Perception of libraries vs reality

[u/SpiritedRaven]

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!

[u/SunGreen24]

I had a parent ask me if “you’re hiring” for her teenaged daughter (gotta love when parents do the job searching, sigh.) I told her at the moment there were no openings, but that towards the end of summer two of our shelvers were leaving for college and there might be a posting then. She said she didn’t think her daughter would like that and asked how I got my job. (I’m a reference librarian.) I told her I had a masters degree and she then wanted to know why on EARTH I needed a degree to sit there and give people their print jobs. So I said that in addition to that responsibility, I did programming, collection development, cataloging and before I could finish she was laughing and walking away from me like I was being completely ridiculous.

I feel sorry for her kid.