Random
Interview of a Librarian
Last week I had a slight buzz and randomly phoned 10 public libraries in 10 random states and asked to talk to a librarian. I asked the librarian if they would give me an email interview. Two hung up directly after the question. One woman coughed, and I heard her ask someone a question, and then she hung up. One said, “Quit calling me, Steven.” My name is not Steven. Six graciously said yes, and gave me their email addresses. Then, of the six, only one responded in full to the email interview questions. I have no idea why. These answers are from B. David. He manages a library in Mississippi.
The library seems to be one of the last places in America where no one tries to sell you anything. You can just hang out. Do you have an opinion on the library as a public space?
Absolutely. One of the great things about the library is that it is a place you can go and your privacy is yours. You can read what you want, learn about what you want, talk about what you want and know that your freedoms are not being tampered with. We hold these kind of rights pretty high. One thing that really scared the bejesus out of us library’s was the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was basically trying to compel libraries to give up information about their patrons while at the same time preventing us from telling the patrons that this was going on. The libraries countered by deleting all patrons loan records so that there was nothing there for the government to look at. What does this have to do with public space? A public space is just that: a place where the public can gather and express their mind and their views. Most libraries come equipped with meeting rooms for this exact reason. Unless you are trying to sell something, or hold a closed meeting, we will allow most anyone to come in and use our room to peddle their silly views.
Does your library have a glory hole?
No. Now, in college, there was this bathroom that had a pretty large hole between two stalls. What that hole was used for, I will never know. I read a book once about this guy who would go to the mall bathrooms and bring a large shopping back with him. His “Jerry,” as tricks were called in this book, would stand in the bag as he did whatever he needed to do to him. When a security guard or someone would do the ole’ stall check, he would just see one pair of feet and a shopping bag! That always struck me as clever.
Have you seen a major shift lately in reader tastes and the types of books they read?
This is impossible to answer. I mean, one thing that moves like hotcakes are Harlequin Novels. These are sex books for ladies basically. “The Cabin Boy from Denver,” “Putting Baby On a Ship to Morocco,” and “The Sailor’s Apprentice” are just some examples of the Harlequin novels we push. We don’t even catalog these books. We just give them away. When people finish using them, they bring them back. Every community has its own needs though. I mean, you travel to one library, and paranormal fiction is their thing. You drive to a little town filled with Yuppies, and they got tons of books on how to shop at Whole Foods and buy J.Crew. It really just depends. So, no…No major shift.
What is the most satisfying aspect of your job?
Honestly, and it sounds corny, but I like helping folks. I like helping the patron that is mad as hell because we are being strict about not letting her check out anymore books because she has enormous fines and 20 or so books out. I like helping THAT person because that to me is what the library is all about. Its about serving those that have a need. I look at that person griping and realize they probably have a ton of shit going on in their life and this huge library fine is just another grain in a sack of groceries. But I work with them, I explain why we have fines, I tell them that we are trying to be fair to all users. Treat them equal, etc. You get TONS of crazy folks walking up in a library, and every last one of them has a story if you stop and listen.
A library in Rhode Island actually removed all of the books. You go there to download books. What do you think about electronic books and how they affect the library?
Ok, first of all, Kindle is about allow their devices to be used with Overdrive, which is a giant ebook vendor that tons of libraries are using. So, right there, libaries are anticipating the whole Ebook deal and making strides to lining themselves up directly in front of it. But, I think removing all the books from a library is sorta ridiculous. I guess they are straight up saying, “Sorry folks who are too poor, too poorly educated, or just don’t care about the digital divide. We are going to eliminate you from our service group. YOU are not longer allowed free information. We just dont’ care. We are going to run with Ebooks, period. Sorry kid whose parents can’t afford an Ipad. Sorry older gentleman who just really savors the smell of an old western book. There is certainly a place for electronic books in the library. In my opinion, you could cut 89% of all reference books and just go electronic on that. But I think you got to have books. And not just for some nostalgia trip. And excuse me while I go all conspiracy theory for a moment, but lets pretend that all of our information is electronic. You mean to tell me that there is a 100% chance that that info is protected for life? Zero viruses, really? And lets talk about ownership? You pay for a subscription to a electronic book…how long do you keep it? I forget what publisher off the top of my head, but a MAJOR ONE is now saying that a library only gets a subscription to certain materials for X number of electronic check outs. They are saying that this equals the amount of wear and tear on a book. I dunno. Sounds kinda fishy to me.
