Chipmunk vs. Librarian

Yesterday there was a chipmunk running loose in the library. It came running in through an open staff door when a staff member went out to empty the book drop. The chipmunk was immediately spotted by several staff members and one patron, who tried unsuccessfully to herd it out the still-open door, at great personal risk. The wily chipmunk faked toward the door and then darted ever-deeper into the staff area.

It took four staff members about fifteen minutes to barricade the chipmunk under a desk where it found a delightful assortment of long-forgotten snack chips and crackers. The chipmunk could be heard softly crunching on the discarded snack items while the librarians quietly panicked nearby. Chipmunk - 1; Librarians - 0.

It was at this point that I remarked to a coworker, "This reminds me of the time when there was a cell phone in the toilet and no one would call a plumber," (more on that story at a later date). My coworker then called animal control. She also notified the acting supervisor of the problem. Finally.

Our acting supervisor confidently took control of the situation by putting a sign on the barricade reading CHIPMUNK UNDER BOX - DO NOT MOVE. Several of the library workers began to speculate that the chipmunk might have by this point escaped. Chipmunk - 2; Librarians - 1.

Eventually animal control dispatched two uniformed police officers, guns and all, to remove the dangerous creature from the building. Chipmunk - 0; Police - WIN.

Postscript: Later in the day I spotted the chipmunk dashing toward the sliding glass doors at the front of the library. Thankfully a chipmunk is not large enough to trigger the motion sensor that opens the door. When the chipmunk was unable to gain access to the building it jumped into the shrubbery. Will we see it again? Possibly, now that it knows we have such delicious snacks.