I could understand the library not wanting some dogeared broken spined tattered PBs. However, these were in near fine condition (I used to catalog books for a used book store, I understand condition) and in HB, complete with DJs. But policy is policy. I guess that the library system had been burned too many times with mildewed tatty PBs.
Do you mean that nobody uses encyclopedias in general at libraries anymore, or just the World Book?
Back in my public library days we did, but keep in mind that library staff are notoriously bad at returning books on time. 
All the time. People call for help with their computers, people call looking for directions (which is a lot easier now that Mapquest exists), recipes are huge, phone numbers are another big one.
Basically, this happens all the time.
I find that I have a decent shortage wild tales compared to some librarians, but there’s been some crazy ones. I’ve seen a cockroach jump out of a DVD case, I’ve seen books returned with cat piss and strange brown spots, I’ve had people with mental problems threaten other patrons and I saw one guy throw a chair at one of his companions The “Adult Retardation Center” used to bring a group on a bus to the library. After the chair throwing, that stopped. I’ve seen a 50 year old woman remove her bra and pull it out through her sleeve and set it down on the table for no reason at all. I’ve had to stop two teenagers from groping each other because I assumed Mr. Penis was only a few minutes away from an appearance.
Wild enough?
Little known secret from a public librarian. After a book is released in paperback, the hardcover becomes much less popular. And seeing as how many libraries keep hardcovers and paperbacks separate, adding a HC of an old book just means it’ll take up space.
That wouldn’t be true for Charlaine Harris books, but as a general policy it’s pretty good.
Right, nobody uses encyclopedias anymore. Students would, but teachers go to great lengths to tell them that encyclopedias are banned for use with projects. So they sit there. I think the current plan is not to order a new set for next year and see if anybody notices.
Actually, she probably DID have a reason, and the reason is that it was uncomfortable. The majority of women wear bras that don’t fit properly. Underwire bras can be particularly uncomfortable, and in some of them, the cloth covering the wire part will wear through, resulting in a stiff piece of wire poking one’s body.
I mostly buy PBs for my own use, because of space issues. For the record, this particular branch shelves PBs and HBs in the same section, though I don’t know about the other branches in the system. And this particular branch classifies most of Harris’ work as “Supernatural Fiction” or Supernatural Romance", rather than fantasy. I guess it’s a good way to direct patrons to exactly the genre that they want.
Lisa bought those books because she couldn’t wait for them to come out in PB. Now she wishes she’d waited.
Yeah, that’s great. But you still don’t do that in the middle of a public place.
I’ll agree that she probably should have gone into the women’s room to do that, if she couldn’t wait to get home. The women on my father’s side of the family would do it in family gatherings, and as far as I know, none of them ever did it in public. However, I CAN imagine Aunt Vinnie (who is real, unlike my Cousin Vinnie) forgetting that she’s in public and whipping out her bra, just as she’s accustomed to doing at the kitchen table.
I also have to admit that I’ve had front hook bras come unhooked in public, through no fault of my own. I’ve also had underwire bras suddenly poke me, and I’ve had to excuse myself to try to fix things in the women’s room.
All I’m saying is that I think that this is a bit odd, not a lot odd. However, I lived in Las Vegas for nearly a decade, so my public behavior meter is probably miscalibrated. For instance, I had a customer (male) who would habitually unzip and lower his jeans when he wanted to pay his bill. The first time he did this, I was taken aback. Then I learned he wore a SECOND pair of jeans under the first pair, and he kept his wallet in that second pair. I guess he got pickpocketed one time too many. I can’t imagine wearing two pairs of jeans in Las Vegas heat, though.
I also had a customer who enjoyed airing out Mr. Penis. That is, he’d wander around with his fly unzipped and his penis (flaccid) poking out. Compared to this guy, the woman taking off her bra is quite tame.
Because they don’t have to pay fines. 
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[QUOTE=moejoe]
Do people ever call and ask for help with stuff that is not book or library related?
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All the time. People call for help with their computers, people call looking for directions (which is a lot easier now that Mapquest exists), recipes are huge, phone numbers are another big one.
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I’ve gotten many legal questions over the years. I’ve had a woman on chat reference ask me questions about what all they need to do to divorce their common law husband, a guy who wanted me to tell him whether he could withhold rent from his landlord and another who needed to know whether his boss had the right to fire him over a drug problem, etc., all of which I gave the “I am not a lawyer and I cannot give advice/I’ll show you where the law books are but I fear that must suffice/if you have no money and don’t want a po-po raid/might I recommend this number for the county Legal Aid?” song and dance every time which often as not would result in their assuring me “I’m not asking you for legal advice, I just need you to give me advice on this complex personal matter as it pertains to the law”. A couple also seemed to think I was the person who made law books damned near impossible to read for a layman.
I had the nickname for a while of “Official Chief Counsel to theNuwaubian Nation of Moors”, a black supremacist UFO cult (not making it up) whose leader was incarcerated and who used the college library where I work (they had no connection to the campus but were banned from the public library for some reason) and were always asking me for assistance in spite of me telling them “I no can do dat” every time. (“Let’s see- your leader is in jail for charges of child abuse, child molestation, welfare fraud, tax evasion and about 500 other things, your compound is in trouble for running illegal gambling and drinking facilities without any kind of license and for truancy among the kids, there are tax liens out the wazoo… this is so nebulous and such a legal morass of vines that I really think you need to go to a public library librarian.”
