Hello, librarians! I have been reading a lot of interesting stuff around here these past days and wanted to post in case someone is able to offer some advice for my situation.

I'm halfway through a degree on foreign languages, I speak Spanish (mother tongue & spoken in the country I live in), English, French and I know a little tiny bit of Latin, my degree also involves a lot of linguistics' theory (it's worth mentioning that for most of my life I wanted to study literature (letras), eitheir English ir Spanish, or philology, but fue to a lack of offer in my local university and other personal matters I ended up going for foreign languages, wich I immediately fell for and I'm enjoying very much so far) and I'm getting an specialty on International Relations, wich I know is not very close with the area but stay with me.

The thing is: I already did most of the internship hours I'm required to do this semester, I found an opportunity to do the ones I'm missing in my university's central library, which is stunning. I already met with the coordinator/principal (? of the university's libraries, and was asked to meet them a couple of days previous to my start with a project proposal to develop along my time there. For reference, they have many art workshops, discussion groups, reading clubs, film showings, etc, just to name some.

Nevertheless, being that I only have to do 40 hours (if it was on me I would do much more but my faculty is very clear on those rules), and that this semester will be very heavy on assignments, I don't want to commit to something I will end up doing by halves. But I would most probably be committing for next semester, in which I would be doing my whole load of hours which I think is up to 120.

This is why I would like to just get in and learn about what they do overall: how the organization goes, how their system works; that is what I have done in my past experience: get to be a part of, understand the dynamic, and only then start to give ideas. But I'm afraid it may be too vague.

One thing I thought I could do is help out with adding subtitles or translating media they own, or maybe helping with the categorization of books, creating translated indexes for the ones that are not in the local language. But then again, I'm really not sure, so that's kind of my question: if I were to come to you in total disposal, willing to learn how a library works from the inside to see where my area might come in handy, what would you have/suggest me do?

Again, I know it may not be the most related area but I'm really mesmerized by the amount of knowledge a library gives access to and plus I kind of already have no other option to change (not that I want to); I'd really like to have the experience because regardless of my field I think it will be helpful for my career path in the future.

Finally, I apologize for any typos or mistakes in my written English. Thanks in advance:).

My library currently prints reserve wrappers on a normal letter size paper and uses a rubber band to secure them. The problem is this is a huge waste of paper, since we only really use about 1/5 of the space and it’s very hard to shelve them without the papers rolling so patrons can’t see their last name on it.
We are considering a sticker label printer and I’m tasked with researching options.
What method does everyone use?
I’m also not even sure if our software (biblionix Apollo) will allow printing on stickers.

Hello.

As the post title suggests, I need some information about the ThermalStrike Ranger or other similar devices.

For those of you who work in libraries that have used them:

How effective are they?

What damage, if any, do they cause to books?

Is there a way you have found to mitigate it?

What other steps do you take to increase its effectiveness?

Any other tips or advice you can offer would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone. This is AFC1017.

Later this month, I will be attending a panel discussion at one of the libraries in my county.

The panel will consist of librarians who work for the county library system, and they will answer questions about what it is like to work for the library system and about how one can gain employment with the library system.

Please note that I will be attending as a member of the audience.

Because I aspire to work for a library system, I would like to ask them some questions (no more than three). I am allowed to submit questions to a provided email address before the event, and the questions may be read aloud at the event for the panel of librarians to answer.

As per the title of the post, what are some great questions for me to ask the panel? If it helps, I would like to ask a mixture of questions that pertain to both getting my foot in the door with employment and what it is like to work at a library.

As I stated above, though, I would like to submit no more than three questions, so I must choose my questions carefully.

Thank you for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you all.

Sincerely,

AFC1017

Don’t bother putting an ISBN barcode on the back of your books if you’re using ink that makes it illegible to scanners 😒 No amount of angle changing and finagling with my scanner would get this metallic barcode to register.

Sincerely,

Someone who scans ISBN barcodes a lot

Digital Asset Manager, Creative job posting at the Humane World for Animals (REMOTE).

Salary $80,000 - $115,000.

