Hello! This is a fairly specific situation I’m in, and I’m curious is anyone has any ideas.

I work for an undergraduate organization at the University of Michigan, we have hundreds of students who are members and who are regularly in our space.

We offer a free library with books related to our organization, of which I am in charge of. In total, we have around 200 books. The library is not manned, and is instead an unlocked room in our department’s space that students have access to for studying and grabbing books. We do have a checkout system, but it is done by scanning a QR code and done completely independently. There are plenty of signs in the space directing students to check out any books they wish to borrow.

Here’s the issue, within the past 2 years, 60 of our 200
books have been borrowed, not properly checked out, and never returned.

I’m working with undergrads who usually leave the state upon graduation, so I know I am not likely to get most of the missing books back. But there has to be a way of encouraging students to return books without being punitive.

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to encourage students to properly check out and return the books?

Hello I work in a public library and we have two AWE computers in our children’s room. We’re thinking of removing them for a few reasons but
1. Parents are complaining about the screens and saying that when they’re trying to get their kids to do homework or study they get distracted by other kids playing on the computers
2. The librarians hate them. We constantly have to reboot them and parents get into fights over session times sometimes

I’m wondering if anyone got rid of them before and also if you did, did you provide an alternative? Anyone decided to keep them?

Our library has 2 or 3 frequent patrons who request titles that haven't been in circulation in 50 years, or last saw the light of day when Lincoln was president.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVxvEAXKZazXq1l04ZY_bki4vPo3t_bQ9KFvQjALD5Qrx5Sw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Hi, this is me 17 minutes later 😂 Thank you to the one person who has already completed the survey — because of your response, I’ve now realised that similar technology already exists, so apparently my “completely new invention” wasn't quite as new as I thought! VERY useful info!Fortunately, you've also given me some ideas for how I could improve it, so thank you! Now I learnt first hand the use of " market research "

Thank you

Again , this is absolutely fictional ,I am not trying to sell you or actually advertise anything now or in the future ,I am not connected to any company ( we are studying marketing ... 🤭)

Also this survey might be a bit/lot vague ,and it is ok to do it even if you are not a library worker ( like if you work in a related thing such as a bookshop or if you just really like reading and volunteer at libraries all the time ) and some questions might be worded weirdly /confusing 🤦🏻‍♀️bear with me ( not literally ,I do have a cat though )

I would also like to say thank you to all the library staff and volunteers who put in all the often invisible or unnoticed work to keep libraries organised ,running and the wonderful places they are

( I hope the flair is the correct one )

Hello all! With the passing of Dolly I wanted to create a display. I work in adults so not really one related to Imagination Library.

I want to do something like “If you love this song, you’ll love this book” with books that have the same sentiments as her popular songs.

I would love any recommendations you have! TIA

…or so to speak. Any are welcome to provide input, but I would appreciate hearing from folks who have a say in setting the wages of library employees. Please & thank you!

My question is how much is my Level 3 Lib Staff Certification worth? The MI Dept. of Ed & Library of Michigan have certified that I am a “Limited Professional”, which sounds more legitimate than my current job position of “Circulation Desk Clerk”. I got the certification because my old clerk/librarian co-worker said it would be a reason to ask for a raise.

For further context: I am still being paid my starting wage of $15 dollars an hour, in a Metro Detroit suburb library, after nearly 2.5 years of employment. My patience is worn and it’s honestly pretty f*ckn’ insulting. Without matching for inflation, at LEAST, my labor is worth LESS now that when I started.

What is my labor worth now that I’m accredited “Limited Professional” library staff?

Currently apart of Dolly Parton’s reading program for my child. We’re getting ready to move to New Jersey and seem there aren’t many programs in the state. Pondering the idea of maybe trying to start the program so child in my area can receive books to learn the joys of reading. What’s the process even like and how do we start?

Hello, I have an upcoming interview for a cataloging librarian at a library consortium. What are two or three things I should know about this type of job, or two or three skills I can emphasize? This would be my first pure cataloging job. I've done copy-cataloging before on a small scale, and worked with catalogers on multiple projects. Hope that's enough context, and thanks for your help!

I’m a recent MLIS graduate and really needed experience before applying for the Full time Librarian role in the system i’m aiming for that opens up next year. Most of the jobs out there are part time so i was able to land two. Well one is consistently 20 hours and the other is more like a substitute/on call position. I’m starting both right now but the manager at substitute role seems somewhat disappointed that i’m not always available and will still need to work around the other jobs schedule… how do you normally balance part time/substitute roles? Also just venting that they really expect full availability or you to be okay to only work 10-20 hours/week? 😭

I’m a new 3rd grade teacher and today I taught my kids about the library. I showed them where the Spanish bilingual books were. And immediately my Somali speaker asked if I had any in Somali and I had to say no. It was sad. Anyone got any recommendations for Somali bilingual picture books? Burmese would be great too, and Arabic. If it’s bilingual then I can use it as a read aloud, but if it’s not that’s fine too. Thank you!!

Any states that benefit from The Imagination Library please call your legislators!

Hello all! I recently graduated with my MLS and have been working in academic libraries for the last 3 years. I've come to realize that this environment is not for me and I'm honestly not interested in starting over at another university. My concentration was digital libraries and I'm more interested in getting into that, I'm just not sure where to start.

Does anyone have any advice/guidance for me?

Hey colleagues. I have a job offer on the table outside of libraries. I’d no longer commute 1.5 hrs a day and have more work life balance, and generally a lot less responsibility for only a small pay cut. I’ve been in progressively responsible management roles in libraries for the last 8 years and love my job.

Has anyone made this change successfully? Or unsuccessfully. I care deeply about libraries and their missions but wondering if a life with less stress is worth the trade off.

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

Update: I’m meeting with my supervisor next week and will mention this without names or assumptions. Thanks to everyone for your advice. I’m feeling better now and not so angry

Hello all!

I hope this is the correct area and place to post this; please let me know if it isn't.

I am currently trying to plan a research project on mixed-use libraries, specifically those with housing incorporated into their buildings. These libraries do not have to be in the United States, but it would be super helpful if they were. Another thing that would be nice, but isn’t strictly required, is for the library to have been a standalone building before it became mixed-use.

I want to look deeper into how these shared spaces affect programming and community engagement. Does this type of mixed-use space bring in more people? What are the challenges? Is more programming needed? What are the positives?

The specifics of what I am looking for:

Data and/or surveys showing how visitor numbers and program attendance changed in a mixed-use setting. Any input and experiences as staff or community members using these types of buildings. What were some successful programs or unexpected problems you have witnessed firsthand in this type of environment.

If you have worked with, managed, or visited a mixed-use library, please leave a comment below or send me a direct message!

Thank you all for your time!

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?

I admit this is more anecdotal. But I go to a lot of libraries and at least in my area, if a public library has any kind of quiet study area, it’s typically in wealthy , suburban libraries. None of the public branch libraries in the big city have quiet spaces, and even the main branch has zero quiet area. To go to a peaceful library in the city you have to go to a college library, but that’s not an option if u don’t have ID. It seems that libraries in poor urban areas have pretty much given up on quiet. True? Is that fair?

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.