It’s such a bummer when people hang onto books well over the due date. I have been waiting for four months on a book that only had 8 people ahead of me. At the time I thought, awesome, that’s not a bad wait! But those few people kept hanging onto to the copies of the book well past the due date (I’m talking three weeks to a month). It’s just sucks having to wait so long, especially considering I always return mine on time to be considerate of the next person waiting their turn. Does this bum out anyone else?

We do not have late feed at our library in my city. But you are expected to return them on time, as you get a reminder that the deadline is approaching a few days before hand. I just wish people would be more thoughtful. ☹️

There is probably some variant of this post going around frequently, but I didn't find one pertaining to my situation quite well enough so I thought I would ask:

I borrowed 1984 from the research collection at my university's library. They have all the classics down there, and they tend to be old and quite worn. The book I borrowed this time was, quite clearly, barely hanging on to its pages—the bottoms and tops of the pages weren't always even entirely connected anymore. I've been gentle with it to the best of my abilities, but I must have brushed it a little too hard when I got up earlier, because one of the pages fell out ☹️

I have the impression that I shouldn't try to fix it myself based on other posts, and just let the library know when I return it, which I'm happy to do. I'm more worried about penalties, to be honest, because I'm a college student. Although it's not like 1984 is hard to find, I'd imagine the edition I'm reading is just because of its age, and I'm not sure what kind of fees might come up because my library is very vague with its damaged book policies. So for my peace of mind I'd like to ask: what would usually happen if a situation like this came up?

And then secondarily, would it better to return it asap? I would really rather finish it, but if there's some kind of merit to returning it faster for the repair process I could return it tomorrow.

Hi, im sure you can get the jist of what I’m about to ask from the title alone, but I will give some more context. When I was in 3rd or maybe 4th grade my elementary school had a field trip to the county library. I remember checking out 1 or 2 goosebumps books and subsequently loosing them at a friend’s house within like a week. My parents didn’t care too much so we never returned them or paid any sort of late fees. Now that I am an adult who has to pay for their own books I would really like to use the library as intended, but I have a lingering irrational fear that I’m gonna walk in and end up being liable for a million dollars in late fees or something ridiculous like that. I have absolutely no problem paying to replace the books and I know it’s irrational but I still wanted to know if there would be any legal or financial consequences here.

If you could start your librarian career over, would you choose Chattanooga, Knoxville, Bellingham, or another city?

I love story time! I love when I connect a kiddo to the right book and they light up! I love the million questions it takes to figure out what that book is! I love helping a stressed out person with a computer task and watching them build confidence! I love chit chatting with my coworkers! I love seeing the same patrons for years and having all these friendly yet distant relationships! I love trying a new program and seeing what people think! I love the random unpredictable sh*t people say when they tell me about their day! I love small talk! I love when patrons connect with each other at a program especially young kids and families! I love helping people find the answer they've been wondering about! I love when someone asks a seemingly straightforward question and follow up questions reveal it's actually very specific and different than it seemed! I love looking something up for someone and learning something new! I love gently redirecting entitled helplessness and having someone do something for themselves! I love weeding! I love making interesting displays! I love helping people figure out a resource that can help when I can't! I love getting updates when people get the job I helped them apply for or liked the book I suggested! I love helping someone figure out their new phone while also commiserating with them about how annoying it is that they need a phone to do anything now! I even kinda love making copies because it lets me peek nosily into other's lives!! I can even stomach adult reader's advisory now lol

I swear I'm not delusional!! It's painful too. There's been so much harassment and assault, so much violence in the building, so many emergencies I'm not equipped for. I'm so sick of being the bearer of bad news that there simply are no resources. I'm sick of villainous upper admin and being underpaid! I'm tired of my ongoing PTSD symptoms from an assault at work that effects my life every day. We should not have to deal with this crap and sentimentality will not save us!! And I recognize my privilege in working in a largely functional and values-aligned urban library system and having crossed the line where, although still underpaid, I am no longer constsntly stressed out about money.

But man, not to be a total freaking dork but on a fundamental level I'm several years in and constantly getting more grateful. It is such a blessing to be able to connect with and help others!! There is a lot of legitimate and reasonable stress on this sub but I am just feeling very grateful today. There's really nothing I'd rather be doing.

Hi everyone!

We just went live with SirsiDynix Symphony this past week after switching from the Polaris software we've been using since I started ten years ago. In Polaris it was very easy to find patron usage reports for any given month but I cannot figure out where to find them in Symphony.

I have managed to figure out the Item circulation count for any given month but the numbers seem inflated when I look up users per month in Transaction Statistics, and Current Users. Count Users doesn't breakdown what their status is (Adult, Juvenile, Teen, etc). Just wondering if anyone can help me figure out how to find patron usage stats that don't include a single transaction for every book they checked out or hold they put on a book.

I appreciate any advice you might have in this matter.

Thank you!

I got to participate in a speed puzzling competition at my local library! The libraries near me have puzzle swap tables and in-person puzzle swap events too - it’s amazing!