1579 Liberry.

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I’m not exactly sure what rules there are for hiring people at a private library. I know they must be available someplace, but I didn’t feel like researching them because trying to research laws is always bullshit. You get 75% of hits that are just armchair lawyers guessing, and the rest the sort of random garbage people puke up on yahoo answers. I’m not even sure if a private library even has to follow any rules for hiring people. In any case, the one Maddison works at accepts applications at the very least from the general public. Which probably filled Nina with false hope for all these years. It’s even possible that she, like most people would, assumed that it’s a public library funded by the city. It is not, as Alex explains in the section this link navigates to. Maddison pretty clearly got employed because she’s Alex’s friend and she’s not super good at doing anything that requires a lot of focus, or skill. At least not that Alex would have noticed since she values things other than what Maddison excels at. Nina would, almost definitely, be an asset to the library, but the fact of the matter is how many people does it really take to maintain what amounts to a house full of books? I’ve never seen a library with more than 4 obviously active librarians. I haven’t even been in a library since the 90s that I can remember, so I have no idea if this has decreased or not. The three known employees of the Marbleton library are Alex, her mother, and Maddison. I’m not sure how many others there would be. I know at least a few of you are librarians, so feel free to inform me if you have the time and inclination.
In any event, it’s clear that Nina harbors some ill will over the whole affair, and learning that Maddison, who pretty clearly isn’t the sharpest knife, is employed there. This will probably cause things. All the things.

My internal clock is so completely messed up that I am sleeping at the most inconvenient times recently. The complications from my allergies have been causing me to wake up at about 2 hour intervals, and I’m not getting very good sleep in that time. I often wake up disoriented and out of sorts, which persists for quite some time before I can actually function properly. It’s very frustrating. I don’t think that worrying about my grandpa and grandma have helped anything either, but what are you gonna do, you know? In some ways I’ve been feeling better than I have been and in others not as much. I feel like i’m getting better overall at least, so that’s something.

Teen Corner
I survived my first to days as a senior. It feels so weird knowing that this is my last year, my last first day, my last back to school assembly and so on. The school paid for new lockers so that maybe the students would use them and just about everyone has trouble opening them. They are fairly difficult even for lockers but they do look nice and have a good amount of room in them. we chose our next drama production today its called “The diary of a wallflower” I actually sorta chose it and everyone liked it so score for me. it is an actual drama rather than murder mystery or comedy like we always do so I am pretty excited. Our scripts are already ordered so we will have them in a few days hopefully. I also got senior director in drama which basically means I’m my drama teachers second in command I’m supposed to help keep everyone on track and basically tell them to shut up and work so that’s cool. adjusting to my new sleep schedule has been rough I am incredibly tired but after awhile I will probably get the routine down again. it is weird because my school decided we would have Wednesday and Thursday and then we are off Friday because we never have school on Friday so it was a fairly short 2 days and now I have the weekend for whatever yay. I am taking my accuplacer test again tomorrow or Saturday so wish me luck with that. if I pass I will be in college comp. instead of English 12 if not the English 12 it is. I am also in college government and speech then next semester I will be in college psychology and geography so my plate is a little full but free college classes are an obvious bonus and I’m taking advantage of it. hopefully I will pass with flying colors. everyone always talks about senioritious and I never really thought it was a thing but it is because I can already feel it setting in these last 2 days. but it will not be an excuse I plan to work hard and do my best regardless. I plan to cherish every last high school memory left, I’m going to all the home games for all sports and going to all the dances and anything else there is. I don’t want to miss out on anything this year. I’m honestly stoked for this year even if it is pretty scary. I cant wait to get to work on this drama production, I’m shooting for a lead role as always. I might even try out for honor choir on top of being in regular choir. this weekend will be full of studying, a little homework and then possibly a trip to the movies to see suicide squad or lights out or even better both. speaking of studying I should get back to that or rather start it since I passed out as soon as I made dinner for my uncle and I.

48 Comments

I work in a library in a town of ten thousand and we have seven full time staff (one chief librarian, one deputy librarian, and five library assistants (cataloguing, ILL, technical, children’s and front desk) with currently two part-timers/casuals to fill holes and three pages to reshelve. So, more than you would think. Two on front desk at all hours, but there’s a lot to do behind the scenes. :)

Indeed. I used to work at a small-ish public library, and there were two full-time people who did nothing but process new books and repair old books. About two dozen staff in all, split 60/30 between full- and part-time. I’m sure there was some padding in there (public sector), but everyone always seemed genuinely busy.

