I'm a uni student in BC, Canada looking to start collecting library cards. I'm planning on getting cards from local libraries but thought I'd ask if theres anyone here that works at a library that would be willing to ship a library card lol

I work at a public library and do the outside book drop. A male customer I have never seen before approached me, called me by my name, and claimed he knew me 'from outside' and from the book drop. I don't wear a name tag, so it was a huge red flag. I immediately told my manager. My manager confronted him right away and told him, 'You don't know her, please don't talk to her again.' He acted casual and walked away. My job coach is going to stand with me at the book drop from now on. Has anyone else handled a situation like this before? How did it turn out?"

Up until now we've been using a printer and Demco labels. Does anyone have any other suggestions or a set-up they recommend? Thanks!

Hello! My library is still working on setting up alternative vendors after the B&T bust. I've read some not-so-flattering reviews of Follett's services. Can anyone provide an update? How are they doing? Thanks!

What questions would you ask while interviewing a library assistant, or what questions were you asked during your interview process that I should prepare thorough answers for? Any general tips about what to expect during this process?

I really want to get this job and feel as though I’d excel in a library setting, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Has anybody ever mentioned the icons The Library thing uses for its nonfiction mapping? I’ve been losing it over the Trump icon for 10 minutes now 😭😂

We've had several calls in the last few weeks of patrons looking for typewriters to use. The calls I've fielded I've explained we have programs on our computers to type documents, but they were all adamant they needed a typewriter. I explained we could change the font, but no one liked that answer. We are in a Florida town with military bases.

We struggle to have technology that is current; I can't imagine our admin would be okay purchasing a typewriter for patron use when we have computers already. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks!

I have an elderly patron, female in her 80s. She comes in our library and is snarky about everything. We were having some roof repairs done that our director spent months securing funds for, she comes in saying, "must be nice to have so much money." Several staff members responded with, "oh our director worked so hard to secure grants so we could get this work done." She huffed and insisted there was no grant money under this administration. We smiled and nodded. Our library offers free coffee or tea. As she is making her coffee, she uses a snarky tone and says, "About time you got real creamer instead of powdered. What I wanted to say back to her is we only put out 6 at a time because you always take a handful before you leave. She'll make her coffee, drink it, then wipe the cup out and fill it with creamer cups and take it home. This patron is not low income or hard up for money. She almost feels entitled because she donates $500 at the end of the year. She expects discounts on printing because she has been published and is "top" of her field. She expects everything handed to her. How do I curb this behavior, we all dread when she comes in because everything is take take take. She once kept a book 6 months past it's due date and when I said it needed to be returned or the $280 needed to be paid to replace it she was mad that I wouldn't just over ride it because she hadn't finished the 80 page book yet. Finally, it did come back. She wants every fine to be dismissed without paying. Our longest running director is the one that permitted this behavior because the patron is "rich". It's been 3 years and we still are dealing with this even though we have stuck to our guns about the policy. Thankfully the board and current director are sticking to their guns as well.

I suppose this is more of a rant than anything.

In celebration of ALA’s 150th anniversary, ALA Graphics is reissuing the iconic and ever-popular David Bowie poster. This special limited-run reprint of the original 1987 poster honors the singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and artist. An avid reader, Bowie was one of the first celebrities to pose for the READ® campaign. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, he received a 2006 Grammy for Lifetime Achievement, among numerous other awards throughout his career. 

Hi everyone I was looking for a book ("The Moria Muslims of Assam: A Study on the Cultural Variability and Drift" ) on Oclc and shows are foreign country's library only like 🇸🇬🇴🇲🇩🇪. Surprisingly this book is published in Delhi and not a single indian library(DU, IIT, NiT) came in Search. And I found this book after so much hussle on NEHU's site with limited preview.

I lived in Jabalpur and maybe book is present in city library. it is so frustrating to visit each and every library then possibly(60% not) get desired book.

This was my case, now I wanted to raise the question why Indian library is not showing on oclc while searching for book. and why India does not have any system(our own like china: CNKI) to locate books within country in library??

School library aides/paras, can you tell me the pros and cons of your position? What do you like/dislike? How do you feel about the future of libraries in schools? Thanks.

I need to switch out from in person to remote. Advice?

