To make up for that, I was able to successfully locate some Brit mysteries for a patron. Of course, despite the fact that I watch too many of those, when put on the spot I couldn’t come up with any. After a while I thought of some and luckily he was still around. Then I found some good chocolate stashed under the desk and ate it. It didn’t have caramel in it, but it was milk so it was delicious. I don’t get the high that some people get from chocolate. I wouldn’t mind some sort of high right now. Anything that could get rid of this business paper shaped stress tension in my neck would be greatly appreciated.

What I really want to talk about in this last post is the awesome people I’ve met here at MCPL. Ask anyone I know and they’re going to tell you that I’m not the most sociable person in the world. I’m a bit like one of those cats who you can tell did not grow up around humans and tried to figure out this whole ‘being around people’ thing late in life. That being said, just as those strays eventually settle somewhat, I have settled. Somewhat. Which is all just to set the stage for me pointing out how well I’ve settled in here at MCPL. I have been here almost a year now, and plan to stay on in whatever capacity they’ll have me until I finish the IS side of my degree, but still. This is a stray cat we’re talking about here.

The time I’ve spent at MCPL really has been made by the people I’ve gotten the chance to work with. There is not a single one that I dread being on desk with and each have left me with something that will help me be a better librarian down the line. So it seems I’m going to close with a fluff post, but that’s appropriate for a place and people I have such great fondness for. I can only hope that the library I end up at has people half as awesome as those here. Sadly, I have a feeling that between my experiences at FCDL and now here at MCPL, I’m ruined for any other library. I kind of don’t mind.

So what is a final image you can take with you of Mary Intern? Well, I’m still sitting down in AV singing and swaying along to the Okkervil River song that just came on the awesome playlist I made for today. I’m about to go refill the staff picks shelf and then I might take a break to go upstairs and take Nola a natural remedy I brought her for one of her foster cats. That is life at MCPL. It’s a good life.

This is an ancient issue, probably trotted back out recently because a patron got a little hot under the collar and “porn” in a headline really grabs the eye, but it always brings up some fun free speech discussions. As Captain Fair Use, you can probably guess where I land in this debate, but at the same time, I don’t understand why anyone would want to view porn at a library. I’m sure there are some who get off on that sort of thing, the voyeuristic or exhibitionist element or something, but still. My experience with porn at libraries falls at two ends of the spectrum. At FCDL, we had the sort of filter where you can choose the level of filter that you want, one of which is no filter. We also had an Internet policy, which of course no one ever read, that stated that you were not to view porn on public computers. People certainly watched it despite this rule, but as we were not hovering librarians, we didn’t know about it unless someone complained.

I was very surprised when I started working at MCPL and learned that they did not have filters or a policy forbidding porn viewing. At the same time, if a patron complains, security will do a walk-by. It took some getting used to, but now I think it’s one of the most awesome things about MCPL. They are obsessively devoted to protecting free speech and universal access for their patrons, which is not something you see very often.

“City libraries say ‘checking out’ porn protected by First Amendment” by Douglas Montero and Bob Fredericks in the New York Post

“Pornography Is Protected Speech At New York Public Libraries” by Eydar Peralta in NPR News Blog

Last semester in s505 we read an article about maintaining objectivity in the reference interview and making sure to not in any way communicate judgment. Now, I have a tendency to hum to myself while I’m searching for things sometimes. After reading that article I found myself wondering what my humming was communicating to patrons. I also tend to sigh, I’m told, when confronted with something vaguely confounding. Who knows what that says to patrons.

Think back to my favorite patron. The guy who only ever wants a guest pass. That guy is really fantastic. One time he came in wearing a baseball hat and I didn’t recognize him. This was also the day I thought I saw him at another computer past the hour his guest pass got him and was sad because I thought he’d joined the ranks of those who cheat the library. As it turned out, it was just someone in an identical hat. He must have sensed my sadness because he has never worn a hat again. At least when I’ve been here.

A fellow just walked in barefoot. Yup. You’re not allowed to do that. I spotted him with my eagle eyes and security quickly directed him to the list of library rules and then sent him on his way. From the look of his feet and tie-dye shirt, he was just being a hippie. I haven’t seen that since I was at Oberlin and even those barefoot hippies would wear shoes inside.

