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Important note: we have resumed accepting interlibrary loan requests.
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 recent 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 Pitbull dog 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: In the past when I have conducted job interviews, 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.
Passport services available at the Juniata County Library
We are excited to announce that the Juniata County Library offers passport services! If you would like a passport for the first time, get your current passport renewed, or have your photo taken for either application, stop into the library or visit our website to make an appointment: www.juniatalibrary.org.
Book of the week!
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try...
Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini
(New adult fiction: World War 1, history, sports)
In a nutshell: A group of female munitions workers become friends and soccer teammates in Great Britain during World War I.
In 1915, April Tipton, a 19-year-old housemaid, follows her best friend, Marjorie, to London to work in one of the "Danger Buildings" at a munitions factory--a job that pays nearly 30 times as much as her old position, offering the ability for the women to support not only themselves, but their families. While it's known to be dangerous work because of the chance that the bombs will explode, the poisonousness of the TNT the women work with won't be fully realized until late in the war even though from the beginning it turned the workers' skin yellow and discolored their hair--thus earning them the nickname canary girls. Helen Purcell, daughter of an Oxford professor, has married into the family that owns the factory. Determined to do her part for the war effort, she begins working at the factory as a welfare supervisor for the workers who are increasingly obviously being poisoned, advocating for the women to her husband, Arthur, who runs the arsenal. Lucy Dempsey--who's married to Daniel, an Olympic gold medalist-turned-professional soccer player now enlisted as a soldier--begins working at the factory to support the war effort and to earn enough money so she doesn't lose her family's home. Each of the women finds her way to the Thornshire Canaries, the soccer team for the arsenal, and as the war progresses, the fan base for the soccer league of "munitionettes" grows ever larger. Chiaverini has written a sprawling, ambitious story: It's part a play-by-play recounting of the Canaries' soccer games against munitionette teams from across Britain, part a history lesson about the life-altering work undertaken by women determined to be "The Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun" regardless of the risk to their own lives, and part a story of the emotional highs and lows of the women carrying on as best they could during the war years.
Bottom line: The good, the bad, and the ugly sides of war on the homefront are highlighted in this uplifting story.
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Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since 2015.