Friends who work in medical university libraries have the similar problem of “I got a big black horseshoe shaped mole on my back that’s changing shape and emitting a low pitched hum that sounds kind of like the BRANDED opening credits, what is it and how should I treat it and do you mind if I take my shirt off so you can see it and remove it? I’m not asking for medical advice, by the way”.
Basically, this happens all the time.
We’re also notorious for back door checkouts (not talking theft but taking them home without checking them out in the system). I’m not pointing fingers as I’ve done this many times myself, especially when I’m going home for the day and think “I need something to read/watch tonight”, and would imagine I’m far from the only one.
Ha! Maybe you don’t, but last week I had to slink down and participate in our amnesty week. I thought about wearing a disguise.
Well, I’m a librarian, and my first degree majored in English. However, by the time I got to library school I’d also studied up to the equivalent of an honours degree in mathematics, so I’m not sure that I really fit the pattern. 
Did you hold any kind of mathematics related job? If yes, congratulations, you break the pattern. If no, you just delayed the inevitable. 
Also a joke: most common heard line at SLIS orientations- “Couldn’t find a job either, huh?”
Yes, I worked as a tutor (= TA in U.S. terms) in maths at a university in Australia.
Do you think that the library will eventually die out sometime in this century due to the fact of the internet revolution? The only thing the library would be good for are copyrighted material, but there will soon be a time where writers can put their works online and charge a fee per computer terminal.
Another (probably odd) question. Does it concern you the amount of trees that it takes to makes books, and that it might be as well to conserve these trees for sake of the environment?
Do you have to submit to a random drug screen? I would think that being a librarian would be a cool job to be buzzed in. The “cool” librarians are the intellectual kind of hippie guy who listens to NPR. The other stereotype of a librarian is a grizzled witch of a woman who demands silence or death!
Does the library work with the local schools to anticipate a throng of kids and parents needing one kind of book for a book report? I would think that a lot of people “in this economy” would much rather borrow a book than having to go to Barnes and Nobles and go running all over town wasting gas trying to find a copy of “I know why the caged bird sings,” by Monday, or little Suzie will fail, drop out of school and then married an old man to keep her in furs and cocaine. But I digress.
What is demanding about being a librarian?
Do you get any regular customers? Weirdos?
Do people ever come to use the bathroom? Do people take a book wth them?
My friend and I were reading the Lemony Snickett books at the same time a few years ago. I had no problems checking them out of the kids’ section, but when she tried to check out one of the books, the librarian refused because it was taking the book away from a child. And this was at a large, suburban branch in the DC area. So it does happen.
My questions:
Is there any restrictions on how many books the librarian can check out? Is it considered bad form to snatch up the really popular new books, or is it only a fight between you and your fellow librarians on who will get it first?
I have never heard of such a thing and if your friend complained there’s a very good chance the library board would have canned that bitch. You don’t make judgements about someone’s reading choices, that’s rule one. And how did they know your friend was reading the book, what if it was for a child or grandchild?
I’m quite stunned.
We don’t even have restrictions on how many books patrons can check out and I know many other libraries are the same. As long as you don’t keep it out too long beyond the due date, it’s not considered bad form. Librarians are patrons too.
ook?
No, I don’t. And it’s just as silly of a question now as it was when someone asked it a few days ago.
Not at all. Any paper company plans to replant any trees they cut down to make paper from as without replanting they’d have to shut down. Besides that, recycled paper could easily be used to make all the books in the world if need be.
I’m not going to lie, I know several librarians who fit those stereotypes, but they are the exception rather than the rule. I’ve never had to take a drug test though. Just as well since I rarely even drink alcohol (let alone do other drugs) and I’d be mildly insulted if I were asked.
FUCK NO! It chaps my hide that the teachers just give their students a project and then 30-75 kids descend on us wanting books about WWII, the modern slave trade, the Iraq War or even narrower subjects. We have to beg some schools to get a copy of their summer reading list and then the parents don’t understand that all the books will be checked out if you wait until August 25 to start.
I repeat: FUCK NO!
I don’t know if I’d call it demanding, but people who don’t understand that I work in a mid-sized public library and not a research library drive me up the walls. What you want is not easily searchable with the information we have. If you go to this other library, they can help you better. I’m sorry that you like this library, but we’re not equipped for the question you’re asking.
You have no idea. The bathroom sink shitter I mentioned above was a regular known as The Perfume Lady. So named because she weighs 800 pounds and bathes in perfume before going outside. She once came into the building without wearing a bra (but still wearing a shirt) and explained to the librarian that she wanted me to turn around because she didn’t want a man looking at the nipples peaking through her shirt.
But there are tons of others. Daily DVD Guy, Muscle Shirt Man, Conservative Guy, The Professor (who’s awesome), Willy the Hippie, Witness Protection Man, Disaster Man, The Singing Lady… the list is endless.
I’m sure they do, but the bathroom is in the back and I’m in the front, so I’ll never know. And ignorance is bliss.
Yeah, you can’t drop those into the conversation and not explain. Ok, Muscle Shirt Man is self explanatory, but Witness Protection Man has to have an interesting story.