I really garble the word “digits.” Sadly it is a word that I have to say a lot because people tend to forget the password for their library cards and most times it’s the last four numbers of their phone number. For some reason, whenever I’m asked this question I tell people it’s the last four digits instead of the last four numbers. I’m not sure why I do this and I often wonder if people understand what word I’m attempting to say.

Some people, generally children, expect us to remember what other child they were with. I have had multiple children come up to me wondering if I’ve seen the child they were with when they spoke to me earlier. Here’s the thing. Unless they’re a regular, someone I know, or curious looking, the second someone leaves my desk I forget what they look like. Especially if they were only here to get a guest pass. If it was a longer interaction, sometimes I will remember the person, but not always. I’m just very absent-minded and I don’t keep track of random children wandering the library. I generally tend to ignore children as a rule.

“Robots coming to Arlington library branch” by Susan Schrock in Arlington Citizen-Journal

Growing up, I knew libraries through my experience with my school’s library and the local public library. As time went on, my main contact with libraries became just the public library. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but when talking about libraries, my default frame of reference is public libraries, despite having used multiple sorts. This internship has certainly cemented this default. It was already pretty firm, but despite a couple librarians reminding me that this is not where the money or fame is, my default has just gotten firmer. My time at FCDL, while responsible for planting the idea that this could actually be my career, wasn’t long enough to clue me in to some of the inner workings that I’ve gained more insight into in my time at MCPL.

I didn’t need reminding of the importance of public libraries, but if anything was going to do it, it would be Indiana’s unemployment filing situation. The filing of unemployment is now only available online. The first day you can file is Sunday, which is when most of our patrons try to do it. Here’s the thing. The unemployment office isn’t open Sunday and I don’t think they have public computers anyway. WorkOne, which is another source for the unemployed and I think has computers, isn’t open Sunday. Both tell people to come to the library if they need a computer. This is usually fine, but for about a month last year their site crashed every Sunday under the onslaught of unemployed traffic. Whenever someone tries to tell me that any other public service is more important than public libraries, which is something I’ve heard more than once at SLIS, I trot that little gem out. They generally don’t have a comeback for that one.

That’s just one of the things I’ve encountered at MCPL that’s reinforced my interest in public libraries. There’s plenty more. I’m not sure I hate to say it, but the main thing that’s done the reinforcing is the technology situation. Tax season too, but to a lesser degree. (It is so much easier to get through tax season when you can offer patrons free tax help sessions hosted at the library instead of just an 800 number.) Mostly it’s the public computers and computer literacy classes that we offer. The unemployment situation suffers from the myth of access. They think they can do things that way because everyone has a computer. Only they don’t. I firmly believe that public libraries are at the forefront of solving the myth of access. If nothing else, that’s what will keep me cemented in public libraries. Also, that’s actually a new thing I gained from my time at SLIS and MCPL. I had inklings of an interest in computer literacy from my FCDL time, but it’s become more ingrained recently, especially as it relates to older adults. It seems that’s going to be my public library niche, which plays right into my role as Captain Fair Use.

“Amazon finally adding library books to its Kindle” by Dean Narciso in The Columbus Dispatch

Just today he happened by to share his excitement that One Life to Live and All My Children were canceled because it now meant that DOOL would be the #3 soap. That is pretty snazzy, but there’s something about the cancellation of all these soaps that makes me sad. I mean, I only ever watched Days (and Passions. I watched Passions), but so many of these soaps have been around for so long that they’re institutions of daytime storytelling. Sure, the stories can drag on and get really ridiculous, but what else are you supposed to do if you have to put out an episode five days a week all year long. That always kind of amazed me.

Anyway, I got off topic there. Today we’re talking about patrons who misuse librarians. This week I seem to be some sort of personal assistant or doorman for patrons. First I had a guy have me make all his copies of some legal forms he needed. Actually, this one may be more of a point of service confusion. They get the legal forms from us, but then they’re supposed to go over to the copier to make them. I did tell him he could make copies, but instead he just handed what he wanted to me.

