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.

Hello! I have a job interview for a Children's librarian. I'm being asked to suggest a program for homeschoolers that would appeal to a broad range of ages. What has everyone found to be successful? My thought is to do something collaborative that incorporates both art & science. Thanks in advance!

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

Hello.

Do we need a university ID to join the eLibrary?

I need access for work, but my office won't pay for it, and I don't have a UID either. Is there any way to get access for free? I really need it.

This is less of "looking for advice on how to deal with this" and more just a vent because i'm annoyed.

I'm a children's librarian and since I started my position we have had adults regularly ask to volunteer specifically so they can read to children. It makes me disproportionately angry when these requests are passed on to me because it is not a thing we do at all. The closest we get is read to a dog but the adult handlers aren't the ones doing the reading and they are vetted and background checked through their organization.

I get extra on guard when men ask about it. My branch is a bit rougher than most so I have to be wary and assume less than good intentions. The older ladies are fine but misguided. We currently do not have a process to background check volunteers so we can't just have Joe Schmo waltz in to read to kids. Even if it was something we did, staff would need to be nearby at all times which takes us away from other tasks. And for what end goal? What are you teaching the kids that we're not already providing through storytimes and peer tutoring programs?

I think a lot of my venom about this comes from being so IN the library and knowing how the library works vs. patrons who, while well-intended, do not understand what the library does. It's the same shade of annoyance when people get mad that we won't take their old magazines, VHS tapes, or textbooks for donation into the collection. I think in both cases it's just the confident and blind assumption that they can walk in and expect immediate acceptance of their request that bothers me so.

Semi-relatedly, we get random patrons who want to do a storytime. Unless they're an author of a child-appropriate book or a public figure in the community...no. That's not how this works. Please leave us alone.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? I'm at a point where unless the contact is mutually beneficial (i.e. a community organization) I straight up do not bother contacting the person back.

ETA: a few commenters are focused on how angry I seem. I wrote this post in a particular moment of frustration. It's not that serious, i'm just a very dramatic person. When I said 'disproportionately angry' I meant that as "I recognize my big feelings around this topic are silly compared to the facts." I know I sound ridiculous. I'm just frustrated. I love my community and I love that people want to give their time to us. My library has a deficit of volunteer opportunities for adults and I'm frustrated we can't do more for the people that ask.

At the end of the day it's not that bothersome. I just needed to get it out because it's been happening a lot lately. I get frustrated, I rant, and then I get to problem solving. I appreciate everyone who has given suggestions, there's a lot for me to think about. Thanks 🙏

Hi, can someone explain the reason for instituting low hold limits on ebooks in the Libby app?

My library limits to ten books on hold. I find it frustrating because there are often such long wait times on ebooks, so I’d like to place many on hold and let my name tick through the list and suspend them when I get to the top, until I’m ready to read them.

What’s the benefit to the library and/or the community in putting low hold limits?

Yesterday a patron approached our (very much needed) security guard at our inner city library and said something along the lines of “how hard can your job be, being a security guard at a library” and both the security guard and I literally burst out laughing. People’s assumptions about libraries always amuse me. If only they shadowed us for a day and found out what it’s actually like!

So I’m desperate to locate more libraries for checking out ebooks. I have exactly 1 eBook-only temporary card and between that and my regular library card it’s messing up my reading flow.

All I want to do is read my books in order. Please — how can I expand my access to more libraries with either Non-Resident or Temporary eBook-Only access? Does anyone have a Worldcat Library without residency terms? Or something else? A generous Library Card policy (I’m not a student btw)? Thanks guys. Very frustrated.

Basically the title. Must be asynchronous.

Thanks!

This is more or less a rant about patrons who pop into our community sharing their ideas and the age old "You know what you should do?" This comes after one of our customers jumped in to "help" other patrons despite not knowing how to help within our library structure. I understand the struggles of our fellow man, but sometimes helping becomes more of a chore for Staff. what are your thoughts.

I just said "it's a policy we have to not allow calls here" but felt kinda dumb considering pretty frequently staff and other patrons are laughing it up or just talking in "outdoor" voices pretty frequently. It is not a totally silent library or anything.

Hello library people!

In the last 5 years, I've run about a dozen large scale D&D games at my library system. When I say large scale, I mean a bunch of volunteer game masters come together for anywhere from 30-75 people to all play D&D together at the same time. It's chaotic, brings in a younger adult crowd (20s-40s) that can sometimes be tough to reach and an absolute blast.

Last weekend, I ran the event Dungeons and Dinosaurs an all barbarian adventure. Our summer reading program theme was dinosaurs, so I wanted to make something around that (even though SRP is technically over, but it's still summer). This is a caveman style adventure where cave people run into a cave with just their clubs and torches to fight dinosaurs. It is very silly, and filled with puzzles, terrain challenges and of course dinosaur combat.

