Low-tech, or Who needs lights?

Yesterday was just another day in libraryland... until the thunder struck somewhere nearby. Then we were in the dark! No lights, no computers, no phones. The emergency lights came on in some places for only a couple of minutes. We had just let out storytime. People were trying to check out and we were shelving holds. Time to get out the flashlight. We had a few sheets of paper already gridded out for library card numbers and item barcodes. It was at least 20 minutes before the power was restored. And half the day before the phones were back online. Our staff did take it with ease though. We have a pretty level headed group of librarians. We had patrons asking if they could still check out materials. I said, "Yes, we can. We'll just do it the old way, before computers." The only thing we did not have was the cards in the back or front of the books.