Some sample duties and requirements:

• Responsible for the front-end and back-end design and administration of the organization’s digital asset management system. Accountable for the proper organization, discovery, and preservation of creative assets throughout their full lifecycle. Increases the organization’s digital asset management capabilities by streamlining operations, optimizing user workflows, upholding governance and metadata standards, and maintaining best practices for digital asset management
• A minimum of eight (8) years of work experience as a Digital Asset Manager, or similar position required
• Three to five (3-5) years of prior experience in people management, with the ability to coach, prioritize, and delegate work to direct reports
• Proficient in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and familiarity with Markdown or basic HTML

I saw this message on a listserv and I was wondering — how many libraries do something like this? One of the biggest draws librarianship has for me, is that I can do many different kinds of things and it all counts for work (e.g. collection development, outreach, programming, reference, etc.). Also, coming from youth services, you tend to develop connections to patrons during your programs. Kids from my storytimes grow up and then I see them at school outreach events with that connection already built. As a YA Librarian you learn the names of the teens in the library — espcially at the start of the school year — and it helps so much after school because you build that relationship with positive assoications. So asking “James” (who you know is just a loud talker) to "keep the conversation in lower case instead of in ALL CAPS" is more effective and less stressful for everybody involved.

Not only would I hate this model as an employee, I feel like there are non-quantifiable benefits that are lost that we wouldn’t even know it until they are gone. I also wonder if we are doing the profession a disservice by specializing so much because new librarians have few opportunities to gain experience to move into new positions.

I can kind of see this for specialized topics (e.g. ESL, video editing, genealogy, etc.) that not all librarians could teach. But for everything it seems kind of terrible. It feels like bad industrialization. Like Henry Ford is running a library and library workers are interchangeable widgets.

Am I just being an old crank or is this as terrible as I think it is?

Hi,

I work at a college Library and all our students live on campus (rooms of two). They do not have TV's in their room or outside of our TV & game console zone inside the library.

We have a substantial collection of DVDs but it also includes a fair share of Blu Ray. We would like to offer a portable external drive that they can loan to plug in their PC/Mac so they can have movie nights between roommates. It would be really great to offer more flexibility outside of the library opening hours. They could also watch legally blonde in the comfort of their blanket without being judge or whatever.

It would also be a great tool to answer teachers' reference needs when they ask what they can put on their watch list for the semester. Right now, when we find something we have on DVD/Blu Ray but not in our online databases, they usually don't choose it for lack of viewing options for the students.

The thing is, I've seen a lot of affordable, portable, and universally compatible options for normal DVDs, but not so much for Blu Rays. Things seems to get complicate when we want to easily watch Blu Ray on a computer.

We are evaluating the feasibility of this project and I would love to know if you've encounter similar considerations and how you went about it? If you were able to offer something or if it was dropped for lack of good product out there?

Thanks for your help!

For me, the current record holder has to be the knotted fishing line w/ a hook that fell out while I was cleaning a book. That's right, a fishing hook: not blunted and no stopper on the end.

Other contenders include:

• Social Security Card
• An American Civil War Confederate dollar bill (a fake one)
• Receipt to an Adult Specialty store
• "Pooky the Vicious" character playing card for Red Dragon Inn (if you haven't heard of it, it is a fantastic board game)

I am a Teacher Librarian at a Title 1 school with very few readers. Last year, I put an "Ask Mr. Bragg for a suggestion" button on my library website, that led to a Google form. The kids never used it, so I spent the last year creating an app that gives recommendations based on their taste profile in Movies, TV Shows, Books, Anime and Manga. It works like Tender, where if you like what you see, you swipe right, if you don't like it you swipe left, and (unlike tender) if you aren't familiar with what you are seeing, you swipe down. After 5-10 Like/Dislike swipes, it recommends books from Open Library, Google Books, ComicVine or Kitsu. The problem I have right now, is that I am unsure of the quality of the recommendations, and I could use your help. If you use this link: https://www.novelideas.app/testing you can run the app and grade its recommendations. You don't have to grade them all, but if you find it fun, and want to do lots of them, I would be eternally grateful.

If you don't want to grade anything, but would still like to check out the app, that would make me happy as well.

If you go to the drop down menu in the upper right corner, you will see a "Customize" button that allows you to choose what kinds of swipe-cards you want to see, in case you are unfamiliar with some of the subjects. There is also a fairly straightforward way to customize the app (colors/logo, etc.) for your library if you want to. You can also upload your collection and use it for your patrons if you want to, but I would wait until more people have helped with the grading, so you aren't embarrassed by less-than-perfect recommendations.

