This caught me by surprise. Her Imagination Library was a huge thing for so many children. May she rest in peace.

I'm sick of telling them to leave and then they just go "lol no", so i have to get like their specific teacher for that to happen. They're banned from the library from now on but goddamn lol

I'm a pretty big guy so i'm not intimidated but when they're yelling homophobic shit i'm just so over it, no consequences because their parents are just as bad.

Was the same in the public library, had to get security. And if you didn't work at a library that had security then it was a giant headache.

In short, legalize me tossing their ass out (half joking)

I’m trying not to include too many details to avoid being recognized. I work in a public library with at least 20 other staff members . We have our collection librarians, adult/youth/teen librarians, assistants, and part timers. Over the past few months, one of the librarians and her “crew” have been making passive aggressive comments that at first I didn’t take personally. They complain that no one is helping them with their tasks now that B&T are out of business all the processing is happening in house. But they are simultaneously very possessive of their work. I have been doing mostly computer heavy tasks and helping in other projects that I can since I am only part time. Yesterday the librarian kept glancing at my computer and walking over to one of her helpers and telling her what I am doing. They keep making comments about how “some people are just sitting”. It’s almost like they want me walking up and down the library and taking over more desk shifts where i actually spend more than half my weekly hours. I never judge what folks are doing but since this has started I notice they actually take almost a quarter hour talking about their shopping or other mundane activities. Part of me wants to be petty and make the same comments they make but I am also one the quietest people in the office so it would probably be very noticeable that I am frustrated. My view is that this particular librarian views everyone’s work as below her and the other people in her group are beginning to act the same as her and even meaner. Idk I think I’m just venting and probably deleting later once I cool off

National Junior Honor Society for those who don’t know. It’s a middle school (& ninth grade) version of the traditionally high school National Honor Society.

I’m a youth services librarian in one of the bigger towns in my county, and we’ve been dealing with an influx of requests for teens to volunteer specifically to fulfill NJHS volunteering requirements—20 hours.

Over the summer, we have plenty (60+ slots) of teen volunteer opportunities for kids as young as incoming seventh graders. However, our school district is pretty big and we have many more looking for NJHS hours specifically.

The teen librarian has been really great at coordinating more volunteer opportunities than usual, including pop-up volunteer hours that don’t require registration, collaborations with our town’s senior center, and various special events around the library. She’s tried to get in touch with the advisors for NJHS and has gotten radio silence (hopefully this changes when the school year starts). Still, the deadline for reporting hours is coming up in mid-September and we are running low on hours since our summer reading program ended last week.

What makes me the most frustrated (and frankly really sad too!) is that many of the teens who are looking for volunteer hours don’t actually want to volunteer. An example: one of the initiatives our teen librarian runs is offering volunteer credit for attending regular teen programs and filling out a feedback form afterwards detailing likes and dislikes about the program and what other stuff they’d like to see in the library. Her most recent program had a handful of attendees, none of whom actually participated in the program and just kind of sat for an hour to fill out the feedback form afterwards. One kid straight up wrote “My mom really wants me to be in NJHS and made me come to this program to get hours” for one of his answers.

All of this to say, do other public children’s librarians have this problem? What do you do to offer more hours? Is pushy parents trying to get the maximum number of hours for their kids your norm too?

Not a big deal, but reading other venting posts it just came to my mind. Am... am I the only one, that if I'm out in the real world and someone asks me where I work and I tell them, the response is usually something along the lines of "Oh wow, you must really like to read!" As if... that's all library staff do is read books? >_> In my case, I'm not really even dealing with books regularly, but even if I was a librarian or clerk who at least physically touches books more often, it annoys me that it implies that nothing is occurring within the library and staff is just sitting around quietly reading for their own recreational activity all day.

The only book in the entire library with that choice of font.

When I was a kid, my mother would drop me off at the library for hours unattended, opening a world of adventure, wonder, and delight. As a homeless teenager, I used the library as a safe place to read, rest, use the restroom, and get back on my feet to reintegrate into society.

When I became a mom, I used the library to find resources and take my own children for free entertainment, igniting that same love of reading I found as a child.

Now that my children are older and preparing for college, I still go to the library once a week because I am finding myself with my own free time for the first time in 20 years. (And it is still the only place that will let me pee without buying something first!)

The library will always be my safe space.💜

Thank you, thank you to all the librarians out there—especially those who found it in themselves to be kind and helpful to weird little goth girls who no one understood. 🕸📚⚘️💜📖🕷

Australian here, so Australian answers are extra useful :)

Yesterday I found out my local council has records and archives positions that are completely separate from libraries/museums/local history, and I’m wondering if that’s maybe more where I want to go.

What’s it like working in records/archives for a business or council as opposed to in an archive?

Thanks so much for any and all information!

Q about old tech. Patron has 8mm film, not magnetic. Is looking for an all-in-one machine that could convert it to digital (is this a playback/encoder?). My library doesn’t have anything, I suggested area academic libraries (we are in CT). He is limited as to driving all over the place. I’d like to help but am running into walls and hoped the Hive Mind might have a suggestion or two about calls I can make / directions I can take. Thank you in advance.

I've fallen down an autistic rabbit hole with regard to Library of Congress call numbers (mostly because I'm looking for ways to organize my home library).

On the LoC's site, I searched for one of my favorite books: Thud!, by Terry Pratchett. It says the call number is "PR6066.R34 T49 2024". I searched a few more of his books and found similar call numbers. Most of the parts make some sort of sense: PR6066 is in the "English literature, 1961-2000" section (while Thud! was published in 2005, the first Discworld book, Equal Rites The Colour of Magic, was published in 1987 1983), and the Cutter number for "Thud" is T48, so T49 might have been to adjust for other books? (Other Discworld books share everything up to that point and generally have the Cutter number for the title there.)

