"I'm sure you do admirably, my dear," he said. "I have simply been adjusting to this new...," he trailed off and gestured slightly at the setting. So much about the community centre was so modern in design he was a little uncomfortable with it. One could hardly call him unadventurous after all he'd done over the millennia, but he was equally somewhat set in his ways. "Yes, the paperwork is always trying. I used to set aside a day for it, but that was largely once I had an established routine and so forth," he said. She was a distinctly cheerful woman, it was pulling at the edges of his melancholia.
He smiled at her enthusiasm about the books. "Well, I have to con- admit that these appearing has little to do with me so far. How have you been requesting books? Not that I object to more, I have just been given very little guidance," he said, a little distracted. It was like Upstairs in the later centuries all over again. Little by way guidance, quite a lot of expectations. Although in this case the expectations might be just him. He reached down and pulled out the book he had (mostly) finished setting up for tracking borrowed books from its space. He had been surprised that quill and ink had been available at the shop, but had bowed to modernity and bought a fountain pen instead. He suspected there was a computer system he could use, but decided there was only so much he should be expected to catch up with at this speed.
Resuming his seat he opened the first page of the ledger, Lisa's new books beside him, and began to write in his exceedingly old-fashioned handwriting. "This will take a moment," he said. "Do feel free to browse, or review the borrowing guidelines," he said. The guidelines had been expanded this week with pointers about refraining from certain activities while using library books.