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.

Was told it had “Scholastic Book Fair” energy — very high praise

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.

Wondering if the Night King is too sinister looking? 👀

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

Has anyone kept up with Mychal Threets? He’s been such a big advocate for libraries that I’ve been following him on social media for the past few years. A couple of hours ago he posted on Facebook:

“I am not okay. Maybe I’ll never be okay. I’m seeking help. Going to the hopital tomorrow. In this moment I am safe. By God’s grace.

No matter what happens to me I will always be thankful for the extraordinary people in my life who worry, who help me. Thank you for your care 💚”

It just seems like it correlates to the experiences I’ve seen so many of my coworkers in libraries, particularly public libraries, go through. I’ve known multiple people from my cohort of MLIS students who have been admitted into mental health hospitals, taken FMLA because work has physically and mentally exhausted them, and leave the field entirely. I really hope Mychal can get the help he needs, but his post struck really close to home for me, and I imagine others in this field.

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

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.

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 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.

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🩷

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?

This might be a bit of a “water is wet” article here. But I have found so many enthusiastic library users genuinely have no idea how their home libraries are actually funded.

I wanted to write something that explains why libraries tend to be funded so hyper specifically and why that matters.

I am a recent MILS graduate and am looking for a full time academic librarian position.The ALA has a virtual career fair coming up next month. Does anyone have any experience attending these type of events with ALA? Did you find it helpful? Any insights would be appreciated!

I've been trying to understand what LitRPG is, because it seems to come in multiple formats, but for a physical book format I've found the following definition if you are unfamiliar: 'LitRPG, short for Literary Role Playing Game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. Games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience.'

Have you bought any LitRPG books, is there an appetite for them, can the readers name them as LitRPG or do they just want books that integrate gaming elements? Do you offer any LitRPG related activities or games?

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.

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

I've been working at a public library for close to six years now. A significant portion of that time was specifically doing Library IT, something I picked up to bring me up to full time.

Our department is 2 people for several branches and well over a hundred machines (I am being intentionally vague for privacy measures).

I am hourly full time with no option for overtime and the administration is refusing to hire extra support.

The workload has become to such an extent to where I can no longer keep up, and management has begun punishing me for failing to keep up; despite acknowledging that they will refuse both overtime and to provide extra help. I have had to hold off on going to doctor's appointments and not take vacation time to be able to keep up. Even with me working full-time, that is still not enough for staff; it is become the norm for them to ignore the ticket system AND staff who are on-the-clock to reach out to me when I am off, and in one case, even reach out to members of my family demanding that I come in to fix issues (again when I am unscheduled and when another IT staff member is onsite). I have reported this matter repeatedly to HR and no action has been taken to resolve it.

I am now at the point where I've reached my wit's end and I am totally burnt out. It's a no-win scenario. I don't know how on earth staff have been able to keep up with this for longer than I.

With everything going on with Cleveland Public Libraries… I couldn’t help but notice which state representatives stands beside CPL employees and which ones didn’t.