It’s about a girl who gets cancer so they take her to this island. It’s supposed to be really sad.

Can you look up a movie for me? Antwone Fisher? Sorry, our copy is lost (actually, half of all the copies are lost) but it’s in at another branch—let’s put it on hold for you.

Restart a messed-up catalog computer.

How many things can you check out at a time?

Little girl is walking around lingeringly eyening all the library technology. She looks like she might be trying to check out books. I ask her if she needs some help, but she says no.

Lady holding a piece of paper: I don’t know how to pronounce this book. It’s for my book club…Molo…Mola…

Me: Do you have it written down there? Can I see it?

She hands over the paper. I can’t read my own handwriting on the last letter there. (I can) (While I’m looking up the book) It’s about a girl who gets cancer so they take her to this island. It’s supposed to be really sad.

Me: All our copies are checked out right now and there are a few people on the hold list; do you want me to add you? Can you wait a few weeks for it?

Lady: Sure. I have plenty of things to do.

Thanks for that less-than-enthusiastic book recommendation, lady.

The wandering little girl comes to the desk: Where are the Bluebonnet books? All checked out, I’m afraid, was there a particular one you wanted? Zita the Spacegirl. Place a hold for her.

Lady: “The printer, when it prints…”

Me: “Did you release your print job?”

“Yes”

“If it’s black and white, the big printer right there [is where it prints].”

“So, where do I release my print job?” (Called it.)

Is there any way I can put money on my [printing] account? I only have a credit card.

Aww, this is a public library, we don’t have credit card machines and stuff…

Books on Greek mythology for a teenager. I don’t usually ask why a patron wants something, but this time I did and she said it was just for her own amusement—she is a big Greek mythology nerd!

Do you give temporary IDs for people from outside of the area to get on the computers? Not unless you’re from a lot further outside the area than that, sir.

Help an adorable kid with her geometry homework at the request of a coworker, who says, “Are you good at math?” and then “I knew it! I can just tell.”

Give out a prize from Star Wars Reads Day to the world’s quietest child.

Cinderella books for the prize winner.

Beezus and Ramona, the movie. Then Sailor Moon, books AND movie.

Books about fairies. The additional specifications are revealed painfully slowly over a long series of searches.

Ma’am, you know you can see the regular catalog on that computer too, right? Not just the children’s one. Patron launches into a long monologue about how she teaches (“teaches” one-year-olds). It takes a while to extricate myself.

Do you have another of these? Sometimes it is hard to explain to kids that not every single book is part of a series.

I want to play the Wii.

Um, do you have a pencil I can use?

The perfect library

Now that I work in two different library settings I have a lot more opportunities to compare the ways different libraries do things, and to see what each does and does not do. It's solidified a lot of my ideas about what a good library is, and given me some new ones. But I'm curious to get other perspectives, so I would like to know:

If you use a library of any kind: What you use it for, what you like about it, and what you wish it had that it doesn't (or what it has that you wish it didn't!)

If you don't use a library: What would a library have to offer to make you use it?

Another old refgrunt

A quiet hour or two on the YS desk. I pick up a call from adult reference about ESL classes. No, we don’t offer any classes at the library, but we do have a program on weekend afternoons where you can come practice your small talk.

Place a hold for a woman who doesn’t speak much English. You’ll get a telephone call when it comes in, ma’am.

You’re really not supposed to sit up there…

Teen girl: Do you have any books about fish? I mean, not books about fish. Like, story books. There were ones I used to read as a little kid.

Me: Were they Rainbow Fish books, by any chance? Those are the most famous ones I can think of.

Girl: Oh yeah!

I show her where they are so she can show them to her little brother. Super-cute.

A grandma (?) asks for books featuring a series of characters from cartoons, mostly educational ones, for her grandson. Can you believe that either Barney the Dinosaur books don’t exist or that they do and we don’t own them? We don’t have much in the way of Barney, Elmo, or Mickey Mouse but I find a couple of books featuring Sesame Street characters other than Elmo, plus a Dora the Explorer. Grandma wants Grandson to thank me for the books, but he’s sulking about the absence of Elmo so he won’t. I’m trapped for a minute or two as she repeatedly orders him to say ‘thank you’ and he stares at her in stony silence. She even hands the books back to me, but when I finally say that I’ll put the books at the information desk in case she wants them she takes them even though the grandson hasn’t caved.

Do I have to have a reservation to use a computer? (A common misconception)

I check on my pet display. There’s only one hole but I switch some of the other items out to give new titles a chance.

Do you have a pen I can borrow, ma’am?...This one doesn’t work.

I put more pens out in the tub. We have a huge bag that were donated but they don’t work right away. You have to pre-scribble with them before putting them out or half the patrons will come back and say they don’t work. (Not the case with the last lady—her pen was indeed broken.)

Excuse me,(all the patrons are so polite today!)  is it possible for me to use my own computer here? Yes, we have wifi. This is the username and password to use.

One of my favorite regulars turns in a lost card.

I can’t find the book I have on hold. I got a call this morning. (Also very polite, even though it was a Bill O’Reilly book.)

