Librarian Shaming

A place for those of us in libraryland to come clean.

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I'd like that with garlic butter please

I was eating pizza and reading, and I spilled a hefty amount of garlic butter on the book. I dried it off and returned it to the library, hoping no one would notice, but I got caught and had to pay for it.

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Anarchy in the library

“Some of our library circulation policies are complete bullshit, so when a patron needs to check out material that isn’t supposed to circulate (for no discernible legitimate reason) I overwrite it and check it out to them anyway. Fuck the man and his creepy exclusionary policies.“

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I quit

Never will I ever work in a rural Midwestern public library ever, ever again. Board members, staff, patrons, residents were a nightmare mix of tv’s worst reality shows: backstabbing, rumormongering, deceptions, and manipulation just without the cameras!

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I deface library books

By circling errors that weren’t caught by the proofreaders before the book went to print. In pencil! (But still…)

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If a patron comes into the library minutes before closing and asks if we have a certain DVD, I pretend to look it up and tell them it is missing.  The DVDs are not in any particular order and I refuse to  wait for someone to search for it while I wait.  I’ll go above and beyond during opening hours, but respect my time.  I’m already underpaid for the hours I work. 

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Sometimes I get really fucking bored in my library. I’m a manager. 

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“ i’m a new children’s librarian and i hate children’s songs! “

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“I hated my position as a librarian for a large university because of the stupid stuff that they required us to do that had nothing to do with my actual job. The system for tenured academic librarians is nuts! The library deans have us so busy giving presentations or writing articles that we don’t have time to actually help students. And the stuff presented and written is so deadly boring! Academic librarians should be helping faculty, as well as students, do better research, not writing and presenting a bunch of repetitive guff about institutional repositories, electronic ILL, and social media (to give but a few examples).”

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Librarianship is Still a Vital Profession

“I’ve been reading the despairing posts by newer librarians and it breaks my heart. Face it, we’re in a Depression regardless of what Washington says. That said, I believe that librarians are born, not made. If you’re born to be a librarian you’ll find a way. I’d suggest getting a day job to pay the bills, then doing some volunteer work to keep your hand in. For example, volunteer at daycare centers to do story hours. They’ll jump at it and gives you practice and RESUME VALUE. Learn Linux and revive an old computer then give it to somebody who needs one. Volunteer to teach a class in internet searching at a junior high. Many schools don’t have librarians right now. All of this has resume value and gives you experience. You can build a resume without having a job if you’re willing to put in the time. Before I had my first librarian job, I catalogued a small private library run by a nun, Sister Maria, for the local children in a poor neighborhood. I had a blast and remember that time with joy.

Library school itself? Ten years out, I think a lot about the taxonomy and policy stuff I didn’t understand back then. It’s taken that long to become relevant to me. I don’t think that the time was wasted, mostly because I took every practical class I could.

Just remember that “Librarianship” is a huge professional classification. It’s not just books, but information itself. As a ‘librarian’ I’ve been an Account Manager for a database company that put a front-end on Dialog, catalogued and done reference for a county law library, worked as a business librarian doing current awareness and competitive intelligence and I currently teach and do reference work for a law school. I used to know somebody who worked as a librarian at Nike. In her library? Shoes, shoe designs, patterns and art.

When looking for jobs, think outside the box. Go do some informational interviews with librarians who work in non-traditional jobs (i.e. Silicon Valley). It’s all information, so it’s all librarian work. The important thing is to do something beyond just sending out resumes.

These days I’m exploring the world of e-books/e-readers (I’m finding sources of quality, free e-books and online libraries) and have volunteered to speak about it at a conference this fall. I will start volunteering for Project Gutenberg soon. My former XP laptop now runs Linux Mint and does it well.

This is all librarianship. I don’t work as a librarian, I am a librarian.”

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Computer Center Confession

“I’m the Computer Center Guy.

While I’m in the CC, I’m usually busy doing other things  like IT help, signs for library events, print off forms for other staff, sorting books, you name it. 

When someone raises their hand, yells, “Ey Boy!”, snaps their fingers, waves their hands, or in some way tries to call me over to them, I usually ignore them until they come up to the desk before I help them (or even acknowledge them).“

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Book Dump

“Every time a book comes slowly down the returns chute and hits the pile of bubble wrap I’ve put at the bottom, it always makes me think of someone taking a huge, troubling dump.”

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“I’m a library tech (in DC) and most of my goods are when I’m at work meetings can be boring and people may tweak the nerves but even after a long day I still LOVE my job!” Glad to start back in with positivity.

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My job is amazing, but the I.T guys really get on my boobies.

I... I am gonna assume that’s slang I’m unfamiliar with.

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Our absolutely worse, most verbally abusive patron just called. Before she could launch into another tirade I transferred her call to another library. To the librarian who just picked up the phone, I apologize.

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I wish people wouldn't say "You'll be at the library forever" like it's a good thing. I'm so unfilled as an artist and miserable here that sometimes I just want to drive my car into a telephone pole on the way to work. But the economy is so bad I'm afraid to leave for fear I won't be able to find a new job. (Or the new one I find won't last. My friend just got fired from his amusement park job after 3 months because he reported someone else for bullying him!)

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I swear, if my coworker puts back one more water damaged book on the shelf saying, "Oh, it's dry, it's okay!" even though the librarians have all told us to not do that cause they can start growing mold months later, I shall dump a bucket of ice water on her head!

But not near the books, right, Anon?

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Storytime is every Tuesday at 11 am. We're a small library and storytime can get noisy. If you don't like it, kindly don't come to the library on Tuesday mornings. Storytime is more important than you being able to watch YouTube.