I know a lot of bookstore employees end up spending most of their paycheck on books. Has working at a library introduced you to a lot of new authors and their work?
I mean, yea. I read constantly. Having a giant building filled with books does make reading new stuff a little easier. Plust we have access to some great databases like Novelist which gives you great info on authors, books, as well as using subject heads to connect books so if you are completely dry on finding something new to read, you can access this database, and type in say, “Ernest Hemingway,” and it will list some authors that may be similar. Dumb question. Next.
Is it still true you have to be quiet in a library?
Yea, sorta. I allow excited whispers, intimate warbles, scintillating hisses, and the occasional excited yelp. But if a lady is gabbing into her phone, and I got kids studying for an exam, I am going to side with the students.
What are the educational requirements for a librarian?
To really run the place, you will need a Master’s Degree in Library Science.
Anything annoying about being a librarian?
Being asked what I do all day.
What causes you despair?
Man…I mean..WOW. Is this a loaded question? Despair….fuck man. Dying children. I hate the thought of dying little kids. All hungry and not having a warm bed. I dislike sad puppies too, oh man, that eats me up inside. Seeing a little puppy that someone has abandoned on the side of the road? Horrible. Politics can also cause a rumbling in the digestive tract if you really allow yourself to think about it.
How long do you get for lunch?
[Note: Mr. David does not answer this question. Not sure why.]
What is your favorite book?
How about instead of answering this question, I rattle off a few books that I have read lately or that I just “like.” I am reading a collection of Chekov’s short novels. I just finished Travels through Siberia by Ian Frazier, and I realized that I have not really read a lot of Russian authors. I know, I know, condemn me now… So, I am starting with Chekov. I ordered a Pushkin collection for my library (another perk: collection development). I really really like Steinbeck East of Eden. Oh, shit, Suttree! By McCarthy. This book just kills me. So good. Then I read Outter Dark. That may be the last book I read by McCarthy. I don’t want to taint my love for him anymore.
What does your library smell like?
Usually a combination of fake wood and cleaning agents.
Thanks for your time. I know librarians are busy! Any last thoughts?
Support your fucking lib[r]ary. Period. I think people don’t realize how important they are to the community. Just for the information they store alone, AND THEY FUCKING SHARE IT WITH YOU!
I was a reference librarian for several years at the wonderful public library in Iowa City, and for some ill-conceived reason I quit that job and have regretted doing so ever since. I go there at least three times a week. The library is an institution that would be central to any ideas I might have about an ideal democracy.
Awesome. I should start doing this for Hey Small Press!
I loved this interview. Thanks Sean and thanks B. David. I reckon he was answering these on his lunch break, hence the disdainful silence when asked how long he got for it.
What a great idea Sean. Nice interview.
this rules. i didn’t know the thing regarding the Patriot Act, that makes me love libraries even more.
though, let’s be honest here: do people actually regularly read heavy russian lit any more? seems like a weird sort of remnant of the canon that is often ignored, but acknowledged. kinda like the heavy joyce books, talked about more than read. maybe i’m off base here, who knows. as for me, the only russian lit i’ve read is contemporary stuff.
This guy is awesome, I want him to be my librarian.
I know I read them and enjoyed reading them (though I’d argue you could probably cut Anna Karenina and Brothers K down pretty hard). Not regularly, I guess. Life and Fate and War and Peace? Great fucking books.
(Also very much enjoyed this post)
Great Q&A but is the “libary” at the end intentional?
yeah the patriot act was wild. in california i worked at a bookstore called the next chapter that kept a card cat system and wrote out the books we sold by hand so that the gov couldn’t look into their records (basically, as my boss then (a wacko libertarian) explained it to me, you’re compelled to give the gov a print out of the books you sell if they want it).
russian lit is kewl. not too big but packs a punch: notes from underground.
what’s good that’s new?
