Library Experiences

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bookworm1990
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Library Experiences

Post by bookworm1990 »

As a librarian at my local library, I'd love to hear stories of people's experiences at the library. Have you ever had a librarian go out of their way to find a book for you? Or give you an awesome book recommendation? How about bad experiences at the library? Screaming kids, horrific fines?

To start things out, I just had an experience I'd like to share. A patron came up to me looking for a book. No problem, that's my job. He says he's looking for a large book with a green cover ... and that's it. "I found it on a shelf the last time I was here" is what he said to me. No title, no author, that's it. After a few minutes of talking to him, he remembered that it was about the Bible. Slightly better change of me finding it but still, I was at a loss. I tried looking in Google but a search of "books about the Bible" brings back about 10,000 results. Luckily, I was able to tell him where the book would be found if we had it but as he couldn't give me any more information, he would have to just look and hope for the best.
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Post by LivreAmour217 »

Most of my library experiences have been pleasant, but I do have one gripe about the library at the school where I work. The librarians are lovely ladies, but they don't seem overly bothered by how loud some of the kids can be and don't try to regulate the noise level. Students who come in to study or to make up tests cannot concentrate, and there aren't many other places in the building where they can go. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned, but I've always believed that libraries should be quiet places!
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Post by SparklingOne »

I've always had wonderful library experiences. I recently had a very friendly librarian walk me through the process of borrowing e-books for my Kindle. She gave me handouts to set everything up showed me where to go on the internet to make setting up my account easy. I believe she would have done the whole process with me if it hadn't been a busy Saturday.
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Post by Thimble »

As a patron I've always had pleasant experiences at the library. The only time I had problems was when I was trying to volunteer at the library. I was treated poorly and the library staff made it very difficult for me to even sign up to volunteer. I was taking classes to get my Library Science AA at the time. Ever since then, I've been a bit wary around library staff.
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Post by DATo »

LivreAmour217 wrote:Most of my library experiences have been pleasant, but I do have one gripe about the library at the school where I work. The librarians are lovely ladies, but they don't seem overly bothered by how loud some of the kids can be and don't try to regulate the noise level. Students who come in to study or to make up tests cannot concentrate, and there aren't many other places in the building where they can go. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned, but I've always believed that libraries should be quiet places!
You are not too old fashioned. I feel the same way.

-- August 14th, 2015, 8:30 pm --
Thimble wrote:As a patron I've always had pleasant experiences at the library. The only time I had problems was when I was trying to volunteer at the library. I was treated poorly and the library staff made it very difficult for me to even sign up to volunteer. I was taking classes to get my Library Science AA at the time. Ever since then, I've been a bit wary around library staff.
An overabundance of volunteers threatens their job security. This is not a good reason for them to treat you badly however.
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Post by dancingpinkpony »

I've had amazing experiences at the public library where I used to live. But at my high school library, our librarian was just an awful person. After petitions to get her fired failed, we just had to put up with her. I didn't go to the library at all senior year. Why do people like her become librarians if they not only hate working in a library, but hate kids too? It makes no sense to me. I guess the pay had to be decent...
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Post by bookworm1990 »

LivreAmour217 wrote:Maybe I'm too old-fashioned, but I've always believed that libraries should be quiet places!
I've encountered this problem many times at the library I work. Our library is also part of a community center so children are constantly in and out of the library. I get frustrated at the high volume but in reality there's not much I can do about it. The only time we can ask a patron to be quiet is if we receive a complaint, which many people are hesitant to do. I believe that libraries should be quiet but it seems like the younger generations have an intolerance to silence.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

bookworm1990 wrote:As a librarian at my local library, I'd love to hear stories of people's experiences at the library. Have you ever had a librarian go out of their way to find a book for you? Or give you an awesome book recommendation? How about bad experiences at the library? Screaming kids, horrific fines?
I don't know why, but I misread your last sentence above as, "Screaming kids, horrific fires?" :lol: Yep, just another day at the local library!

If I think of any anecdotes, I'll report back!
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Post by Jojowrites4All »

I have never met a mean or unhelpful librarian. My local library is quiet, and I always help other patrons when the ladies are busy. Even security will send people my way for recommendations. Also, people will walk up and ask me to help because I'm there frequently. Also, I'm comfortable approaching those who look lost. I can't assist with movies, audio books , or video games because I don't use them. I help people sign onto computers and the print stations.
Now, my problem with the library isn't really the library but dirty patrons. My last two books had soiled pages. The pages were chocolate smeared and sticky. I had to wipe a plastic cover down with a baby wipe. At return, I REPORTED that patrons aren't being respectful with shared property. Yes, I'm a big nerd!!
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Post by LivreAmour217 »

Jojowrites4All wrote:I have never met a mean or unhelpful librarian. My local library is quiet, and I always help other patrons when the ladies are busy. Even security will send people my way for recommendations. Also, people will walk up and ask me to help because I'm there frequently. Also, I'm comfortable approaching those who look lost. I can't assist with movies, audio books , or video games because I don't use them. I help people sign onto computers and the print stations.
Now, my problem with the library isn't really the library but dirty patrons. My last two books had soiled pages. The pages were chocolate smeared and sticky. I had to wipe a plastic cover down with a baby wipe. At return, I REPORTED that patrons aren't being respectful with shared property. Yes, I'm a big nerd!!
No, you're not a nerd. I might have complained, too. People need to be more respectful of pubic property, and I'm sure that the library staff was appreciative.

-- 31 Aug 2015, 13:30 --
zeldas_lullaby wrote:
bookworm1990 wrote:As a librarian at my local library, I'd love to hear stories of people's experiences at the library. Have you ever had a librarian go out of their way to find a book for you? Or give you an awesome book recommendation? How about bad experiences at the library? Screaming kids, horrific fines?
I don't know why, but I misread your last sentence above as, "Screaming kids, horrific fires?" :lol: Yep, just another day at the local library!

If I think of any anecdotes, I'll report back!
Well, the primary contents of a library are highly flammable!!!
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
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Post by Tris_Nook »

My library experiences have been great so far. I love making use of the library and I love the online feature that my library has where you can reserve books online and go to pick them up. It makes it easy to find the ones that you want, and my staff is amazing and super polite.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

LivreAmour217 wrote:
Well, the primary contents of a library are highly flammable!!!
HA HA! No kidding. Well, God bless sprinkler systems!!

I had a librarian get mad at me once because I owed a $0.27 fine. I apologized, and she still seemed miffed, so I rooted through my pockets and pulled out a quarter and a nickel. For some weird reason, this seemed to make her angrier. I remember that I was afraid to return to that library for a long time.
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Post by literarycat »

I haven't had too bad of an experience with a library. My local library does have a hard time getting the correct volumes of manga when they order them from other libraries in the city. I did have a librarian get very excited about a book I was checking out and asked me to let her know how it was because she wanted to read it too. We struck up a small friendship from that.
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Post by emmawatson009 »

Tris_Nook wrote:My library experiences have been great so far. I love making use of the library and I love the online feature that my library has where you can reserve books online and go to pick them up. It makes it easy to find the ones that you want, and my staff is amazing and super polite.
Thanks for sharing your experience, good job.........keep it up!!
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Post by pyjama »

When I was in Manchester for my Masters, the local library decided to host a movie night and gave away the books on the movie to celebrate World Book Night :D
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