If you work in a library, do you think my habit of getting online and having the books I want to read shipped to the local library is bad? Every Saturday, I go to the local library, drop off the books I’ve read, and pick up new ones. Do you think this is bad? I try to be very friendly to the clerks checking me out. I hand them my card, I tell then I have items on hold, and then I say Thank you, have a good day when I leave.
So, I’m not rude, am I?
I’m a librarian and I do it all the time. We have that service for a reason; people need it and it’s incidentally quite good for our circulation statistics. I say don’t give it another thought.
I do this a lot, too…but I had no idea it could even be considered rude. After all, if I want a book and it’s not available, what else would I do? Go to the other branch myself? Buy it?
Why would using a service the library offers be rude.
One question though, does your library charge for hold service? Because does and the theatrics some people go through over 50 cents to have a book delivered from somewhere else in the county is unbelievable.
I hope it isn’t rude, because it’s the only way I ever get books from the library. If I had to rely on my local branch, I’d be hard pressed to find something from a recognizable author that was worth reading.
Mine doesn’t—and though it wouldn’t elicit from me a Shakespearean death scene, I would be slightly annoyed if I had to pay for the service, and less likely to use it.
Only slightly annoyed, though, and not eye-bulging, “my tax dollars pay your goddamned SALARY!” tirade angry.
Why would this be rude?
I don’t have to have books delivered because I usually go to the mammoth national library downtown, but I do go online after hours and place holds on any I want. If they didn’t want you doing that, they wouldn’t offer the service or they would have some restriction on it.
To me it’s no ruder than using the drive through window at a Starbucks. It’s possible you just have a rude library staff. I did research in an archives today and when I asked for directions to various state censuses on microfilm and then asked for assistance in using the microfilm machine (I’ve used mf mf machines many times, but this one wasn’t working right [found out it was set up for another size film]) the librarian on duty acted as friendly and happy to help as if I’d asked her to help me change my adult diaper.
If my branch doesn’t have it, but another branch does, it’s no big deal to have it sent over. Isn’t that part of having your library connecting to to the county library system?
Hell, from my point of view, a patron requesting us to pull and hold an item for them just means that’s one person who will not come up to the desk confused and needing help when they can’t find a book on the shelf.
I haven’t pulled a book off the shelf in…I’m trying to think. At LEAST five years; probably more.
I order 'em on the 'net and pick 'em up. Every time.
I hate getting them off the shelf. I live (BLESSEDLY) in the Multnomah County Library System, so a particular book isn’t necessarily at every branch. The branches are scattered all over the county, and I can’t imagine driving and spending that much time for a book. I place my order and voila! I drive to my nearest branch (I walk when I’m in the mood) and the books are ready to go.
Never, ever has a staff member said anything negative. In fact, they’ve had to triple the space for books on hold.
Another problem I have sometimes is that the books often missing or misshelved even if they are at my library that often even if the Internet says it’s at the library, I still end up needing to request it. And requesting has been made so convenient that it’s hard to believe the library would offer this service if they didn’t like it.
I worry about this too. The librarians are always friendly, but I imagine them groaning every time they come across another hold slip, “Her again?”
2 of my kids work at the local library. This summer one of them has been doing the “call list” (I think that’s what it is called. Maybe the “pull” list.)
She’s never hinted that it is an inconvenience, rude, an imposition, or anything else, although she does regularly comment that it is a big job and can take several hours - especially if a particular book is hard to find. But the impression I get is that this is simply a part of the work the library is required to perform and someone has to do it. Not particularly more or less onerous than most other tasks.
I’ve been using the service for years and hadn’t even considered thinking of it as rude. They’ve set it up to facilitate book circulation. The circulation numbers can justify salaries and additions. Win-win.
There’s not charge unless you forget to pick the book up. It stays on the hold shelf for seven days after notice, then it goes back with a reshelving fee.
I do this all the time, and being able to order from anywhere in the Toronto Public Library (TPL) system gets me to the library a lot more than if I had to go trekking all over town to find that one book I’m looking for… and hope that someone else hasn’t borrowed it by the time I get there.
Plus, I can search and order while sitting at home in my jammies. I have Google in one window, Amazon.ca in another, and the TPL in a third, reminding me of how much I save by not buying the book. And if the library does NOT have the book, I don’t go to there and end up disappointed.
And, I get to pick them up at the friendly and architecturally-cool Runnymede Library, which is always a plus.
The last book I ordered was one recommended by matt_mcl. 
I didn’t know you wore those, or that you needed help changing them. We learn more about you every day.
In my library (New York Public Library) there aren’t even hold slips, so I guess there’s no real issue there. You request your books, claim them, and then pick them up all on your own.
I believe you may have mentioned this before in another thread, but it still amazes me that people would get that worked up over such a small charge for convenience. Do they think the books fly to your library themselves?
To me, that price is more than fair. Quite a bargain, actually.
Another library employee here.
It’s perfectly fine. I’m happy to help. I’m not just saying that.
I love this service! The library workers like it, too. My sister used to work at our local library and she enjoyed pulling the books from people’s lists. She found it interested to see what people were reading.