#library issues

[niseag-reads]

wtf does that mean, local library?

[subversivegrrl]

Can I just say how much I hate the Libby app? I used to be able to easily recommend books for library purchase via the library's website (I still read everything on browser), but since they transferred all of that to Libby I cannot for the life of me figure out how that's supposed to work, and even the "notify me" tag... SUCKS? Like, I go to the book that's not in my library's holdings and I tap the tag and it takes me back to the book listing and nothing looks any different, so I can't tell if I've added that tag to the book, and does that let the library know I think they should buy it? I want them to buy all of Alexandra Rowland's books (@ariaste), the only thing currently in the digital catalog is A Taste of Gold and Iron, and the whole thing is damned frustrating. Give me back my beautifully simple Overdrive!

[defiantly-geeky]

Last official class of the year today; still two weeks left (10 days, 9 with kids) in which I will wrap up and clean up the libraries.

Today, one of my fellow LTs had an inventory question (I haven't done inventory since they cut our positions, but she's HS so she has the time) via our mailing list. She was trying to inventory her graphic novels section which has the call numbers between GFIC AAA and GFIC ZZZ...but no matter what she did, it wouldn't show her the As. I was at smaller school so had no similar section I could try.

I suggested trying GFIC A-GFIC ZZZ, or just GFIC-GFIC cus when I looked at her school's opac and searched GFIC it was in alpha order. I also suggested she try GFIC 000-GFIC ZZZ. Why? Because numbers come before letters (unless your a mac product)--and I figured this would "trick" the program into letting her see the As.

It worked! But I'm not sure why she didn't think of it? To me it seems an obvious solution...then again the other day when she was trying to inventory the 000s non fic, she put in 000-99 for the range and wondered why it gave thousands of books in the inventory list. *sigh*

It's because the actual end for the 000s is 099 NOT 99--look at what would be on the actual spine label my friend. I posted the solution and a bit after that, Dude who wrote the program also replied, that my solution was correct--because just putting 99 gave you anything with a 99 in it--199, 299, etc, etc.

Sometimes, some of my fellow LTs are little light on the T part of our job. Or maybe it's that I've always been good at computers and the programs we use on them. I also like to play with things so I teach myself how to do stuff.

2 more weeks....

[theswootasticallibraryworker]

I'll say it once, and I'll say it again.

Stop saying to go use a library for free books. You can make your argument to support authors without saying "go to your library, you'll get free books."

Not everyone has access to libraries! Whether that be in the U.S. or other countries! Not everyone has availability to a library! In the U.S. there are a lot of places that a library is not in walking distance. People are always asking why more people don't get to a library. There was a poll that distinctly addressed this.

Teens don't all have cars and parents that can take them to a library! Even some ADULTS don't have cars or busses to take them to the library. We have to consider what goes into getting to the library. When I was growing up, I lived quite a few miles from the library, in a place with no sidewalks. My mom worked funny hours at work and I had no other way to get there but through her bc I didn't drive! I still don't drive and if it wasn't for me living in the city, I'd be screwed bc both places I lived before had really crappy bus systems! Plus, a lot of people on that poll I mentioned couldn't get to the library bc the hours were the same as their work schedules, which is an important thing to consider as well.

Some places have digital library cards and that's great for people who only read and listen to ebooks and audiobooks, but a lot of people exclusively read physical books, due to many reasons including the fact that ebooks may hurt their eyes.

And, again, this doesn't account for people living in different countries that, for many reasons, do NOT have access to libraries.

I'm all for supporting authors, I think it's important to support authors. But as someone who is working in a library and is going to school to become a librarian, it's just not that simple to be telling people "go use your local library!"

People like to shit on booktube all the time bc of "hustle culture" when these discussions are already happening there with more nuanced looks on the issues. I highly recommend Ashely from Bookish Realm's channel bc she is a librarian and has a lot of nuanced discussions when it comes to libraries and their use to the general public. Reads with Rachel just did a Authors Behaving Badly video about pirating books. These conversations are ALREADY HAPPENING on booktube, have been happening for years, and will continue to happen as long as the issue keeps happening. I'm not going to vouch for booktok, bc I'm not on tiktok, but I am on booktube and can say that people there are passionate about what they're doing and really have great discussions about this stuff.

I know that a lot of library workers on here may disagree with me, and that's okay, you can disagree with me. I want people to support their local libraries if they can, but it's not always feasible and we need to have discussions about why it is NOT always feasible. Going to a library is not the end-all be-all and we really need to consider other options when it comes to supporting authors and getting books into people's hands. We should be MORE MAD at corporations like AMAZON that treat authors badly in the long run.

And again, I know people will disagree about this with me, but there needs to be more nuanced conversations about this bc right now people think there's a Right and a Wrong thing about all this and it just isn't that simple. We really need to reevaluate the way we recommend libraries to solve every problem.

I also recommend the book Overdue by Amanda Oliver. There's a really great chapter at the end where she really gets into this mindset where people want libraries to constantly be this beacon of hope that can solve all their problems and just how that isn't realistic. Seriously, if we're gonna have these conversations, please look into them. If you can't access the book, definitely check out booktube discussion videos.

[chinamazing]

student interaction of the day.

girl: can i scan something?

me: yeah. scanner is on the first table.

girl: *stares at it* how does it work.

me: you have to log in first.

girl: sits at a computer not attached to the scanner*

me: you have to sit at the one with the scanner.

her: which one is that.

me: the one with the scanner plugged into it.

girl: *stares* how does it work?

[itachi86]

but why does the library only have a few of the NUMA files books in actual tangible novel form

[thestuckylibrary]

THE LIBRARY IS BACK UP!

(for now) we think we solved the problem. The links all seem to be working (we’ve not yet checked every one so let us know if something isn’t) and the color and font is correct!

WHOO!!!!!

side note: the authors aren’t in, we are planning on making a separate page for them

[beetwen-the-pages-blog]

Waiting a month for a book on hold at the library only to discover that it's part of a series and not even the first book.