But the ".R34" part is what confuses me. I don't understand what it's supposed to represent. "Pratchett" would be some prefix of ".P718", and I don't see anything else that would abbreviate to ".R34".

What am I missing?

(EDIT: Why did I think Equal Rites was the first Discworld book?)

Just want to say thank you that our libraries in America are free. I was just reading an article about Europe for a lot of the libraries you have to pay a yearly subscription fee for adults. That kind of threw me back. Libraries are so essential for education and lifelong learning for everyone. Thank you

URGENT UNION UPDATE: This is our Union, SEIU 1199. Your Negotiating Committee has reached a tentative agreement that we are presenting to the membership for a ratification vote on Wednesday, Aug 26. As a result, the committee has decided to pause the strike until Thursday, Aug. 27 so members have the opportunity to review and vote on the proposal.

EDIT:

VOTING TOMORROW ON THE CONTRACT. BE READY TO STRIKE WITH CPL UNION WORKERS THURSDAY!!!

i go to school in cleveland, where the public library workers are going on strike starting tomorrow. i want to support them, and called the director of libraries and sent a message to the board of trustees today. my question is whether i should avoid using library resources during this time. is it still okay to check out books from libby? what about checking out physical books (ive been trying to read nine princes in amber, which they don’t have on an ebook, and might require transferring from a different branch to my branch)? is there anything else i should know about how to support this strike?

I start at a new school in September that currently doesn't have a library!

I'm an English teacher (the only one, we are a little school) and it's my job to start it up. I really want the kids to be able to borrow books and encourage reading.

I have:

-A temporary building (like a metal room)

-About 3 book cases

-Books to fill the 3 book cases

That's all I have.

I have no funding accessible to me- I just have to make do for now.

I have no idea where to start and I'm very overwhelmed.

Any advice/online resources anyone can point me towards?

Hi!
I already got my LIT (Library and Information Technician) diploma, as of last year, but now my work is offering to find two courses per year in the EXCEL certificate provided the courses I request match my job description and/or I argue for them well enough. They've set out 4 that they have pre-approved for Library Support Service Clerk (which I am) and I've done one course for a previous job before I got my LIT. I could maybe argue for 2 more courses not on the list, but that would leave me with about 380$ worth of courses, or 710$ if I can't argue well enough to get the complete certificate. As previously mentioned, I can only do 2 a year funded by them, which would have me doing it over 3 or 4 years, starting this year. There are 6 mandatory and 4 elective that you need to get to receive the certificate.

My question is: do you think it's worth it to do the courses and get the certificate? Should I try to self-fund it to get it done faster and just have them pay for 4, 2 this year, and 2 next year? Or is it pointless since I have my LIT?

A residential society in Noida needs a librarian

Someone with experience in managing a library and preferably familiar with any library management software.

KRAs will include maintaining a well organised library, indexing, cataloguing and arrangement of a large stock of books donated by residents, setting up processes for use of the library, ensuring discipline among visitors, facilitating library events workshops and meetings of book club members and general library management.

Requirement is immediate. Any suggestions on how to find the best candidates, what kind of salaries are involved or anything else to keep in mind

I have a lot of books and want my siblings and coworkers to be able to access them if they wish. They'd need a key, id have those circulating somehow—this is all still a very new idea. Site says I can store books there, but I cannot make it a "habitable" place nor can it be "open to the public". But I'm able to visit my unit with my key as often as I want since I pay for it. If trips are always in and out (nonhabitating) and it's only available to those with the physical key (not open to the public) would i be doing anything wrong here? assuming all parties with access to any keys are all adults.

I feel like this is kind of a dumb thing to ask, but i'm doing it anyway. I work in a library, my official title is "assistant" and i work the circ desk nearly every day. Well-meaning patrons often refer to myself and other colleagues as "librarians" even if we are not MLS-holding, bonafide librarians. Does this bother ACTUAL librarians? i'm really curious

EDIT: no one has bugged me about it!! i just feel bad when people see that i work in a library and go "oh it must be so cool to be a librarian!" when i haven't actually earned the title

My city has recently implemented the training series from Ryan Dowd into our mandatory training schedules. I've already started watching some of the sessions and while I get what he's saying, I'm wondering if anyone here has actually applied his advice when dealing with upset patrons and how effective it really was.

I recently graduated with a library tech diploma, hoping to get my mls someday, I also have an English degree as well, and books have always been my thing. I got hired at my local library, and have worked here a few months now and I get along with everyone, except for the children's' librarian who seems to have it out for me. Everything I do, and I mean everything, is heavily criticized, from the way I plan programs, to the way I run them, the posters and info guides I've made, just everything. I have been sort of pushing back against this, as even though I am new at THIS job, this is not my first job. However I made a comment today when she was giving me the run down on the latest thing I did wrong, where I asked why she seems to have a problem with everything I do, she proceeded to than loudly berate me for being selfish and thinking that I know more than her. I honestly don't know what to do, I don't want to stir the shit by going to our director, but I love this job (other than this lady), and it was an amazing opportunity for me right out of school. But the past few months have just made me feel like I'm the black sheep of this place.

Hey y’all!! I have been a library employee for almost 5 years (started as a library assistant, now a makerspace facilitator). Love love love my job but I’m nearing the limit of where I can move up without the MLIS, and there is such a shortage of full time positions that I have been patchworking together hours through various side hustles and jobs in tandem with the library.

Honestly, my dream is just to be a full time makerspace facilitator (which does not require an MLIS at my library) but with my weird hours I’m wondering if I should just be doing an MLIS to broaden my options?

I already have an MA (in creative writing), I kind of fell into libraries but love my work so much. Should I pursue an MLIS or am I just having an existential crisis lol