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Recently, two library stereotypes have been brought up a lot here. I've been hearing mentions of things related to the library that may have been true at one time but are not anymore.
It's easy to perpetuate stereotypes. We repeat them enough that they can seem to be true. The library has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Here are two library stereotypes and how they stand up to the conditions of a modern library.
Libraries are quiet -- I still encounter patrons who, at checkout, whisper to their kids or shoosh them. I'm not sure they do the same thing at Dollar General. I usually smile when this happens and gently remind them that they can talk at a reasonable volume. Our library is a public space where anyone can come in and act responsibly. They bring with them what is going on in their lives, which can sometimes include noise, a ringing phone, or an upset child.
I am old enough to remember libraries as a complete quiet space. I would go to my local library as a youth and you could hear a pin drop. I don't remember being shushed by a librarian, but I got the sense that because the library was quiet, I had to be quiet. Since then, my 10 years of professional experience in libraries (urban, medical, suburban and rural libraries) has included chatter, noise, discussion, and even the occasional yelling and fighting.
At a previous library I worked at, a pit bull somehow got into the library and ran through the children's room. Everybody stood on the tables until someone got the dog under control. This wasn't your typical quiet moment in a library.
If you love books or read a lot, working at the library is for you -- When I recently conducted some interviews for job openings at the library, I ask first why the applicant would like working at the library. Many of them first said they love books or read a lot so it would be a perfect place for them to work.
Knowing a lot about books is not a bad thing for someone who wants to work in a library, but that knowledge has to be coupled with being able to work with the public and using technology. Here's an example of how that plays out:
A reader calls the library. They don't say hello or give us their name. They are driving and their phone is breaking up. We could make out that they wanted books written by someone, but we couldn't make out who the author was. With this limited information, we get started with assisting them.
The first place we look for a book is on our computer. Our card catalog is in a web browser on a computer. To use it, we have to enter our login credentials (username and password). Then we have to type in search terms and sift through the results to find what the reader wants. We may have to multitask as well, requiring us to know which button on the phone puts someone on hold. All of this requires basic computer skills, including typing and clicking with a keyboard and mouse, using a web browser on a computer, quickly sifting through search results, and relaying back to the reader what we have.
Knowing a lot about books is a start, but if we can't interact with someone and find the books, we will get nowhere.
Deep down, we can be sad or even angry when something we came to know in a certain way changes. I don't think it's because we cared all that much about having a quiet library as much as we like things to stay the same. In a library, keeping up with the times means continuing to learn about our community and how to patiently assist those who live in it. We also have to continue to learn how technology works, too. With those skills, we unlock all that the library has to offer.
Book of the week
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try:
The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz
(New adult fiction: thriller, supernatural)
Dean Koontz, graduate of my alma matter Shippensburg University, gives us a nonstop actioner with cosmic overtones painted in consistently broad strokes.
Twenty-four years after the deaths of her mother and father only weeks apart drove her from Montana to live with her Aunt Katherine in Santa Fe, Joanna Chase hears a spectral voice bidding her return. At the same time, tech billionaire Liam O'Hara, who now owns Rustling Willows, the ranch where Joanna spent her childhood, hires Seattle PI Wyatt Rider to investigate a mysterious disturbance that spooked O'Hara's family on a recent visit.
And no wonder, for there's no lack of spooky manifestations in the area. Embezzling chemist Harley Spondollar's house collapsed moments after he stepped outdoors; Jimmy Alvarez, the childhood friend Joanna's somehow forgotten despite his memorable birth defects, has been touched by dark forces; and Asher Optime, formerly associated with Xanthus Toller's Restoration Movement, has branched out on his own quest to restore the planet to its natural balance by eliminating all humankind (the list of victims he's abducted and killed so far stands at five).
Eventually the oddball heroes, joined by good-guy hacker Kenny Deetle, his more-than-one-night-stand Leigh Ann Bruce, his wingman, Dr. Ganesh Patel, and Artimis Selene, Patel's partner in the secret Project Olivaw who yearns to be more, make common cause against the odder-ball villains. But although Koontz repeatedly and oracularly invokes the awesome powers of synchronicity to explain the mesh of connections among the cast members, this remains very much a pickup ballgame, highly effective from scene to scene but in hindsight as momentary as a mirage.
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Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since 2015.