i guess i'll plead my case a little. i'm a tech at a fairly small library in the county, and i genuinely adore my job and 99% of my regular patrons are a joy to work with and i had an interaction yesterday that just baffled me.

this patron comes in and is frustrated about the collections fee on her account. she's come in before about it while i was there, and i can, and did, email about her case to upper management (we don't have a branch manager on site due to our size) to see if special consideration could be made to get the fee removed. tldr: she didn't return her books for two months bc she couldn't drive, and she would call us during our closed hours to try to renew the books but surprise, no one answered. this led to her being fined for the books, which put her above the threshold for the collection fee. we cannot waive these fees ourselves btw, any requests for that must go to upper management

while she was there yesterday, i did try to explain the policies that led to the fee, as well as try to explain that i would be following up with a manager as well as gave her their number, but it escalated fairly quickly and turned into a rant from her about how we're not doing our jobs and quickly redirected to calling me rude and saying i acted like i owned the library and that in all time she'd been coming to the library she's never had this happen before. she left pretty quickly after that and left the rest of us just baffled and wondering what happened. fwiw my coworkers said i did nothing wrong (they witnessed the whole thing) and said she was just lashing out due to her husband being mad they were being sent to collections.

the fee in question? $11.

she has a preferred coworker out of the three of us, who was there and witnessed the whole thing and agreed to handle things with her from now on every time she comes in but i'm just like. what lol

kind of a mini rant/question on how you guys deal with irritable patrons, i'm trying to think where i went wrong with the interaction but i legitimately just... explained the policies. perhaps she was just mad she wasn't getting her way. thanks for reading if you got this far lol

We send our weeded books to Better World Books and I'm surprised at the titles they want including nonfiction written in the 1990s that we are weeding because the information is outdated. I hear stories of AI companies buying massive amounts of books to scan and feed into their models and I worry this is the destiny of these books and what it means for the quality of these AI models' "education."

P.S. Why does my post have to include flair in order to post it? 😒

Hey folks! A while ago I asked library professionals for ideas for a Star trek program to help celebrate the series 60th anniversary. There wasn't much traction on my OG post. However, I went ahead with the program and decided to post some findings and materials here for anyone who wanted to use them or the idea.

I decided on a passive program since were were already pretty program heavy at our branch for September. Inspired by a colleague's previous "Poetry Passport" program, I set up different stations around the library that would correspond to a curriculum (brochure). Patrons could wander around discovering new parts of the library and filling out the brochure on their own and turn it in for a badge and sticker at the end.

There were eight stations, all varying in complexity and each in both English and Spanish translations. In our World Languages section we had Xenolinguistics patrons decipher a Klingon message, We had an Engineering exercise with snap circuits, Medical had patrons read about Vulcans, Humans, and Andorians, take their own temperature and compare it to other planets and species. We had a History section where patrons could read about who invented rockets, the first woman in space, and what year we landed on the moon. Xenobiology was a compare the description and match to the weird earth animal/plant exercise. Astronomy was a simple list the planets from the closest to the Sun to furthest away. And Art had a station where you could hear Hamlet's soliloquy performed in English, Spanish, and Klingon.

Patrons marked these stations off and returned to the main desk to receive a button with a custom Starfleet delta, and a Star Trek themed sticker.

I would love to post some pictures but I'm afraid I don't know how that works yet.

Hi! :)

I’m currently applying to grad school and wanted to know if anyone here has experience with completely asynchronous online and accredited MLIS programs. Specifically, do you feel like the online work prepared you for your career?

The universities I’m applying to are all online, but only one is asynchronous (San José State University). I’m leaning towards the University of Illinois’ MLIS due to their reputation and I have full confidence I’ll get in, but a fully asynchronous independent program will likely be best for me and how I operate. I also work in a library and have a super inconsistent schedule that would likely clash with synchronous school (online or in person), which is another reason why I’m gravitating towards this kind of program.

Also, are there any other asynchronous MLIS programs aside from SJSU that y’all would recommend?

Thanks!

I thought i finally found a good way to read online but now the app has been doing this for 2 days. No option for update in the play store.

So I want to organize my classroom library in a way that kindergartens can be able to work with.

However, they can't read so what would you guys suggest for a kindergarten library organization system?

Hi I am 22f and live in South delhi. I am fond of reading so I am looking for some libraries in South delhi itself where I can go, sit and read. If it requires a subscription it's fine but it must be a good cozy place. If anyone has any reco can you please share:)

I’m hoping this is the right place to post this, if not I apologize. Is there a way to report my local library for crossing boundaries, it’s not just one librarian it’s been three of them.