I know most libraries have at least one IT person working there at all times, especially since everything is via the Internet nowadays …

Honestly, I’d be irked if I were Nina as well. Incompetence at large irritates me, but especially if incompetence is ignored for special privilege of if it’s lauded. In part, because it seems to breed entitlement and injustice to me. That’s not to say competence is a be all end all, but I feel it should have a fairly high level of importance. :\

I am inclined to agree, but maybe Alex thought Maddison wouldn’t be able to hold down a job anywhere else in town and wanted to help her freind the best she could? It’s the best I can think of.

That could be.

Being that this library is a private company, and I think Alex owns it, Alex probably has some flexibility, + can hire a friend on occasion.

I agree with War Sparrow. It seems like Maddy would be good for the less cerebral aspects of running a library (of which there are many, even aside from custodial work). Heck, someone chipper to run the front desk is a sine qua non, and Maddy fits that role well from what I’ve seen.

Jackie, in your comment, you called it the “Marbleton library”. Is that the name of the town in which this takes place, or just the name of the library? I don’t remember the name of your story’s town ever being mentioned before now.

“Liberry”?

Small misspelling [?] but if it was named after any political types then it would be very appropriate – The literary equivalent of a dingle-berry.

It’s phonetic spelling to showcase her level of intelligence.

I think (and am therefore not certain) that Brooksie has said ‘really’ spelled as “rilly” before (but that’s more for cuteness factor if so).

That’s how I always pronounce it. Along with “sammich” (as in PBJ) and “chimbley” (on the fireplace). I know the difference, but purposely do this to quickly root out the trolls and pedants in the crowd.

That’s cool.
I spent some time in the West, meaning the Western states of the USA for all those who hail from outside the U.S.- and from spending time with “Western people”, I sometimes end up saying, “jest”, to mean the word, “just”.

Nina can’t get a library job. Now she meets someone who works there. I smell a fight

Well not only a position at the house of books despite not being a very literate person but also a self declared paramour to Reggie who, until recently, was perusing her.
That is two things so far.
I wonder what the third will be, or will the truth come out that Reggie is actually interested in our librarian before things go plaid?

I detect a Freudian Slip. Did you mean “pursuing”, or did you really mean “perusing”? Though different in meaning, they can both apply.

I would surmise that one would be “perusing” if there were more of the opposite sex…
Say, a small crowd?

Once one had found a specific person then they could begin pursuing.

Librarians are the top of the pile at libraries. They make decisions about the collection, create programs, and answer questions. There are usually just a handful of librarians, even at a large public library. Clerks and pages, on the other hand, abound. Clerks are the folks that help you check books out and check books in through the back room, do ordering, prepare new books for shelving, repairing bindings, etc. Pages are often teenagers or college students. They may help check books in, but mostly they are the ones doing shelf reading, lugging heavy things around, setting up meeting rooms, and are mostly not supposed to talk to the public at all, even if they know the answers. (Experience: Public library system in large city)

D-does yours not have actual tech services? I mean the only people in my system authorized to order books or any of the like are the tech services department. Pages have to maintain the upkeep akin to a janitor.

Well considering my grandma’s part of the library system here… It’s a bit of both. Out here you need the degree in Library Sciences OR be known by one of the active staff as someone able to help maintain the physical upkeep of the facility. My county has exactly four libraries and an annex. Grandma is the longest serving member of the staff at almost 40 years, can’t get anyone she knows on due to the current board of trustees, and yet if her coworker suggests that her drug addict son gets to be a page while I can’t help pick a movie for the Free Family Movie nights you know there’s weird money laundering going on. So it’s not just a matter of “Friends in the Right Places” but also “Hey Ted Here’s That Money You Forgot In My Car.”

Liberry n. cultivar of the common Snozzberry.

Smack me one if someone else has said this, but does Nina have a growing suspicion that Maddy is Reggie’s new innamorata?

Teen, I’m sure you’ve been getting a lot of college advice lately, but this next bit is VERY important: get an internship in your field. It’s the only way to get some of the experience for the “experience required” jobs.

Additionally, instead of immediately plummeting yourself into debt, you might work as a truck driver or at a manufacturing job for a few years to save up money for tuition. Truckers are in incredible demand right now. You’ll need a C class license to get the job and some companies will even pay your way thrugh trucker school.

In college, worked at the university library. Lots and lots of people employed there, though I assume the situation was far from typical. I worked at the circulation desk, mainly checking in and out books. We had a section of reserved books professors had set aside which students could check out from the CIRC desk, but not take out of the library. That section alone could employ someone full time.
We also had a department dedicated to books loaned to and borrowed from other libraries around the country, and a group of people, I’m not sure if the same department or not, who kept track of books between the other libraries on campus but in different buildings.
Then there was the microfilm department, the electronic media department, and the records department for all the filed university thesis written by students over the years, as well as numerous other departments I’m not specifically recalling right now. When the various department heads got together, was around two dozen people.
So yeah, a whole mess of people employed at the university library.

Similar story with me.

