, including school papers several times before you submit your final draft for your grade?  That was actually in my lifetime.  I had a typewriter in college.  But mine was one of those modern ones that had auto correct on it.  Oooooh, I was luuuucky.  Don't get me started on old processes, I feel like my grandparents when I start that conversation.  Old phones and typewriters ... I think I'll save that for a later post this week.