Angel is an elderly woman of no fixed abode who spends a great deal of every day in Memorial Library. She causes little or no trouble and is scrupulously polite and helpful, often turning in money or personal property she finds in the women's restrooms (where she is occasionally reported by library users to be taking sponge baths.) Angel looks well under 4 feet tall, being quite stooped with age, and always wears a heavy winter coat the year around. She usually carries a number of shopping bags with her. Library staff over the years have tried to watch out for her, providing sweaters not claimed from the lost and found, etc., but Angel is quite firm about taking care of herself--she insists on calling and paying for her own taxi to take her to a shelter or wherever she goes when the library closes.

Anyway, a couple of Angel stories:

She once complained to the circulation desk that a person sharing her table in a library study hall was having halucinations. When asked how she knew this, she replied, "I can see them."

Memorial Library has restricted access, but we have provided Angel with a long-term pass because she's harmless and does use library materials (in her own light.) But one time she forgot her pass, and did get a little feisty when she had to apply for a day-use pass. When Judy Tuttle, the circulation librarian, going through the day pass routine, asked Angel to state her library business, she replied, "I >AM< the damn Library of Congress!"

Note from Katie: "I worked at Memorial Library also and saw Angel many times there. Earlier, I worked at another institution where Angel occasionally had appointments and had an opportunity to hear her talk about herself on occasion. She was quite a character, claiming to be from Germany (I believe this) and that her stoop came from scanning the sidewalks for cigarette butts for years (I believe this NOT). Occasionally on her visits, she would be required to remove her extremely bad wig, which she resisted with vehemence!"