Librarians in "Happiness(tm)"

I just finished reading "Happiness(tm)" by Will Ferguson. It's the first thing I've read by him (other than his website) and I really enjoyed it. Kinda depressing, but very funny. I love a dark sense of humour :)

So, here's his take on a library in a tiny nearly-ghost town:

*~*~*

The library, in proud late-Victorian sandstone, was still the most impressive building in the county, even though its once grand square had been reduced to a scraggy patch of brown grass around a fountain that hadn't seen water in years.
...
Inside, there was dust and darkness, and in contrast to the blistering sun outside, there was if not a coolness, at least a certain lack of heat. The librarian, a tall thin-lipped woman with a fire-and-brimstone air about her, was hiding behind a stack of old books and had to be prodded out.

"Hello? Anybody here?"

Nothing. They could see her, huddled down, pretending not to notice, hoping they would go away.
(pg. 289)

....

He looked at the stacks of books, the shelves lined up on three floors, the old rolling ladders lying rusted in their tracks. The smell of must and mildew permeated the air. The entire place was heavy with words and deep with ideas. It was less a library than a depository of lost words.

"We haven't had any new additions since the 1920s," the librarian noted with a certain amount of misplaced pride.
(pg. 291)