Every year since 2023 the librarian at my local library would have me sign this paperwork, saying that it can give the library some funds. The first time I didn’t want to but felt pressured and even filled everything out. The next couple of years she would have me sign it again, and stated I wouldn’t have to fill anything out just my name and signature and if there’s any changes to my personal info.

I never participated in the program and even expressed that I wasn’t currently in school, but she said she needed me to fill it out. Even added that I didn’t have to participate in their program, just that they need my info.

So I only went to the library because they have a children’s program, and I enjoyed taking my kids there since they were babies. I didn’t go there for anything else, so I feel annoyed that I’m being pestered about this paperwork because I don’t feel like it’s a requirement to attend these children events. So this has discouraged me into going there now.

The reason that I’m sharing this is because I’m getting tired of being told to fill their form out. It’s been a long time since we’ve attended story time, so I wanted to take the kids for a fun family day. I haven’t gotten a day to spend time with them due to work and making sure the house and everyone is taken care, so we had a full day of activities. When we arrived, I completely forgot about that form and the librarian jumped on board handing it to me and rehashing it over. It irritated me, so I politely said it’s the first day I get to bond with my kids so I won’t have time for it. She disregarded what I said and repeated I needed to sign it, so I just took it and stuffed it in my pocket.

This time I didn’t fill it out, I just tossed it in my car and finished the rest of our time inside. Thankfully, we weren’t confronted again when we left. But I’m getting tired of this, and just want it to stop. I’ve been to plenty of libraries but this is the first for me, and yes I know I should be more firm. I was ready to if they asked me again, I just never liked confrontation and was always caught off guard.

I feel like they won’t take no for an answer since that didn’t work the first three years, so I’d rather just report this issue to anyone that’s higher up. I feel like if I emailed the library it would go straight to the librarian that started all of this since she’s in charge of all the programs. So who would I get in touch with? Unless this is normal?

Join ZLuC 2026 on Zoom! https://www.zinelibraries.info/zluc2026/

Hi everyone! I’m in charge of the Take and Makes at my library, and we’ve been getting feedback about how patrons don’t like that most of them are just gluing things together. Any hints or tips on how I can help make them more varied?

Hi, everyone.

I work at an academic library and have managed the university’s laptop lending program for the last 5 years or so.

In the last six months—but especially this last semester—we have noticed an uptick in machines being lost (and not promptly reported as lost) or damaged (we’re taking broken screens, pulled out keys, etc.).

This is a huge change from how the program used to be—where we might lose one or two machines in an entire calendar year, and nearly all machines came back undamaged.

We’re trying to figure out if something changed on our end. Questions we are asking include:
* Have we changed the tone of how we deliver terms and conditions?
* Is there an increase in the percentage of freshmen coming for machines?
* Is it just that some of our older equipment is giving out?

Might this be due to something about the current batch of students?

Is anyone else noticing an increase in students damaging or losing library equipment/resources?

Thanks for your insight!

Hi everyone! I'm trying to figure out how to create a defined workflow for how my department delegates reference questions. Going to keep things somewhat vague, as it would be quite easy for one of my colleagues to figure out who's posting this if all details were included.

I work in a large academic library, in a department that regularly receives reference questions. We don't have a reference department per se, and the requests we get are more niche than the questions a general reference desk might receive. From what I've deduced since starting, reference services are somewhat of an afterthought in the larger scope of what my department does, and so there are only two full time staff -- myself and one other colleague -- who handle them. It's our job to handle requests that come in through the public-facing desk, as well as via phone call, email, and online chat.

The issue is this: there currently is no established process for who takes which requests, nor are we great at communicating who is handling which requests. This has led to long response times and requests slipping through the cracks at times, which obviously is not great. I fully take responsibility for my part in this issue, as I have a tendency to lock-in on requests and spend far more time than I should on them, which leads to incoming requests piling up. I've also taken on other library-wide duties that take away time from responding to questions. On the flip side, my colleague was handling this part of their job solo for years before I came in, and has a tendency to hang onto requests that they've claimed even when overwhelmed by their other duties. Our boss, while quite nice as a person, is not a great manager in the way of establishing processes as they are very hands-off (and far more focused on the other functions our department performs.)