“Dumb question. Next.”
w/r/t russian lit: yes.
i mean, i’m only speaking for myself, but yes. everything from pushkin to erofeev. i would say roughly 1/10 books i read would be considered “heavy russian lit.”
i’m interested in the contemporary stuff…could you throw out some names?
It’s a shame that the telephone transmits – or enables – that much suspicion and hostility. I’m pretty sure that the librarians I know (at three different county branches) would, if someone walked in, chatted for a few minutes (and established bona fides), and left a questionnaire, fill the thing out and return it.
I’m wondering if the “glory hole” {tee hee hee] question, if it was in all the questionnaires, didn’t provoke dismissals of seriousness and terminations of the processes.
This is a pretty sweet interview/idea. I like that idea of making different categories of books, like the reference he suggested, into e-books, while still maintaining the print format of others. This idea could be a way of satisfying various sides of the debate. This guy sure is wacky.
i really like this librarian. he fills me with hope.
Yes, or at least I do. Turgenev, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak etc. Love ’em.
This is so great. Thanks, Sean and Mr. David. I think if libraries didn’t exist, and someone had the idea for them now, that they’d be laughed at. So, thank god libraries already exist.
Totally read “heavy” lit as “books that weigh a lot” lit.
Read Turgenev “Peasant’s Sketches.” Also his novellas on love. Also
Andrey Biely,The Silver Dove. Also M. Zoshchenko, Before Sunrise, if you can find the damn thing.
hi mike, yeah, i really enjoy heavy russian lit. i found the russian greats through thrifting for books last year while i was student teaching. i guess i was bored and wanted something to consume my attention and time and that propelled me to read through doestoevsky, platonov, turgenev, grossman, bely and to some extent, tolstoy. that, in turn, introduced me to proust, zola, flaubert, balzac, hamsun etc. i have found most, if not all of those books, at my local library and it makes me feel good that i can locate and read many of these authors, though borders and barnes and noble do not stock many of them.
As a library employee (but not the kind with a master’s degree who can really run the place) I think this interview kicks ass, and I am sorry that he was the only one who really came through for you. But you got yourself an exemplary librarian in this interview, so well done with the random dialing of libraries.
Also, I get a half-hour for lunch, if you want me to fill in the gaps. But the real librarians at my job can take as long as they want for lunch because they are “exempt employees,” which means they do whatever they want whenever they want. (But I am sure they would take issue with that comment.)
Obviously this librarian is smart, good looking, and knows is stuff. I wonder if he grows a beard, tries to run, and likes to read?
Librarians don’t curse this much via telephone in a professional capacity or in a professional setting. In my personal life, however, I was asked to tone it down, that I cursed worse than a sailor. Glory holes are standard in libraries. Libraries are cruising spots for pervs, pedophiles and anyone looking to get laid, check out specific dewey decimal ranges and find out for yourself. Sex in the stacks is a common occurrence and the dom librarian-stereotype fuels hetero and homosexual fantasies alike.
I like this. But excessive use of the F word in my opinion.
I like this. But excessive use of the F word in my opinion.
Damn! I forgot about a sex in the stacks question.
Damn! I forgot about a sex in the stacks question.
@M. Kitchell: I can tell you that after seeing or reading “The Namesake” by Jumpa Lahiri, lots of people have checked out books by Gogol.