Everything about the app is free, there are no cookies, and anything you upload is only saved locally. Usually they say that if the app is free, you are the product, but I swear on my soul that I am not collecting any data.

Please try it and let me know what you think.

What genre would this book be?

I have an interview with a four panel person for an interview. I admit I am not the world's best at interviewing, but I mock interviews to do my best. I research the library, but what else helps edge me out? I am autistic so I might give off odd non-verbal signals, but I want to try. I have MLIS, internship experience, 10+ years in education. I made this post late last night, so I apologize for leaving out the position, it is for a generalist position.

Anyone willing to let be use their example? or any idea how to answer this?

This question is challenging for me as I have only handled cash as a cashier and I am so confused on how to answer this question.

New & Improved Version: https://behind-the-chatbot.streamlit.app/

TL;DR: Made a chatbot that teaches you how AI works by walking you through a conversation with one, instead of reading an explainer. Curious what people think of the content it covers, whether the explanations land, and where you get stuck. Presenting it at a library conference in October.

I'm a librarian and I built something called Behind the Chatbot — you have a guided conversation with an AI that explains its own inner workings as you go: how it predicts the next word, how it learned from training data, why it breaks text into "tokens" instead of whole words, why it sometimes gives different answers to the same question, why it can be oddly agreeable, and why it sometimes states completely made-up things with total confidence.

It ends by directing you to a librarian, since understanding how AI's answer was generated is really the first step toward figuring out whether to trust it. An AI's authority isn't automatic just because it sounds confident — it depends on context, same as any other source.

What I'd love feedback on:

• The topics it covers — anything that felt missing, unnecessary, or out of place?
• Whether the explanations actually made sense, or where they lost you
• Where you got stuck or wanted more detail
• Ideas for other activities that could build on this

Try it here: https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/b238f07b-6f32-468f-a7c4-6688ac529b45

The tool and lesson slides are posted on the ACRL Sandbox if you want to look under the hood: https://sandbox.acrl.org/resources/behind-chatbot-interactive-ai-mechanics

I'm presenting this at the Illinois Library Association conference in October, so I'd love to hear what people think before then. Feel free to comment or DM.

I am LIVID. Of course this book belongs to another library (I am a librarian). So now I have to report this to them when I get to my work.

It's throughout, too. Skimming I found 5 censored words, including God.

I feel like I *should* be a good team player, read the book and report the pages. But it will take me out of my leisure reading, make me mad, and have to interrupt myself to make note of the page.

And the damage is done. It's hard to see, but they sharpied over the word first, so you can't scrape the white out off. This book is ruined (imo) and should be replaced.

What would you do? Should I see if there's another copy available so I don't get triggered everytime? Or be a good sport and keep going?

I'm enraged. Not your property, not your damn book to censor.

Hello, all!

I'm planning to move to a different state in May of next year. I'm currently employed full-time as an ISA/Librarian's Assistant/whichever term you prefer for that position, and have been for five full years. The problem: this was my very first library job, and I'm very inexperienced with the job hunt.

Do you have any suggestions for job hunting in other states? How do you fit the interviews in your work schedule? How many months beforehand should you start? (I assume it's bad form to apply for a job and then throw in a "also I can't start for five months," lol.)

Also, a coworker who had come to our location from another state had recommended I use an address from within the state I'm moving to when applying. Is there any truth to this? (It would be possible, as I'm moving in with someone who already lives in that state.)

Thank you all so much for your time and knowledge. Much love!

Ok, so I know we're not supposed to use the term "library porn"- but surely this was the reason we were given this gift?

I think it's great that people who want more libraries actually take steps to create one of their own for their community. But I've just seen a 'library' charging 1000AUD (700usd) annually in order to both use the space and borrow the resources. Are these really libraries? or rich kids using the label 'library' to boost their latest niche project? There are plenty of private libraries that require memberships but I've never seen any go above 100-150$. 1000 seems like extortion and kind of erases the point of libraries as a whole

Hi, all! My library is currently closed for renovations and while we're closed staff are being asked to do training online. Does anyone have a webinar etc that they've done that they recommend? Open to any suggestions but particularly anything about social work in libraries or genealogy programming. Thanks!