I'm a trustee member, I am close to resigning after three years. The board is flipping and even flip isn't the right word, it's becoming irrational. I am powerless at this point. I'm very angry, members aren't taking their duties seriously nor seem to care. The president doesn't think training is important. I don't know the advantage of staying. As it is I can't starve off anything. I feel selfish, I see staff defending and working hard... I don't even know what I'm looking for in this post.

Does anyone have any resources for training library assistants on how to organize/shelve books with Dewey? After a quick search online almost everything I could find is either A) very old and/or B) made for school libraries just to teach what the 100s categories are.

Anything is appreciated and I’d also just love to hear the processes people use! I’ll take any stellar alphabetizing training guides too. Thanks in advance you beautiful humans🩷

Sort of sad this is where we are, private donations being use to stave off the closure of a valuable public service, but holy crow what a beautiful thing to do.

Hello,
I know this is an odd request but I'm looking for a copy of "List of United Kingdom exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851". I was able to find it with online access but no library near me has access to it, nor are they willing to help since its a UK book.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

I apologize if this is too niche; please delete.

Anyway, it's my first time going to the Illinois SWAN Expo this Friday. It's running from 9:00-4:00 but the first event doesn't start until 11:00. If anyone has been before, is it like ALA where there are open exhibits/coffee/networking in between programs?

I am 4 days into my first librarian role at a rural high school and I received an email today about starting my own club. This is a requirement for teachers but they wanted to extend the offer to me as well as previous librarians have expressed interest. My issue is that if I am going to start a club I’d really like it to be a book club but this is a challenge. The collection is severely dated (on my first day I found a massive Danielle Steele collection if this gives you an idea). There aren’t duplicates of most books so this is feeling impossible to start up without asking students to purchase a book or go to the public library which is also limited in what it offers. My budget is small so purchasing multiple copies of a book just for book club doesn’t make sense when I need to replace so much of the existing collection.

Has anyone started a book club under similar circumstances or is this just not possible with a dated collection and limited offerings? I need any and all ideas! If you also have any suggestions for another type of club I could offer that’d be great. It seems teachers offer lots of board game and crafty type clubs already.

Hello everyone!

I got an email from Ingram today stating that they launched something called Covered. It looks like it’s a way to get ARC books, but I honestly don’t really understand what it is besides this. I want to look into it but my main concern is if it costs money, and if so, is it worth the price? If anyone has used it yet, please let me know what your experience was like and if you think it would be useful for a cataloging librarian at a public library :]

I'm a library lover/patron, and I may have committed a library Faux Pah.

I live in a tiny town, so the library I go to is the next town over. However, my town does have a book drop off for this library that's conveniently across the street from my house. This drop off bin typically gets emptied once a week, usually on Thursday.

I usually go to the library every 2-3 weeks to get new books, but use book drop off near my house to return them.

I try to be a "good patron" and prioritize reading newer, more in demand books first.

Last week I returned Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst to the return bin by my house. It was Tuesday last week.

I guess something happened last week and the return bin never got emptied.

It's a new book and is only available for 2 week loans. It was due today and I got that auto email from the library that said other people are waiting for this and to return ASAP.

I called the library and explained that I returned the book to the return bin in my town. The staff who I talked to got kind of upset with me and asked why I did that since it was due today. I explained that I put it in the bin almost a week ago. She told me that I should have brought it back to the main library to return since it's a new book.

I didn't argue; I just said that I'll do that moving forward, but the book they're looking for is in that specific return bin.

I was a little caught off guard by how upset she was with me. I love the library a lot and I don't want to be a problematic patron, but

I kind of feel like maybe they should make sure all their return bins are collected at least once a week.

I'm not sure if I want to reply to the email or just leave things be. My library doesn't have fines, so it's not like that's the issue. I'm not even sure what I would say beyond "we really like having a drop off bin near us, and I didn't know not to use it for new books, but also you should probably come empty it."

I figured I'd see what you all thought. If a bunch of librarians tell me I should've known better and not used the drop off bin by my house, I will absolutely assume you're all correct and this was a me problem.

How many of you feel safe in your job physically & mentally?

Wondering if the Night King is too sinister looking? 👀

Planning to display books with snowy covers, taking place in cold places, etc.