I am a "friend" of my local library and this is the first year I have been attending the sale as a volunteer and a shopper. They have a preview night for anyone who pays the yearly membership fee to be a "friend," so I went tonight. It was awesome! Tables upon tables of books and lots of people excitedly shopping. Really good prices too.

However, I was barely 10 minutes into browsing when I noticed someone holding what looked like a small black square. He was hurriedly pawing through books, scanning the ISBNs, and either tossing books into a large wagon he had with him or flopping them haphazardly back on the table. In addition to the weird thing that he was scanning the ISBNs with, I immediately noticed how he didn't come close to making an effort to putting the books back the way they had been, with the spine facing up, neatly lined up. Then I look across the table and noticed he has a friend who's doing the exact same thing. It slowly dawned on me that they were probably not looking to augment their personal libraries but instead were looking to resell these books.

Most people at the sale weren't doing this, but I did see a couple others with wagons and scanners, also carelessly throwing books around and not making any effort to put them back. At one point I walked over to the rare book section of the sale and one of the booksellers was trying to wheel his wagon into the area. A volunteer politely stopped him and said he would have to leave the wagon by the checkout table on the edge of the rare book section as they don't allow any boxes, bags, or wagons around the rare books. He did as he was asked, flipped a couple books over to see the price stickers, and immediately flounced out of the area, declaring "I don't like the prices!" (Meanwhile, I was just thinking, they're rare books -- do you expect them to be a dollar?!)

As I was browsing the rare book section, I asked one of the volunteers point blank about these folks. He sighed and said that he had been working the biannual book sale for about 7 years and that the sellers were virtually non-existent in the past, and also weren't so aggressive, but that it gets worse every year. He also said that the organizers instituted a rule about using some kind of box, bag, or wagon because before that rule, resellers were just camping out by tables and picking out books, then stacking them on the floor in such a way that other people could barely walk around the tables or through the aisles. It also sounded like it's kind of a double-edged sword because some of the resellers will buy as many as 25 boxes of books, which benefits the library foundation and many programs. But he also acknowledged that he is personally annoyed by them and understands how they can be disruptive, especially by not putting books back the way they found them and creating a ton of extra work for the volunteers.

I got home from the sale hours ago and I'm still annoyed at some of the behavior I saw! I get that the economy is bad and people are broke. But there's this idealistic part of me that likes the idea of people casually browsing a book sale and just having fun and trying to either buy books for friends/family/classroom (etc) or build their personal libraries. Not going "beep beep beep" every half second with a stupid handheld scanner and tossing unwanted books aside like tissues, leaving the tables in complete disarray in the process. I'll also add that I probably wouldn't have had as much of an issue if the reseller people had been moving around a little bit more slowly and methodically and not like a veritable hurricane through the sale.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!

Yesteryear pretty much blew out our records for a popular book (so many copies. so many holds). What do folks think has a chance of being the Yesteryear of 2027?

Some good news from Fresno: their union and library supporters have defeated a bid to privatize their public library. https://abc30.com/post/fresno-city-council-unanimously-backs-resolution-opposing-library-privatization/19923044/

Something I see over and over again on social media is library workers encouraging people to use the residence because statistics/usage drives funding. I'm genuinely curious if this is the case in some jurisdictions or if this is really simplifying what actually happens.

I'm an academic librarian, so usage can *support* our requests for funds but there's never a sense that more usage would mean more funding (or less would be an automatic cut) Is that what people who say this about public libraries also mean? That higher usage helps them make the case to local governments to put more money into the libraries? Or are there places where public funds are directly tied to usage?

I'm asking partly because the way it is presented could push people to, like, check out tons of things that are truly high cost to libraries (I don't want to discourage usage! But worry that the simple story isn't really all that useful).

I thought of you all when I read this library review. 🥲❤️

It's in Osceola County, Florida and opens tomorrow evening for the ribbon cutting event. I've seen practically no discussion around it, and news articles are very light outside of when construction started one year ago.

Sounds very unique and innovative!

This falls under the category of "Services the Library MIGHT provide."

So a regular patron came in with a friend who wanted to know if we could help her with a document she was trying to "clean up" for a mortgage broker so she and her husband could go ahead with their closing date for a home purchase in a couple days. My coworker initially spoke to her, since I was helping another patron, but passed off to me because she wasn't clear on what the woman was asking for, and I'm generally better with computers, scanning and document manipulation.

This patron was one of those dear folks who has to tell you the whole reason WHY she needs the thing before the says what she needs, so it took us a minute to get to the point where she wanted me to help her blank out some lines on her bank statement and make them say something else, so she could then send that to a mortgage lender.

Naturally I was like "Hey, I'm pretty sure that's fraud! I can't help you with that." which she seemed to find disappointing. She tried explaining (some more) how those charges shouldn't even be on her bank statement, and she didn't know what else to do.

At this point, her friend (our regular) seemed to pick up on what was being asked, and said "Honey, no. You can't do that and send it to the bank! They'll catch you!" at which I definitely had to suppress a chuckle. They left to (presumably) go consult with the bank about legitimate ways to iron out this wrinkle, and I went to gossip with my manager about it.

My library is working on implementing a "moving collection" - basically a small collection of books that will spend a certain amount of time - probably a month - at an offsite location. I believe we're starting out by targeting different preschools in the area. The books will spend a month at one preschool and then move on to another preschool. Has anyone's library done something like this? How did you pull it off? What factors did you have to consider? How did you transport the books? Was it a success? Did you get feedback from the schools? And also, what essential books aimed at preschoolers should be in the collection? I'm open to suggestions.