Generally, getting hired at a library depends on the position. Standing at the desk, checking people in and out requires little/no skills while a degree in Library Science (yep, that’s an actual thing) might be needed to run the thing. And yes, these days there’s generally at least one IT guy, and the New York public Library (I applied at three branches, including the iconic one with the lions) is mostly staffed by college students, and a full time staff that doesn’t actually change very often. So while there are jobs at all levels at a library, the turnover rate is… very low.

Tangent story: I got to see the dolls that Winnie the Pooh was based on. They were left at one of the NYC library branches for years. Not sure if they were ever reclaimed or not, but the story I was told included that if the family that owns them wanted them back all they had to do was ask and they’d even cover shipping costs. admittedly, this story didn’t come from anyone with any library hierarchical powers, just a college student/grunt/shelver…

Further side note: In a small town right now, and the library is pretty much staffed by one paid employee and a bunch of volunteers. Supposedly advised by a public board (of which my boss is one), but… politics. Local politics. And I thought graft, corruption, cronyism, and political shenanigans were bad in the city….

I’m the Library Director in a small town, and am the only employee, though we have somewhere between 3 and 8 volunteers, depending on schedules. I answer to the Board of Trustees, who nominated me for appointment by the Town.

I apparently was hired because I was the only applicant who had computer experience, and who had bothered to look up the ALA Code of Ethics. After hiring, I certified with the State Library (someday, I will complete my MLIS, but as study comes out of on my paycheck, it may be years before I can afford to complete it).

Despite tensions between the Board and the Friends, we are in a pretty good situation–The Town Council and Mayor are very supportive, and the community is broadly in favor of library services, even among those who would never set foot in a library. We’ve just completed construction and installation of a small archive, and are working on an expansion that would almost triple our floorspace.

This, while two of the four closest libraries to us are contemplating legal actions against their Municipalities for various improprieties.

We are fortunate.

Maddison reminds me a lot of a guy I know at my work. He’s a nice enough guy, and he honestly tries so hard but… he just such an idiot. He’s a bit like a big daft orange dog, you know? He’s earnest, he’s cheerful, he tries his best, and when he fucks up, I can’t stay mad at him, because he doesn’t fuck up out of malice. He’s just an idiot.

That said, I don’t know if he’s an idiot because he’s legitimately stupid, or because he’s constantly stoned. It could be both, but I doubt that’s Maddison’s problem.

I’m at work this morning (I have to work a Saturday morning about once every three months) and this made me laugh so hard I startled my coworker as she was headed out the door — and then I had to read it to her. I know just the sort!

Maddy is a bit like my buddy Charlie — I’ve known him from First Grade. He’s a literal-minded sort, not soft in the head or anything, but just a bit slow. When I went to College Charlie went into the U.S. Marine Corps, and did very well. He retired out as a Sgt. in the Military Police, and was damned good at his job. He might not understand me trying to explain something funky with his computer, but if I was still doing Have Gun, Will Travel, Charlie’s the guy I’d want at my back when it hit the fan.

There is a library near me that is very much the same as Alex’s library (as in, private library but most would assume its public) and I am a librarian who’s worked at varying sizes of libraries. So, depending on how big the library it is, it could be just those three or a staff of 50! There should be a Director, someone who orders the collection materials, someone who is in charge of cataloging, someone who deals with circulation and a page at the very least. All of those “someones” may be the same person (I have been that person…) but mostly it’s different people. Then it can break down even further and they would have a janitor too, since it’s a private library. Hiring would be about the same as a public library (at least the private library near me follows the same rules) but just not done through the city.

This also depends on types of libraries as public, or public-facing, is different from academic(college level) or school(grade school) libraries. So really, it all depends! Unless you go completely off the rails, you can’t really be wrong about how this library does things.

Also, as a librarian, I’m sorry you haven’t been in a library lately. There can be many more than 4 librarians in a library and they aren’t just a house full of a books, but I won’t lecture about that. But I’d suggest checking out a library near you, at least, if you’re going to be writing about one.

Most forms of discrimination can run both ways. Alex may be comfortable sharing an apartment with someone who has not been so blessed, but that doesn’t mean she might not choose to consider size when hiring.

But that said, I get the feeling that Maddison doesn’t do a job that Nina would care for, apart for its foot in the door properties.

In the libraries I have frequented, most of the library staff are fairly invisible. They don’t wear name uniforms, their name badges tended to be low key, and they occasionally have other customers with name badges, so even if they’re working in a public space, if they’re not in a library staff only area and they’re not reshelving, it can be easy to mistake them for patrons. The non-public spaces can be fairly considerable, especially if it’s a research library.

Oh, and some places don’t require the research librarians who aren’t on duty at the librarian desk to have their name badges on. I kind of recall one place specifically had them *not* wear their name badges while they were on paid research jobs.

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