#librarian rant

So I’m sure other librarians who have libraries that are partially opened or doing curbside can attest to this: IT IS NOT LESS WORK!

I just had someone come in and ask when we are opening and I gave them our normal spiel. Numbers going up, no idea blah blah blah...

And then I go that “Well I guess it is less work for you.”

Excuse me? LESS? In a few weeks, sometimes days we’ve had to create whole new systems to run libraries. Instead of patrons finding their items, we now have to take all the calls and grab everything before packaging it and getting it to you. We now have more electronic troubleshooting to teach people how to use their devices not just our electronic resources. We’re even learning all new technologies to get programming out at all levels... and don’t even get me started on how horrible people have gotten lately.

We’re helping people navigate COVID life, finding employment, filing unemployment, health insurance, welfare, and often getting other government offices’ responsibilities dumped on us. And we do it pleasantly, because we know how hard it is right now. 

We’d RATHER be open. Believe me. This is stressful, but we don’t want our patrons to get sick and we don’t want to get sick either.

Long story short: We’re not closed because we’re lazy. Just because you don’t see things doesn’t mean people aren’t working hard. Don’t be an ass.

Let me be honest, I have very few thoughts on any of these people except the one I just gave about Plo Koon being a likely Hufflepuff. With few exceptions, I put most Jedi in Gryffindor because they’re raised to be Gryffindors. They’re raised to uphold certain ideals (peace, justice, service to the Greater Good) above all other considerations. They prize bravery in service to others and to not question authority. Those who are more inclined towards other houses, like Qui-Gon (Ravenclaw), Anakin (Hufflepuff), and Dooku (Slytherin) probably have a tougher time fitting in and are likely viewed as difficult.

I’m sure a lot of people would be inclined to fit Jocasta Nu into Ravenclaw ‘cause she’s a librarian, but no. Not only is she a TERRIBLE librarian (that’s not how you reference!), she lacks a Ravenclaw’s inquisitiveness. A real Ravenclaw, and a real reference librarian for that matter, would have taken Obi-Wan’s Kamino question and run it to the ground instead of insisting that the planet didn’t exist just because she didn’t have a record of it. Stubbornly denying that something is impossible because it doesn’t fit your worldview is a Gryffindor trait (looking at you, Hermione), not a Ravenclaw one.

Today, I went to go and view an apartment I want to rent (I’m leaving the converted hotel, finally!) and the landlord looked at my occupation and said, ‘librarians still exist? I don’t understand how you can do that .’ FML.

Yes folks, we still exist, and that is how your google things remain accurate because WE DO ALL THE FACT CHECKING. So the next time you’re on the internet and looking for a book, and it’s freely available, thank your librarian/information professional!

As a Librarian, I am constantly annoyed that the novel listings on Amazon have different descriptions depending on if you are looking at the hardback, paperback, or audio book.

Friend- they are THE SAME DAMN BOOK.

Stop prioritizing hardbacks. Stop making people feel like they got something less interesting with the audio version.

We have a dropbox at the end of our walkway. Big grey metal box, says “BOOK DROP”. You can do it from your car. People are walking up the long ass walkway to drop books off in the building. You know, during a “pause” where we’re not suppose to go anywhere we don’t need to.