Guy wants to get on ‘an internet computer.’ I explain how but then he doesn’t know what phone number we have on file for him because he hasn’t used the card in a long time. I offer to check but neither his card number nor name is in the system at all! I send him to my poor, poor friend at customer service.

Same guy comes back. Customer service fixed his problem but he forgot to check his phone number with them.

A hold for Geronimo Stilton books.

NOW it’s busy in children’s.

How old are you? Do you love to read? Is that why you have a job at the library?...Do you always bring a sweater because you’re always cold?...Do you know the movie The Hunger Games? Did you know there’s a book? Where did you buy it, Walmart?...Do you wear tennis shoes?

Books on mermaids. With good pictures. I use Google in aid of this and the little girl says suspiciously, “you’re using the Google?”

Do you have any more books like this?

Books on pirates.

I don’t have my library card but I really want these books is there ANYTHING you can do? She’s a sweet kid and a regular and they’re not massively in demand books so I agree to hold them overnight at the desk for her.

Books on building stuff out of Legos for an adorable small boy. Then I update his family’s telephone number. Turns out they live in my same apartment complex.

Coworker: I sent those boys over here because I was on the phone.

Me: What boys?

Coworker: [Big sigh] They didn’t come over here!?

A series called “The Genius Files.” The newest one is checked out, so I place a hold.

Move back over to the Adult desk.

I’m learning that “walk please!” is more effective when you reinforce it with “thank you!” if the kid stops running. Should have had more faith.

Restart a frozen catalog computer.

Show some kids how to release more than one print job at a time.

Older lady patron: Is your mom a reader?

Me: Yes she is!

Lady, proffering Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray: Tell her to read this book!

(Consider yourself told, Mom.)

The printer isn’t working! Oh wait, never mind, it did now.

Help one of our nicest regulars with PowerPoint.

Needs help with the printer, but won’t ask. Had to be intrusive that time as a line was forming behind him.

Are there any computers available?

Do you work here? (I HATE being asked this. No, I just sit behind this desk with a badge around my neck to try to trick people.) Where are the legal aid people?

GED study guides in Spanish.

Help with the printer.

May I borrow a pen? (Seriously, is there something in the water today? SO polite!)

Is there a way I can save something so I can refer to it later? You can email it to yourself! How do I do that? Let me show you.

Chat briefly with one of our chattiest regulars about antibiotics.

Someone RETURNS a pen. This is starting to creep me out.

Step back over to YS to cover for a coworker on break.

A patron on the phone who wants to know if the library has tutors. I tell her about what we DO have. Many follow-up questions.

Warn loud, running kids in the children’s area.

Accept returned crayons.

Questions about the bookmark contest.

Do you have any crayons?

How do I get what I’m printing off the printer?

More printer trouble.

Check to see how long the hold list for the new Avengers movie is.

Do you have any new books?

Yes, we have a lot of new books! Are you interested in a particular kind?

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” (Not new)

I just have a small question. I was walking in in the lobby and I passed a sign that said, we can help you prepare for college. I mean, is that true? How do you do that?

Did someone turn in a wallet? Not here, maybe at customer service? Oh, thank goodness. Coworker: She didn’t even open it to see if her money was still there. She must be more trusting than I am.

Another ethical question about where to put a book

Patron: I'm trying to find A Million Little Pieces [by James Frey]

I show here where it is--at 362.29092 FRE, in: Social Sciences--Social welfare problems & services.

Patron: Oh, I thought it would be in fiction.

Crowdsourcing

Dear Intelligent, well-informed, clever readers of this blog,

Today I got a reference question that stumped not only me but two actual librarians. I'm hoping that crowdsourcing, the solution to all problems in this modern age, might be able to solve this one too. One of our nice regulars came up to us with the following problem:

When he writes, he tends to leave out words, enough that his sentences often do not make sense. It’s not that he doesn’t know which word he should use, it’s just that he forgets to write down all the words he thinks of. He was looking for a resource that would give him strategies to stop doing this.

We got him a proofreading book. We also considered books on grammar and books on reading comprehension (hoping that making him more self-aware about his reading might make him more aware of what he was writing) but we didn’t have much success. I just do NOT know where we could find out what he should do, but I bet its out there somewhere. Tell me if you find it, or if you have any idea where I should look.

Ethical dilemma

Dear Readers, I am making recommendations about which little-used science books to get rid of at the public library. We don't have a huge budget for new books, so we tend to err on the side of caution when deciding what to weed out of the collection. One of the books I am considering is Wild Minds, by Marc Hauser. It's less than 15 years old, apparently well-written, and on an interesting topic. However, the author resigned his Harvard professorship after the administration discovered that he had systematically falsified data in multiple studies. (This article gives a bit of an overview on the debate)

Is this kind of dishonesty enough to take Wild Minds off the shelf? We don't know how long Hauser had been dishonest in his research or whether any of the data in Wild Minds is contaminated. Moreover, most patrons won't know about Hauser when they see the book on the shelf.

Give me your arguments for and against keeping Wild Minds.

Why are public libraries important?

I would encourage you to check out this visually appealing webpage providing some statistics on the benefits that public libraries provide. I would also like to know if they are forgetting anything!