I (42M) just finished my MLIS program (USM, To the Top!!) and have been happily employed at my current library for quite some time (15 years). We are a small-ish library that is fairly well funded, and I am now the only non-manager/director who has an MLIS. There is not a lot of turnover in the managerial realm, so that is not an option in the foreseeable future. I have worked in YA (9 years, until COVID) and am currently in Adult Services. I have previously managed the entire YA collection, including graphics. Currently, I am not responsible for any collection development. I manage two other employees in Government Services, which include fingerprinting services and passport services. I am a certified Passport Acceptance Agent and the Passport Facility Manager. I also work 32 hours a week.

Our library is considered rural but in a highly trafficked tourist area. We are open seven days a week, year-round, except for federal holidays. Due to the touristic nature, we do not get a lot of super deep reference questions. The questions tend to be more directional, current area events, "where should I park?" slash "how do I pay for parking?" or quick history questions about the area. So a typical reference position isn't really an option either.

I am open to any suggestions! I also help run a few off-site programs: a pub trivia two times a year (I write all of the questions and host), a monthly book club aimed at getting more men reading again, running a weekly booth at the summer farmer's market (that will be wrapping up soon), calling BINGO once or twice a year for a program, and various "other duties as assigned."

I'm a former senior public librarian from.the East coast w/11 years experience in three different counties, two states. I spent a large part of my time specializing in YA and Children's programming. A sudden family emergency sent me to the other coast, and while in the middle dealing with that I attempted to find work in my career field. After a year, amidst the chaos of the family emergency (adult child in serious legal trouble), I had to find work of some kind. I ended up doing substitute teaching, school librarian, pizza cook, and then I got a CDL and became a bus driver. My MA-LIS qualified me to move into dispatching and that's where I am now. It's been seven years and I am behind on where public librarianship is now...where should I start to close the info gap? I'm guessing that my lack of initial success in picking up my career was mostly due to the stress of the family emergency affecting my interview impressions. I had a killer roster of references, and none of them were called. I checked in with them, and this was their report. Could it be that I was considered a transplant?

My friend and I spent all summer doing the NYPL’s summer reading bingo, and I picked up my cool hat prize the other day! Making red hats okay again 😅 My favorite square was to check out a recipe book and make a new dish.

Feeling grateful that the NYPL has so much cool programming🥰

EDIT: I found these on a county website in a different location that is 45 min by train. I am not sure what the "Researcher" position would entail but it is more than ESL tutor. Would this count for the experience that Libraries are looking for? (Picture is attached)

Hi I am currently in my 2nd to last semester in my undergraduate program. I am set to graduate in Spring of 2027. I am looking into getting a Masters in Library Science. But I have been unsucessful in finding any jobs or volunteer work at my local libraries that arent just tutoring ESL. I have already started doing the ESL tutoring just to get my foot in the door. But I am afraid I will not like actually working in the library setting, and I am having a lot of trouble finding a paid position at a library, that does not require previous work, education, or experience.

My main dilema is should I go to graduate school for Library Sciences without getting some library experience (which is risky). Or wait a bit, get another Associates in Library Information Technology at a local commnity college and try and get hired that way?

Also I get all of my education funded through the Department of Rehabilitation so I am not really sure if they would still fund my education if I do not go straight into a masters. Which would leave me with a lot of student debt if I want to go to Community College + Graduate school if I decide to do it afterwards.

There is a lot to consider and I have already met with my DOR Education counselor and she suggested the Volunteer work at the library.

Any advice is appreciated!

TLDR; MIS archives student (me) (1/2 through with degree) and public programming librarian lives at home and has worked in large urban library system for 3 years, wants to run away to work at a music store instead of taking a transfer to work at a high turn over, high incident, dangerous branch after losing my position in budget cuts. Stupid or worth it? (For those that don't want to read the full post). WDID?

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I have worked in this system for 3 years plus a year prior to that as a longterm volunteer/intern.

I just got told today that my position is being eliminated and that I have the choice of moving to a very high incident, high turnover branch or quitting my job. I was already reassigned last year and had just gotten over the grief of losing that position and now I am being moved again, to say I am upset is an understatement. Our system is generally awful right now; slowly hemorrhaging people due to antagonistic and terrible admin/upper managers, we are also in a large urban area so incidents are very high and we are paid like crap. Prior to this, I was already considering changing jobs or maybe even careers, even though I love libraries and love working for the public. I am thinking that the universe is telling me it's time to move on.

I'm a professional musician (harpist) in my spare time, with a deep personal/professional connection with a small business music store in my area. The owner has already told me today that they would love to discuss hiring me however:

1. I don't know whether this job would have health benefits, I'm guessing probably not since the company is under 10 employees. Worth mentioning my system is getting rid of most of our health benefit options and is enshittifying what options we have left.