Next up, a patron needed help with the photocopier and decided I was going to hold things for her while she finished making her copies. This is despite the fact that she had a friend with her and there was a nearby table where she could set things. I was happy to hold things while I was helping her, but after we sorted things out I wasn’t super happy to hold things while she finished her multi-page copy job. Later that week a patron gave me a plastic bottle to dispose of for her because she couldn’t find the recycling bin. That one was kind of my fault because I would rather recycle something for a lazy patron than have them toss it because they can’t find the recycling bin. So maybe I’m more just glad she asked what she should do with her recyclable.

On their own these things don’t really bother me, but it was happening a lot this week. Also, I think I’m slightly more sensitive to this sort of misuse because of my time working at a grocery store. I graduated with the ever-useful English degree and ended up working at a grocery store, which was fine once I found good shoes to wear, but people assume that you’re an idiot if you work at a grocery store. It probably didn’t help that I couldn’t do simple math (in my defense, even when I rocked at Calculus I couldn’t do simple math). I had several frustrated customers insult my intelligence or otherwise berate me when I didn’t do what they thought I should be doing. This was after me calmly trying to explain that this wasn’t my job. I’m just not fond of people who abuse customer service positions.

This past Sunday I had the chance to participate in April’s Books Plus meeting here at MCPL. This month the topic was poetry, led by the awesome and published Dory. I knew Dory was a poet and hadn’t participated in a poetry discussion since college, so was looking forward to this program. I arrived early to help Dory finish setting up and get an idea of what she had planned. This was the first time I’d been to one of these discussions and was surprised at just how much work she’d put into the preparation. She had handouts, quotes, information about the various types of poems, and more. It was to be a full on class!

Patrons started filtering in and getting settled early. Everyone seemed to already know each other, but any newcomers were welcomed openly. We ended up with 20 attendees, not including the three of us from MCPL. We even had three men in attendance, which I guess is a rare thing. The discussion started off with Dory reading a few quotes about poetry and form with people stopping to ask questions along the way. When she finished her presentation, we went around the room and everyone got to read a poem or two, if they brought any with them. I don’t go out of my way to follow poetry so my main experience with it involves the kinds of poets you read in high school or college. The most recent poets I’m familiar with are Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon, so it was fun getting to hear poems from some folks I’d never heard of. I’m blanking on his name now, but there was one, a recent poet laureate, whose poem had a great line about the reuse of certain ideas or other poems in one’s own work. It was very amusing and fair use of him.

Though I had planned to read a Yeats poem, I ended up reading Heaney’s “Postscript” because of this line:

“Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly.”

I always did love the futility of it, commenting both on the action in the poem and the act of trying to write the poem. I thought it a better fit for a poetry discussion than “The Second Coming,” as fun as that one is.

After the discussion ended, everyone slowly filtered out, some breaking off into small groups to catch up. I even had a little chat with one of the attendees about this rather impressive journal, which was really more of a scrapbook, that she used to take notes during the discussion. I have become quite well-socialized in my old age. Anyway, there are some really creative people in this town. I already basically knew that, but it’s not everyday that I get this much exposure to this many of them at once. After that, I helped Dory clean up the space.

Something really awesome happened that day, other than learning more about poetry and eating the delicious cake that one patron always brings to these things. Wendy, the other librarian at the discussion, told me that she already thinks of me as a librarian instead of just an intern. It made me feel pretty fantastic, which was needed after being told, yet again, that my writing is unsophisticated (I maintain that sophistication, like context, is for the weak). I mean, I know that they like me here, but it’s always nice to be reminded. Also, as someone who took a heck of a long time to figure out what they wanted to do, these sorts of things help confirm that I did make the right choice. Turns out that my old friends at the Fairfield County District Library who always said I’d be good at this were right.

Librarians attending “eBooks: Collections at the Crossroads,” a symposium organized by the Connecticut Library Consortium, were impressed that Marwell had shown up to discuss solutions with them. Mike Shontz, an account executive for OverDrive, who was also in attendance pointed out that discussion was more effective than outright boycott. Neiburger also pointed out the need for libraries to beef up their storage capabilities and digital infrastructure in order to handle ebook demand. He also pointed out the importance in hiring technical support staff instead of relying on the vendor for such concerns.