And holy cow, a degreed librarian who actually said “fuck” in an interview. No wonder he’s not using his whole name. :D
Iowa City represent! :)
I always find some excuse to go to ICPL.
it works
The Patriot Act comments reminded me of this story (from 2006):
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6388315.html“Michelle Reutty, the director of the Hasbrouck Heights Public Library (HHPL), NJ—who refused to turn over library circulation records to local police without a subpoena last May—has resigned to take a new job. After 17 years at HHPL, she will become director of the Free Public Library of Oakland, NJ, beginning December 4…”
The Patriot Act comments reminded me of this story (from 2006):
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6388315.html“Michelle Reutty, the director of the Hasbrouck Heights Public Library (HHPL), NJ—who refused to turn over library circulation records to local police without a subpoena last May—has resigned to take a new job. After 17 years at HHPL, she will become director of the Free Public Library of Oakland, NJ, beginning December 4…”
– Brautigan, A Confederate General from Big Sur
I love this. I would happily look forward to a series of these.
notes from underground
they wouldn’t just be laughed at, amy, fox news would talk shit about them for weeks and use it as an example of socialism in america, which is funny because we have a lot of socialism in america, the whole government is socialism, even milton friedman said that and he was batshit insane
thank you i will look into these
First time I read that Brautigan line I nodded my head in assent like those audience members do on talk show sets when they hear something that makes sense to them.
did you nod your head s l o w l y, a compassionately knowing glint shining from behind your squint, mm-mh ye-e-e-e-s
tinyurl.com/297sxrk
Yes, it was that embarrassing.
My mom’s a librarian. I’m going to see if she’ll answer these.
My dad’s a nuclear energy… technical… guy.. thing. I’m going to see if I can find out what he actually did with his whole… job… life… eventually.
who cares
only 1 out of 10? way to promote the sharing of information, librarians
JESUS.
Good point. I initially bailed from this post because of exactly that question.
It was the best question, a gateway to the entire project. I once went to church dressed as a gorilla and sat through the entire service dressed as a gorilla and it was a good day. Art is a urinal.
Wow, a library director who isn’t full of shit! Refreshing!
well okay
I think it’s cool that you seize responsibility for chaining your gateway fast vs. icky interlopers
“Art is a urinal.” is a coherent standard for distinguishing elites and excluding hoi polloi
– but does not follow reasonably on from ‘a urinal could be art’
– and talking to a librarian about the now reality of (public?) libraries isn’t much comparable to challenging the pieties churchgoers inflict on their neighbors
I myself would never needlessly antagonize a potential ally
It is my interview style, I can’t apologize. The great thing about any interview I ask is I ALWAYS tell the subject they can ignore any question I ask and just move on. In fact, this librarian did just that, with the lunch question. However, he chose to answer the glory hole question and I so I respected his answer by including it here. Also, in the interest of brevity, I should just reply, “Have you read this blog much? There are exploded condoms and James Joyce ass tendencies a few clocks down.”
etc
?
who said anything about “apology”?
I said ‘it’s cool (to me) that you weeded out honestly what you didn’t want’
– but that ‘if you want to talk to most librarians answering their email at work, etc.’
this guy (?) caught and fitted in with the flavor – good for him or her
I have read a couple of blogicles at this blog, where – I infer – there is a variety of styles
not scolding – ha – ; just unnecessarily saying
cool. Aside:
Where did the term blogicle originate? I’ve been seeing that around.
Truth, not kidding: when I first used it, I hadn’t seen it before. But the fact that I made it up surely allows for many – and earlier – identical coinages.
Love this. I’m kind of jealous your drinking is so productive.
Hey — It’s too bad that so many librarians turned down the request. If you had happened to
call me, I would have said yes – I love to tell people about mt work. So here are my
answers:
The library seems to be one of the last places in America where no one tries to sell you
anything. You can just hang out. Do you have an opinion on the library as a public space?
I agree – it’s a great public space. Just like we all share all the books, we all share the
space. Compared to other shared spaces, like sidewalks or airports or city halls, the level of conflict is refreshingly low and the level of connectedness is refreshingly high.
Does your library have a glory hole?
Nah … I think that stereotype is overblown.
Have you seen a major shift lately in reader tastes and the types of books they read?
I agree with B. David – it’s impossible to generalize. No obvious trends or changes. I work in a small city (50,000 people in town, 150,000 in the surrounding county that our system serves). On the surface it’s not a cosmopolitan place, but I’m always amazed at the variety of things people look for. Best-sellers are popular, of course, like everywhere, but people check out all sorts of stuff, from African and Latin American novels, to religion and philosophy, to Asian history.