2. This job would have almost nothing to do with my degree; I would be doing a lot of work with sheet music/music books and instruments but nothing library related/info science related besides maybe records clerking. My main issue is that I'm still in school for my MLS (Info/Archival) and I've already paid into half of my degree out of pocket, and I'm not sure if working somewhere irrelevant to my degree while still paying for it is wise.

3. I'd probably be taking a pay cut. I make 20 bucks an hour right now (for a position that requires a bachelor's degree... lol), and I can imagine this shop can't afford to even pay me that.

Despite that, I think it's a job I would really love; if the owner offers me full time employment, I would really like to accept it. I initially wanted to do music librarianship but obviously there's not many jobs you can get with a degree in that field. I also have connections to a music archive in my area but they mainly hire interns part time. This could be a branch to more music library related jobs... I would have a lot more personal time to work on internships and career development.

I live with my parents and don't pay rent (I pay bills and pay for my own life expenses). I feel like I'm in a pretty privileged position to take a small risk on a job I would really love vs continuing to work in a very soul sucking system at an assignment that would put my mental and physical health at intense risk. But I don't know whether the jump is worth it if I've already done half of my degree (~8k worth of out of pocket tuition).

Idk, am I crazy for wanting to jump ship? Will it be a huge detriment to my future career prospects? Please advise me.

The teen librarian and I are planning on running a live action role playing program for teens in a few months and I was wondering if other libraries had experience with these. Have you run a LARP? What problems did you run into? What went really well?

We’re planning on running a 4 hour program with a series of programs leading up to it so the teens can prepare.

Very serious question for all the YS Librarians out there with train tables in your kids spaces – Have any of you experienced durability and/or relative longevity with your table set up? Is this even a possibility? If you have wooden tracks, have you permanently affixed them to the surface? Please share your experiences, thoughts (and prayers) regarding this much beloved library staple.  

Related follow-up question: what is your favorite kids area "feature" at your library?

Threw it together really quickly this morning with the help of dollar tree. A lot of our collection involving her was already checked out yesterday though after the announcement so this was all that's left.

"Colorado’s Anythink Nature Library reimagines the traditional library with gardens, nature trails, creative spaces, and a collection of snowshoes, hammocks, kites, and more."

So many kids in Pasco County grow up without access to books because of money. It's not fair—reading opens doors that should be available to everyone.

I started a petition to bring Dolly Parton's Imagination Library here. The program mails free books to kids from birth to age 5, and it's genuinely life-changing. Over 100 million books have reached children worldwide, and communities that have it see real improvements in literacy and school readiness.

Pasco County has families struggling financially, and this could be the boost so many kids need. Imagine a kindergartener showing up on day one with their own collection of books, already excited about reading.

If this resonates with you—if you've seen kids miss out on the joy of reading just because money's tight—consider signing and sharing it. What would it mean for the kids in your life if they had free books waiting at their door every month?

Or - how to turn a 5 hour trip into 14 hours!

The Camarillo library has a pirate ship!!!!

The TO library feels like a space ship.

I love the libraries that are in the municipal center - but Oxnard Colonia del Sol was a sweet kids oriented little library.

My itinerary:

Paso Robles City Library
1000 Spring St, Paso Robles, CA 93446

Oxnard Public Library
1500 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard, CA 93030

City of Camarillo Public Library
4101 Las Posas Rd, Camarillo, CA 93010

Moorpark City Library
699 Moorpark Ave, Moorpark, CA 93021

Grant R. Brimhall Library (Thousand Oaks Library)
1401 E Janss Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

Redondo Beach Public Library
303 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Katy Geissert Civic Center Library (Torrance Public Library)
3301 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503

Peninsula Center Library (Palos Verdes Library District)
701 Silver Spur Rd, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274

Harbor Gateway Library (Los Angeles Public Library)
24000 S Western Ave, Harbor City, CA 90710

UPDATE: I got three more cards on Thursday and posted the full list here https://www.livegreenwearblack.com/2026/08/california-libraries-southern.html

They have agreed on a contract!

While it isn't perfect, it never is. There are positive things that were agreed upon, improvements in union language and strength, but unfortunate things left out as well (The library would not budge on AI since they have invested a lot of money into it sadly, and wages were not what they wished, and then some)

There is plenty of work to still be done as the years go by and hopefully seeing more workers getting involved in the union will help make the presence even more known! The CEO Felton Thomas and board still need to be held accountable for their actions (and Feltons salary put on blast). That's the long game.

Thank you to all who gave any support to CPL over this time.

Here is one last YouTube link too.

https://youtu.be/cef3IrGt_O0?is=rbQeKhneDBMdomwa

A little tribute to Dolly. I work at a very small branch, so we didn't have a lot to work with. But I still wanted to pay my respects to the legend.

Deleted and reposted due to a typo in the title

For context here, I graduated with my MLIS in 2023. Acquired my first library job as a weekend librarian at a private university in Sept. 2023. Then in Jan 2024 got a temp. part time library job until May. After that job ended, I landed another temp part time library job in an archive at a public university.