I have to say, I think a lot of what Marwell is saying to PR talk, especially because he still sticks to his guns on the single-user license front, but it’s nice that he at least went to the symposium. I don’t see this relationship ever being anything other than a strained one because libraries are fair use beasts at heart and publishers just want to make money. Sadly we have to work with them, for now.

HarperCollins Executive Calls Circulation Cap a “Work in Progress” by Michael Kelley in Library Journal

Perhaps because of my encyclopedic knowledge of movies, or just because I’m awesome and have been here a while, sometimes I will get left alone to tend Movies and Music. The longest was just an hour to cover someone’s lunch break, but still. It makes me feel pretty fantastic when I’m trusted with a whole department for a while. Not that Movies and Music ever gets that hectic. The craziest thing I ever saw here was a guy run in, grab Mark’s coffee mug, tear the lid off, and dump it on the floor. Only a little blood was spilled and, as the fellow’s companion told us while profusely apologizing, the guy just really liked coffee. Yes, Mark did hit his leg as he tried to prevent his mug from being grabbed, but if that’s the craziest thing that’s happened down here on my watch, that’s not bad. And that’s not even that crazy compared to what happens upstairs. So if they’re going to leave any department to an intern it would be this one. Still, it makes me feel special when it happens.

This past week a patron came in wanting to know if there was a way they could transfer the music files they had on one mp3 player to another mp3 player. My personal experience is with iPods where that activity is, technically, impossible. I know how to make it happen, but I’ve yet to figure out just how much of my “special” skills I should pass on to patrons. For example, when asked whether a video can be downloaded from YouTube, what does a person say? Anyway, this mp3 player turned out to work just like a USB drive so it was pretty easy to just plug, drag, and drop. I showed the patron how to do this, but he still thought I had performed some minor miracle. Either that or he had imprinted on me. Sometimes that will happen with patrons when you’re helping them sort out an intense computer problem. I once had a patron become so attached to me that, when he saw me walking a cart back to circulation, he just followed me back into the staff area. It was strange.

But yes, it’s nice when patrons think you’re magic. Especially when you’re having a rough week.

Using the Living Dead To Teach Information Literacy by Michael Kelley in Library Journal

That being said, and as much as I love the philosophy of public libraries, I’ve never much liked people and tend to kind of suck at them. That’s the most amusing thing, I’ve ended up in a social science that requires me to handle people all the time. Though, you wouldn’t know it to watch me work the reference desk. I’m surprisingly fantastic at dealing with patrons, and I’m not one to blow my own horn. I pretty much only brag about how good I used to be at Calculus and my hands. I have lovely hands. Sometimes I’ll tell people I’m good at movies, but that’s such a subjective skill that I generally leave it out. But yes, certain of them may annoy the pants off me, but I’m great with patrons. You don’t have to love every second of a thing to still like it in the theoretical sense.

Complaining about patrons is just part of working at a public library. As I’ve said in other posts, if you don’t complain about the patrons a little then you go crazy. I just didn’t want people to start thinking that I didn’t love being part of something that provides the services that we do to the public. Public services make me happy, even when the public doesn’t.

When we moved the drive-thru window, we changed the direction of traffic in the lot, which has caused some confusion, but is well marked so people should be learning. The thing is, some people see a spot on the exit end of the lot and don’t feel like waiting so they’ll sneak in and steal it. This can cause consternation when someone has just entered the correct way with their heart set on that spot.

Another technique drivers use is waiting. They will sit on a spot, holding up traffic, because they think someone might be walking back to their car. Sometimes they are, but sometimes they’re just walking through the lot. This is particularly annoying when a person is sitting on a spot right at the entrance and blocking people who just want to go through the drive-thru and get on their way.

We get complaints about our lot quite often. People will complain about there not being enough spots, people parking for longer than their allotted 2 hours, and so on. We can’t really do much about either because there’s not exactly room to expand the lot and there’s only so much security can do if someone breaks the rules of the lot. The funny thing is that often people will battle for lot spaces when there are perfectly good street spots right next to the lot. They’ll even battle after 5pm and on weekends when street parking limits aren’t enforced.