I'm a single parent with a two year old who LOVES reading and goes through stacks of picture books. I sometimes take multiple display books from the children's section. This is partly because I have very little time to look through the library and the display books tend to have more diverse characters and interesting subject matter than those I randomly pull from shelves, and partly because using the library is difficult. If I'm alone, I'm a single man in a wheelchair in the kid's section getting weird looks. If I have my kid there, I am wrangling a kid. So I rarely want to linger.

Obviously the books are there to be checked out, but I don't know if taking a bunch of display books frustrates the library staff who just put together a nice themed display or if this is normal behavior. Thanks!

I'm considering Clayton State University's Master of Archival Studies program, but I'm unsure whether it's worth pursuing since it isn't ALA-accredited. For those working in archives, libraries, or museums, how much does ALA accreditation matter when applying for jobs, and could graduating from a non-accredited program limit my career opportunities?

I’ve a chat with a large law firm about their reference and research services librarian — I’m just out of my MLIS and don’t know much about that sector of LIS, any recommendations of resources to look into, articles or books to read, or general knowledge tidbits that would help give me a better understanding of what the job would entail and any skills/programs/standards that would be helpful?

Happy to do the research and learning, just don’t know where to start!

Hello everyone, I am an MLIS holder and former academic librarian. I left the field in 2022 for an opportunity that paid better and offered remote and part time work, which was really nice when I had two toddlers. I left that job in 2024 to be with my kids FT. Well, I no longer have two toddlers and I really want to reenter as a librarian. I am fine with entry level positions and have been applying to them. I had two interviews, including a final round interview, when I first started to apply. Since then it’s been 6 months and crickets. I have 5 years of professional experience, good references, and a publication in C&RL. Does anyone have advice for me or thoughts on what to emphasize? Do I need to try to get back in as a para? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

I haven't had this question for years. In the old days we would get a handful of calls a month asking for car values and we'd look them up in the N.A.D.A. guide. It was easy. Eventually it went online and was still useable.

Yesterday someone called and I knew N.A.D.A. had been bought out but I could not find an online source to look up car values that didn't involve registering with the website.

I ended up giving her retail sales numbers from two different car sites (cars.com and cargurus) and she guestimated.

Am I missing something? When I researched it further the consensus seems to be the KBB and JDPower( former N.A.D.A.)numbers are useless .

Hi all our campus IT took our library website down because of the PHP thing and I hadn't even heard anything from spring share so I assumed it was fine. Does anybody know if we need to do anything or if it even uses PHP? I assumed we would have heard by now if we needed to do anything.

I've been having a really hard couple of days as I got my first interview for a library job since I started applying about two months ago, only to get rejected less than 24 hours after my interview :(

They had told me they were still interviewing people the day after my interview, and that I shouldn't expect a decision before next week, so this was a very negative surprise, and disappointing as I keep thinking the most likely explanation is that I did so badly in the interview it disqualified me immediately.

I sent a polite request for feedback to HR, but I don't have high hopes of getting anything. I'm having a hard time letting this go. It's so hard to even get an interview and now I'm feeling that even if I do I'm just going to ruin it.

Does anyone here have experience with school libraries in the UK and could maybe help me know what to work on for the future? This was for a private school, for context.

Hello! I am currently enrolled in a Library and Information Technician program and am looking to connect with a professional in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for a class assignment.

I need to conduct a brief interview with someone who is a graduate of a college-level library and information technician program. Your current job title does not need to be "Library Technician," as long as you have that educational background and currently work in a library or information environment.

The interview can be conducted entirely via email, text, or chat at your convenience, with a focus on your background and experience. If you are a college LIT grad open to helping a student out, please leave a comment or send me a message. Thank you so much for your time!

edit: I apologize for leaving some pretty important details out. Before I can submit the proposal for this assignment (due Nov 2nd yay procrastination), I need:

The graduate's name, library they work at, and the college they graduated from for their LIT

The professor is also very specific about needing it to be in my area, which is the GTA. Thank you so much for those offering :)

Hey there, I’m a systems information major at my college and I’m planning on getting my Masters in Library and Information Science. I’m interested in Electronic Resource Management, Cataloging, and possibly Systems Librarian.

Here are the list of classes I can take next semester, but I only need to take three.

Which ones do you think would be the most relevant? Thank you.

Course Title:
AI Applications for Productivity
Description:
Learn hands-on skills for leveraging cutting-edge AI tools across a range of productivity areas. Through guided exercises and real-world examples, explore generative AI applications and discover how to apply them effectively in business, content creation, project management, and beyond.

Course Title:
Client-side Web Development
Description:
Design and development of interactive and responsive websites using client-side technologies. Application of current HTML standards and multimedia elements for content. Use of modern CSS techniques for presentation style. Integration of JavaScript and JavaScript libraries for rich user experience and interactivity. Introduction to AI-assisted development.

Course Title:
Information Security
Description:
Introduction to computer security in networked systems. Security issues and policies with regard to hardware, software development, databases, operating systems and networks. Common attacks on systems will be covered. Vulnerability assessment tools and techniques for defending systems will be explored in various projects. Professional responsibilities.

Course Title:
Contemporary Operating Systems
Description:
Introduction to contemporary computer operating system fundamentals. File Management, Virtual Memory, User Interface, and Device Management for Windows, OS-X, Linux, and UNIX operating systems. Virtualization of operating systems and processes.

Well, I’m in love. The history, architecture and books were stunning. I can still smell the library while looking at these pictures.

Hello everyone! I was just curious because its been a year since my public library system started planning for programs 6months in advance (quarterly due dates). Ngl I don’t think it made the process easier or better for getting approvals on time. But thats my personal opinion and I’m a bit too tired to get into those details rn. I was curious if theres some crazy library out there that always does stuff last second lol (it does happen sometimes but good luck whew). Im about to finally graduate with my MLIS and knowing more about what other places do is a good thing for comparisons. What do other systems do with their programming? What does your process look like?