It is very early in the morning here at the library the third day into our "new" year.  New year generally denotes January 1st by any calendar, but when you are in a school, new year always means the first week of school.  And, it is a new year here at Peninsula Community Library - new principal, new teachers, new faces in the halls, as well as old friends.  I have arrived hours before the library/school opening hour of 9 a.m.  I need to finish updating the website, get a welcome back letter into the teachers' mailboxes before they arrive and check with the principal on possibly sharing the cost of blinds for the library windows between Library Friends and School PTO.  I like it in the library early in the morning.  The quiet in our normally unquiet library is a nice start to the day.  I don't turn the lights on or unlock the door.  The library, for a few hours, is all mine.  I can get what I have to get done DONE.  I can neaten things up in what my staff assures me is my obsessive/compulsive need to always have things tidy and organized.  My family would concur - the cereal boxes and containers in our kitchen cupboards are all lined up according to size, the shoes in the mudroom arranged perfectly on the mat.  Both my family and staff have tried to no avail to convince me that real people do not live in such a perfect world.  I can hear kids in the morning latch key program begin to arrive.  Their locker doors slam against the hall wall that adjoins my office.  Maybe I will go have some breakfast with them in the cafeteria if I get everything done - I floated in on the smell of bacon when I first arrived.  They will share with me stories of summer fun, new school clothes, classroom activities and upcoming events.  The older kids will ask if I will reserve the latest installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy for them.  The parking lot has been chaotic the past few days - more kids riding to school with parents this first week than riding the bus.  Patron calls have mostly been to inquire when the best time would be to come and actually find convenient parking!  Some older patrons love the busyness of the school day; others wait to come in well after the dismissal bell rings.  Parking can occasionally be a big issue, especially when the school and library have planned an event involving the entire community.  On those days, using the library can mean a major hike up our very long driveway.  Tuesday, the courier who comes twice a week to help us exchange books with other libraries had to park on the edge of the playground and drag the bags in and out with the help of our friendly custodian.  He is the best courier we have ever had.  No matter what, he has a smile on his face as does the school custodian who takes equally good care of the library staff as he does of the school's.  I hear the custodian now - using his master key to open up what has been for the past few hours MY library!  He comes in every morning to chat and bring me back to reality.  I switch on the lights, log on to the circualtion computer and get ready to welcome patrons and staff back to this new day in a new year.