Parking is a deadly sport here at MCPL and one that I don’t really understand the logic of.

From the sound of it, these publishers just don’t know how libraries work and are flailing in their attempts to wring more money out of libraries. As far as their explanation for why 26, that is just nonsense. Why would you base that number on print materials when ebooks are not print? Also, if a print book only lasts 26 check-outs then there’s something wrong. This is just such a transparently greedy move for HarperCollins to make, especially considering that ebooks are not exactly overtaking the market yet. You’d think publishers would want to do more things to encourage usage of this new medium rather than limit it. I’m just confounded by all the work that’s being done to stuff a digital medium into a physical package what with the wear and tear consideration and only allowing one person to check it out at a time. I can tell you one thing, the patrons don’t think that way. I’ve had many patrons approach me in confusion over why an ebook needs to be put on hold. The patrons of MCPL have a mental model of digital things that includes instant access and they are not wrong in this understanding. They’re on the forward path and I have to explain that the publishers have not yet caught up to us.

“HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations” by Josh Hadro in Library Journal

There is nothing I hate more than the idea of “high art.” There was a time when I went in for that whole notion, but that was back in high school when I was just figuring out and embracing what it meant to have good taste. And yes, once I realized that I tended to like critically-praised things, I would sometimes lord my taste over people. Just people I didn’t like though. These days, I do still think I have good taste, but I don’t think that means that anyone else should necessarily be made to consume what I consume. My “good taste” is also quite inclusive. I adore my Faulkner and Yeats, Makavejev and the Maysles, but I also love zombie movies, really crap action and sci-fi movies, and America’s Next Top Model. Entirely schizophrenic taste, but still good. Certainly not something I’m going to use to lecture at people about what they should or should not consume.

You could probably trace the turn in my relationship with the term “high art” back to Oberlin when I decided to be a Film major. I had been on the, generally more useful, path of Anthropology, but Oberlin is not a great place for that major. Also, I didn’t enjoy it the way I enjoyed talking about movies, which is the key to rejecting “high art.” Going after what you enjoy. Not what’s smart or good, just what’s fun. It’s an interest I’ve had to defend, mostly against my dad who believes books to be a far superior media to anything contained on film, but not one I feel is a waste of my time. These arguments have also contributed to my distaste for “high art.”

I should quickly clarify that I don’t dislike the things labeled “high art,” just the label itself and the mentality that supports that sort of valuation.

When I got to SLIS, I was very surprised to find that many of my classmates really believed that, as public librarians, we should be trying to get patrons to read the classics instead of the latest Twilight book. Also, any media other than books was spoken of in entirely dismissive tones, as if there was something wrong with checking out a handful of DVDs rather than a handful of books. There are many problems with this mentality, top among them being that this attitude doesn’t fly in practice at public libraries and it ignores the fact that some people learn differently. It’s just a confounding opinion to hear coming out of the mouths of future public librarians. It makes me sad on the inside.

But yes, there is no such thing as “high art.” There is no place for such valuation in a public library. After all, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” right? If a patron asks for a general recommendation, then you can exercise your personal good taste, but generally they’re just going to want another book or author like something or someone they already like. Sure, maybe you could get away with recommending Frankenstein or Dracula to those looking for more books like Twilight, but they’re probably going to prefer a recommendation of The Vampire Diaries or the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

While I’m checking in and sorting the newspapers, I print guest passes. I don’t like to print too many because I don’t like to waste paper, but some folks will start off with 100, even on short days. Today I started with 60 and that’s looking like it might be just the right amount. There may be a few extra at the end of the day, but at least we recycle.

Next up I go around and turn on all the computers and printers. My love of this hearkens back to my childhood love of pushing buttons and taking mechanical things apart. My dad used to let me come in the voting booth with him and poke the holes in the ballot because I so loved pushing buttons.