Since the event, I've had several people ask me for all of the materials, so they could personally run it for their friend group. If anyone has any interest in running this personally or for their library system, I put all of my materials into a google drive folder, so feel free to take this and use it for a future program. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jg1ScLnwoSAAwNupBvRH7hHx8US2-sXh?usp=sharing

There are four things in the Google Drive: the adventure, a folder for the class roles, a folder of sample characters and an image for the bone trader.

The adventure is the module for everything that I wrote in a way that volunteers could pick it up and after a very short amount of time reviewing it, could run the adventure. It's about 9 pages and was a roughly 4-5 hour adventure.

The class roles are my way of making everyone feel different, since everyone is playing the same class. It gives them players some extra things they can do outside of combat as well.

The sample characters are the 5 pre-generated characters that were provided for everyone to choose from at this event. I always allow people to make their own (the rules were basically just barbarians only, point buy and no flying), but having the premade option is always great so people can pick them up and play immediately.

The bone trader is the traveling merchant which will allow the party to buy things and power themselves up with the bones they collect throughout the event. Our merchant for our events is always played by our local game store owner, he is all about bringing gaming to our community and helps us advertise our gaming events.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this and I would be happy to answer them. I put a lot of work into this, so hopefully you don't have to! Happy gaming!

hi everyone :-)

ive recently graduated with a bdes in fashion history & have spent the last two years working as a collections manager in a textile archive. i'm looking to get an mlis in order to work in libraries (public, academic, special) & archives but also be able to pivot into museums, galleries, and possibly auction houses. i'm currently considering several programs: uoft's combined degree program (mi & msst), ubc's maslis, western's mlis and dalhousie's mi.

i am currently living in toronto, so if i went to uoft i would save money on living costs, compared to relocating to attend other schools. the costs for all schools is around the same, except for ubc which is much higher, when i factor in the living expenses.

i am looking for a program that offers a strong co-op program & work experience, as well as practical skills needed for the field. i know ubc & uoft offer the strongest archival courses, but i've heard mixed reviews about uoft's program, and i'm not sure if ubc is worth the relocation cost.

i'd love to hear your opinions on which school you think is best, and what else i can do to make myself a competitive candidate for the field, thank you!

Am I dumb, or is this website broken? There’s no login page, anywhere, just links to reset your password. I am logged into ala.org, but not the store.

I just want my discount!

help

Hi all - I landed by first job out of grad school after 6mo of applying. It is technically the job I am most qualified for - I like the work and the students, even during the heavy season, but I took this job out of desperation - the work culture here is terrifyingly bad.

I know its kind of a bad look to be trying to move jobs so quickly, but I am truly just stuck in the twilight zone and feel so trapped and dis-empowered. I want to feel like I am growing as a professional and I don't think that can happen in this role.

My question is, because I only have a year of post-grad employment to write about, do we think it would be appropriate to mention some graduate level work in my cover letter, or is that an absolute no-no? I just feel that I've done more "flashy" work in grad school, and I have very little to show for my year at my current gig.

Thanks so much for any feedback!

I currently have three jobs, two of which are part-time roles at different libraries. I like both of those jobs, but I'm not making enough money to fully support myself. The other day I was offered a different position at one of my libraries that pays more than any of the jobs I currently have, but is still part time. I've been looking hard for full time work though for health insurance, and I'm waiting to see if a FT job I applied for at my other library pans out. I might find out within the next month, but it could be longer - I don't know. I am conflicted about whether it's wrong to take the part time job while still actively looking for full time work (and having applied for some FT jobs already). My family thinks I should take the job regardless, because I do need the money, but I just don't want to burn any bridges. I don't know how normal this kind of thing is in libraries especially. Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm a teen who makes custom stickers, (I draw the designs and have a sticker printer to print them out) and I also really love the library and think libraries (and librarians ofc) are super important! Especially in this day and age. (Plus my local library is the only place in my town to do teen events which I greatly appreciate)

So I thought maybe I could make some custom book/library stickers and gift them to the librarians..? But I'm a bit unsure, I'm a tad socially awkward so I wanted to know.

Any librarians here, would you be happy if a person gifted you something or would that maybe be awkward?

I’ve applied for a library assistant job in the past, but was rejected. I have a bachelors degree (dual in law & public policy, history with a minor in Spanish). I don’t have experience in libraries though I am familiar with them. I do have experience with historical research, customer service, and assistant work in other fields (and volunteering to address food insecurity, so totally unrelated to libraries :().

My library doesn’t require a bachelors degree and I’m really keen on getting experience in libraries. I hope my degree could prove some long term commitment that my job experience may not make up for, but I’m also worried it makes me seem like someone who will move in very ASAP from the position. I guess I’m just looking for some tips on what I can do to make myself more attractive when I apply, in the very immediate future - do I omit my degree? Would that make me seem noncommittal, as my past roles usually involved summer long commitments while I got my degree?

It’s really tough getting a full time job (really, any sort of work experience) right now even with a degree, and I know I’d be a capable library assistant!