What is the most satisfying aspect of your job?
Just like B. David – I get real satisfaction out of helping people, and knowing that I make a difference in their lives, whether that’s finding a good movie to watch or getting
reliable health information. I also love the fact that customers trust us to respect their
privacy and not judge anything about them. When a genteel-looking middle-aged lady can come up to me and ask (quietly) for books about bedbugs, it makes my day.
A library in Rhode Island actually removed all of the books. You go there to download books. What do you think about electronic books and how they affect the library?
Ebooks are very convenient and have some other advantages over printed books; they also have some big disadvantages, particularly their expense and their lack of permanence. The big problem for libraries is the switch from ownership of a physical object to licensing of access – publishers have a lot more power now and will use it to make as much money as they can. I think eventually a viable model for libraries “lending” ebooks will arise, but it may take years, if not decades. As for a library with no printed books, only downloadable ebooks – that’s no library, it’s a reading service for the privileged. But I’m a little skeptical of this report – I hadn’t heard of any public library getting rid of all its printed books, and didn’t find any mention of it in news sources about libraries. Cushing Academy, a private boarding school in Massachusetts, did this, but that’s a whole different issue.
I know a lot of bookstore employees end up spending most of their paycheck on books. Has working at a library introduced you to a lot of new authors and their work?
Absolutely! It’s one of the best things about working here. By the way, those bookstore employees should get a library card.
Is it still true you have to be quiet in a library?
Libraries have definitely gotten noisier, because people come here wanting to do other things besides read. Ideally, every library would have a nice quiet area for people who
want it. In the real world, a lot of libraries have very limited space that has to accommodate many different activities, so you get a mix of sound levels all in the same space, which causes some conflict. I love to sit in a perfectly quiet library and read, but that’s not the place that our customers tell us they want and need. And frankly it’s not a place where I would want to work, either.
What are the educational requirements for a librarian?
In the library world, “librarian” usually refers to someone with a Masters degree in Library and Information Science or the equivalent. such a degree is required for managers, and often required or preferred for people who create databases of books (catalogers), people who decide what the library purchases, or people who help the public with detailed information questions (reference librarian). In the rest of the world, a “librarian” is anyone who works in a library, and they might have a high school diploma or a Ph.D.
Anything annoying about being a librarian?
I get annoyed at work, of course, but not by anything inherent in the job.
What causes you despair?
I don’t feel much despair – certainly none related to libraries. If I let myself dwell on
the worst aspects of human nature, as exhibited every day in almost every news story, I would despair indeed, but I don’t, so I don’t. What would be the point? Anger is more
productive, and cynicism is more entertaining.
How long do you get for lunch?
Officially, an hour. In reality, there are days when I don’t take a lunch break, and days
when I take an hour and a half. I have a flexible boss!
What is your favorite book?
No one favorite — I don’t even have a favorite author. I love China Mieville, Annie
Dillard, Michael Chabon, Neal Stephenson, Lewis Carroll, Laurie R. King, and dozens more.
What does your library smell like?
I don’t know – nothing too noticeable, thank goodness.
Thanks for your time. I know librarians are busy! Any last thoughts?
Like B. David said, support your library!
Thanks for this.
tinyurl.com/297sxrk
“plagiarism by anticipation,” as they say
‘anticipatory plagiarism’ sounds like something someone else thought of
where did you take it from
(who is “they”)
Also truth: I made up “blogonym” for ‘user-name’.
I remember the term “plastic”being used back in the 1960s to refer to the manufactured world of prim & proper & all that had gone too far into conformity.
It was a counter-establishment word and getting back to the earth was the counter movement. Now, even as we embrace technology, we hold firm against the current status quo of vaporizing everything we digitize and so it seems that books are now becoming prized anti-establishment contraband ;-)
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I work in a library. I would guess that the librarians who did not respond to your interview questions, didn’t realize there was a deadline. Librarians need firm deadlines. I think it comes from “on desk” time, when there is someone standing, waiting for an answer, you know you gotta get it to ’em quick. Emails from adoring fans, those can wait.
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“Plust.” Classic.
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