After this I print out the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. This is actually the most annoying of my morning tasks because the NYT site does not like to acknowledge our login and let us have the crosswords. After logging in, you have to close the window and then open it again to get the crosswords. Sometimes this doesn’t even work. It is a testy site. Then there’s the problem of figuring out what to select on the print window to get the puzzles to print correctly. When I first started doing this, I misprinted quite a few puzzles before figuring out the correct way to do it.

Finally, with whatever time I have left, I shelve some new books. When new books come downstairs, they sit next to the reference desk for a few days so that patrons can get a look at the freshest books. After about three days, we reference interns shelve them, as time permits. This is why Sunday mornings are the perfect time for this task. If we do this while the library is open, we have to keep an eye on the desk to make sure no patrons are waiting. Sometimes you forget to check when you’re organizing new books. You can really get tunnel vision with that task. Especially if you’re like me and get annoyed at how stuffed some of the shelves are. That is actually another task I help out with, weeding the new books and switching the books to off-new, but I do that with another librarian and we don’t always work together so the shelves can really start to overflow. It really bugs me when things don’t look nice. Presentation is key.

Q&A with Douglas Rushkoff, Media Theorist and Author of Program or Be Programmed by Josh Hadro and Barbara Genco in Library Journal

I’ve started developing a list of the ridiculousness I’ve encountered here at MCPL during my internship. Not all of these things are the height of crazy, but they are all still annoying.

1. The first and still most annoying thing that has happened to me during my time here is male patrons going out of their way to bypass me and ask a male librarian for computer help. This doesn’t really happen anymore, but for a few weeks last fall it happened on a disturbingly regular basis. It is particularly ridiculous as I have become the intern who some of the seasoned librarians will sometimes hand computer questions because I rock so hard at handling them. This is another area where my parents have helped me out. While my dad is pretty good at them, my mother is not and regularly needs repeated help with the same tasks. I am the computer literacy person. It is apparently my passion. I gave into this fact last semester. But yes, despite all these things making me the perfect person to ask computer questions, several male patrons could not see past their built-in bias and needed to walk all the way around the desk to find a man. It must really hurt them on the inside when there are no men on desk.
2. Next up is people who talk too quietly. I understand the impulse, you’re supposed to be quiet in a library and all, but MCPL is not a quiet library. Especially around the reference desk. When there aren’t loud circulation carts rolling by, there are inevitably people talking to each other or on their cell phones. If people don’t speak up when they ask us a question, we aren’t going to hear them. And yet, I still get people who whisper their questions.
3. Stalkers. Nobody likes a stalker and library stalkers seem to be common based on stories I’ve heard from other libraries. Not sure why. At the last library I worked at, my stalker was this old guy who would try to come behind the reference desk and put his hand on my shoulder while I searched things for him. Back in those days I wore ties more often and sadly my stalker was also a fan of the ties. This predilection of his ruined ties for a while. Eventually I just started avoiding him when he came to the desk. The other librarians covered me. Luckily I haven’t picked up a stalker at MCPL. Just a guy who smiles at me like he knows me, which is weird, but as long as he doesn’t try to touch me he can smile all he wants.
4. There are some patrons who know that a computer should be able to perform a specific activity, but they don’t know how to get it to perform said activity. These patrons can be difficult because sometimes they cannot articulate what they need because of their lack of computer expertise. Sometimes these transactions work out ok, especially if the patron is patient with our attempts to suss out what they want, but other times the patron will get frustrated and lash out. I understand this impulse, but it hinders the learning process so much that it frustrates me as well. In the vein of these patrons are the patrons who refuse to accept that they’ve done something wrong with the computer. Yes, sometimes the computer has made the mistake, but sometimes the person makes it and some patrons have a hard time accepting that they are the ones that messed up. Again, I understand the impulse, but no one gets anywhere with that mentality.
5. Maybe it’s nice that some patrons feel comfortable enough in the library to go wherever they feel like, even places they’re not supposed to, but it bugs me when patrons come behind the reference desk. Yes, it is a large desk and it is faster to walk through it rather than around it, but there is patron space and then there is staff space. Patrons do not belong in staff space.

So there you have it. Some of the annoyances we laugh about here at MCPL.