When I was in college, I worked part-time at a CVS developing one hour photos. It was a job I had started out loving – I liked the process of pulling the film in the blackout bag, putting the film through the chemical baths, and seeing the resulting photos. I had to go through the photos to make sure they developed correctly, and I tossed any defective prints so customers wouldn’t have to pay for them. I saw all ranges of humanity – including the highs (birthdays, weddings, vacations,) the mundane (home improvements, kids playing in the yard,) and the lows (car crashes, abuse, funerals.)  It was a very busy store and we never seemed to have a lull in business.

After two years of this, I was burnt out on this exposure and customer demand. I had to move on, but was stuck on where to go. A friend simply asked me, “What is your dream job?” It had literally never occurred to me to think like that, and I just assumed a young person with almost no job experience could do something other than fast food or the most basic of customer service jobs.

My answer had been, “To work at a bookstore!” My first choice had been a small locally owned store, and we also had a Barnes and Noble nearby. I applied to both, but figured I wouldn’t be called back. To my surprise, that local store, a place named  Baker Books*, called me for an interview.

I don’t remember the details, but I somehow got the job. I was intimidated and excited to work with people I assumed would be very intellectual. Being surrounded by books, and knowing enough about many of them to offer recommendations seemed like a big responsibility. I wasn’t sure I was prepared.

I soon learned that though all of my co-workers were readers, the staff contained a plethora of personalities and backgrounds. There were some older women, one who had been a teacher and another a former social worker, who were great with book club picks. There were mothers who could recommend any children’s book for any age or occasion. There was a guy who didn’t love dealing with customers, but was a huge history buff and knew all about the local nautical culture, and he created painstakingly rendered model ships as a hobby. Kids in high school that read sci-fi and fantasy, or were interested in politics, and college students studying art, English, and biology. A person for every kind of book.

Book stores, much like libraries, attract a range of characters, and many times, when these people come together, connections are made that can last a lifetime. I still keep in touch with many of the friends I made there. I even met my husband there – although my first impression was, “oh god, who is this big weirdo?” But that was the thing – we were all kind of weirdos who worked well together in the name of books.

I spent five years working there.  I went from an art student trying to earn money to keep my car running to full time bookseller and sometime events coordinator. I wasn’t great at recommending books at first. I made that classic mistake of recommending things I liked, and not what would work for a particular customer. When I couldn’t find a job teaching art, I stayed on and helped host author events. I met so many interesting people, including Augusten Burroughs, Elizabeth Berg, Christopher Moore, Gregory Maguire, and Jarrett Krosoczka. Being around these successful authors and running events helped me grow out of my shyness. I learned to plan the logistics of an event, work with community partners, design and send out marketing materials, and then stand in front of a group of people to introduce a speaker. I grew up there.

What started as a fun part time job changed the course of my life. Though I still love making and teaching art, books became my professional calling. After the bookstore, I went on to work in publishing in New York. I helped  a sales team prepare materials to sell to clients and set up at book fairs, along with additional background support. But after a few years, I missed the interactions with new people everyday I had at the bookstore. And though I liked being a bookseller, I hated making people part with their hard earned money. I wanted to connect people with books, and plan and hold events. I wanted to know more about literacy and community. So I went to school at night to become a librarian.

I have always loved stories of how a chance meeting changed someone’s life, or how a person could fall into a totally different career almost on accident. I couldn’t have seen this coming when I started at that job twenty years ago, but it all seems fated from this side of my life. Though that part of my life is over, it is hard to believe the store itself is gone (the building was literally demolished last year.) Inside customers and employees alike, a local bookstore can live on forever in each of us.

*Baker Books was an independent bookstore that was established in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1989. It later moved to a building in Dartmouth, where it stayed for the remainder of its 25 years.

Nicole Guerra-Coon is the Assistant Children’s Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the October 1, 2020 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.