So, to recap, I have been working at my current jobs since Sept. 2023 (the first one) and since June 2024 (the third one). Currently, the first library has two librarian positions open, which I will call Job A and Job B.

Job A includes liaison librarian responsibilities in a subject I have a lot of experience (Masters + teaching experience), as well as student success responsibilities I am also well prepared for. Job B includes more liasion responsiblilities in a wider field of study (think like, "Business" but a different general area), and I have a BA in one those subjects, and various experience levels on the job's other responsibilities (collection management, teaching, etc).

In all honesty, I really really want Job A. But, I have never expressed my interest in Job A outloud to any of my colleagues. I am also...not very well versed in like...etiquette? I guess. My family is lower class and has been my whole life, and the only life I know is living paycheck to paycheck so I tend to feel out of my depth when it comes to like...want the right move is while job searching. If that makes sense.

So, I am wondering what my best move here. I have already applied to Job A. What I am trying to decide is: do i apply for job B as well, or would it be better to like email my director to be like "hey, just so you know I have applied to job A that I am very passionate about, so you may want to keep me off of any emails related to that job search."

Any and all advice would be really appreciated

My library is putting together a library history display and is including some old equipment we've found in storage. One piece we've found is a 1930's Cardmaster Stencil Printer (link is to someone selling one very similar to ours). It looks interesting and would be a great part of the display, but we're trying to figure out what the library staff of the time would have used it for. At the moment our best guess is maybe printing card catalog entries, but we're stumped. Do y'all have any thoughts about why we would have had this machine?

EDIT/UPDATE: The local history librarian (the main force behind the display) asked one staff member who's been here for circa 30 years. She said she never saw it used but thinks it may have been used to print the postcards the library used to send to alert people that they had overdue items.

Ciao a tutti,

Sono un giornalista italiano che indaga sulla storia sempre più strana di acquisti su larga scala di libri usati e sul loro possibile collegamento con la formazione dell'IA.

Sto cercando persone che potrebbero avere conoscenze dirette su questa catena di approvvigionamento: librai, lavoratori di magazzini, dipendenti della logistica, esportatori/importatori, ex dipendenti, persone nell'editoria, aziende di riciclo/rimanifattura, aziende di scansione o digitalizzazione, o chiunque abbia visto ordini di libri usati particolarmente grandi.

Sono particolarmente interessato a Zoom Books.

La domanda principale a cui sto cercando di rispondere è molto semplice:

Cosa succede ai libri dopo che Zoom Books li acquisisce?

Dove vengono fisicamente spediti? Chi li riceve dopo? Vengono rivenduti, lavorati, scansionati, digitalizzati, smontati, riciclati o distrutti? Ci sono intermediari tra Zoom Books e il cliente finale? E, soprattutto, chi è il cliente finale?

Sono anche interessato ad informazioni su spedizioni che coinvolgono Canada, Stati Uniti, Europa, Cina e India, comprese le aziende coinvolte nella lavorazione o nella “rimanifattura” di libri stampati.

Non sto cercando speculazioni presentate come fatti. Documenti, fatture, registrazioni di spedizione, email, fotografie, informazioni sui magazzini, racconti di prima mano o anche piccoli dettagli che possono aiutare a ricostruire il percorso dei libri sono particolarmente utili.

Se lavori o hai lavorato in qualsiasi parte di questa catena di approvvigionamento e preferisci non commentare pubblicamente, per favore mandami un DM. Possiamo discutere la riservatezza e la protezione delle fonti prima di condividere qualsiasi informazione sensibile.

Anche se conosci solo una piccola parte della storia, mi piacerebbe sentirti.

Hello! This is a fairly specific situation I’m in, and I’m curious is anyone has any ideas.

I work for an undergraduate organization at the University of Michigan, we have hundreds of students who are members and who are regularly in our space.

We offer a free library with books related to our organization, of which I am in charge of. In total, we have around 200 books. The library is not manned, and is instead an unlocked room in our department’s space that students have access to for studying and grabbing books. We do have a checkout system, but it is done by scanning a QR code and done completely independently. There are plenty of signs in the space directing students to check out any books they wish to borrow.

Here’s the issue, within the past 2 years, 60 of our 200
books have been borrowed, not properly checked out, and never returned.

I’m working with undergrads who usually leave the state upon graduation, so I know I am not likely to get most of the missing books back. But there has to be a way of encouraging students to return books without being punitive.

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to encourage students to properly check out and return the books?

Hello I work in a public library and we have two AWE computers in our children’s room. We’re thinking of removing them for a few reasons but
1. Parents are complaining about the screens and saying that when they’re trying to get their kids to do homework or study they get distracted by other kids playing on the computers
2. The librarians hate them. We constantly have to reboot them and parents get into fights over session times sometimes

I’m wondering if anyone got rid of them before and also if you did, did you provide an alternative? Anyone decided to keep them?