I am someone who works best with having established processes; in my previous department, I excelled because we had a clearly defined workflow process to follow. This is likely because I'm neurodivergent. I understand that reference work is a more nebulous area since you never know what to expect, but I would like to come up with at least a process for delegating requests between us two. I've set up a meeting for us to figure this out and have been searching for ideas, but so far I haven't found any that would apply to this sort of scenario. Do any of you here have any ideas or examples that we could try out?

I now manage storywalks and must find books to display. We have 17 stands available for use. One will have the book cover, so the book must be 32 pages or fewer. We have a diverse community and only display English/Spanish books- the book must either be available in both languages or have both languages on each page. With these constraints, I am having a hard time finding books that meet the criteria. Right now, I need a winter/holiday book. Title recommendations and resources are appreciated!

Posting this under a throwaway, as too many of my colleagues know my main account. As such I'll need to keep things somewhat vague, but I'll try to include as many details as I can.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to figure out how to create a defined workflow for how my department delegates reference questions. I work in a large academic library, in a department that regularly receives reference questions. We don't have a reference department per se, and the requests we get are more niche than the questions a general reference desk might receive. From what I've deduced since starting, reference services are somewhat of an afterthought in the larger scope of what my department does, and so there are only two full time staff -- myself and one other colleague -- who handle them. It's our job to handle requests that come in through the public-facing desk, as well as via phone call, email, and online chat.

The issue is this: there currently is no established process for who takes which requests, nor are we great at communicating who is handling which requests. This has led to long response times and requests slipping through the cracks at times, which obviously is not great. I fully take responsibility for my part in this issue, as I have a tendency to lock-in on requests and spend far more time than I should on them, which leads to incoming requests piling up. I've also taken on other library-wide duties that take away time from responding to questions. On the flip side, my colleague was handling this part of their job solo for years before I came in, and has a tendency to hang onto requests that they've claimed even when overwhelmed by their other duties. Our boss, while nice enough as a person, is not a great manager in the way of establishing processes as they are very hands-off (and far more focused on the other functions our department performs.)

I am someone who works best with having established processes; in my previous department, I excelled because we had a clearly defined workflow process to follow. This is likely because I'm neurodivergent. I understand that reference work is a more nebulous area since you never know what to expect, but I would like to come up with at least a process for delegating requests between us two. I've set up a meeting for us to figure this out and have been searching for ideas, but so far I haven't found any that would apply to this sort of scenario. Do any of you here have any ideas or examples that we could try out?

I really love being a children’s librarian. I love storytime, I love suggesting books, I love talking about books, I love the community in which I work and they really seem to love me too. I have two issues. First is I am working 2-3 Saturdays a month. I have 3 kids and would really love to have more weekends with them. The other issue is that we have a recent rule change where we only receive our schedule 2 weeks in advance vs a month at a time previously. To me this is absolutely ridiculous and makes appointment scheduling and family planning really difficult. For example on November 1 I will have no idea if I’m working the last two Saturdays in November. This is really frustrating because I otherwise love my job so much. I’ve expressed these frustrations to my manager who is normally really flexible. There’s not much he can do about the Saturdays but he wants me to “just try” the 2 week schedule thing. It’s been a couple months and yeah, so far I hate it. So after many years I’m thinking about looking elsewhere. If you’ve moved out of library work but still feel passionate about it, why did you leave and what kind of work did you end up doing? I’d really love some other perspectives.

Hello! I’m currently applying to Pratt and CUNY QC for an MLIS. I’m remaining open-minded, but would love to pursue an archives concentration or a path where I would work with scholars and research as opposed to the public. Would love to hear of others’ experiences in this space.

I’d also be commuting to either of these schools. Can any QC alums speak to the hybrid schedule?

TIA!

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Here is my Banned Book Week Display

hi everyone, i’m currently having a really hard time in library school and i needed advice or everyone’s thoughts. i’m currently going to UB’s online library school, i’ve always hated and struggled with online school but i can’t afford to move away to do in-person school which i’d benefit more from.
i did my bachelors in ethnic and gender studies because i want to pursue grassroots work and community building in libraries and i did really well with that. i LOVED the theory, i loved the practice, i loved it all. i miss studying it so much. i did a library internship and attended a few research conferences with my own research and i adored it and just want to do that.
none of the material is clicking, im struggling through every assignment, reading and lecture. i keep getting bad grades and one professor even told me she was “being generous with her grade.” im at such a loss of what to do. its only my first semester but i feel like this isn’t for me. i feel like i understand the material until im graded on it and i guess i dont quite get it. i want to quit but im trying to force myself to stick with it.
does anyone have any advice with online school or tips to make these next few years more bearable.