liprairian

[liprairian]

Not expalining WHY bookburning is bad and WHAT books were targeted has left us with Bookworm uwu girlies treating any art project or act involving destorying/modifying any random ass mass printed novel as if it was a crime against humanity

[liprairian]

I cant stop thinking about this absolutely brutal takedown umberto eco wrote about dan brown

[liprairian]

Trend i’m noticing looking for books with my little sister

[liprairian]

omg, I think you're the only other person I've ever encountered to reference the book The Trumpet of The Swan!! That was a firm childhood favourite in our house! <3

Aw yeah! Let’s see if I can nail you with anything else you didn’t think other people had ever referenced, from my highly specific sniper rifle.

[liprairian]

Just watched a librarian yell at a guy for sleeping in a chair

Apparently its against the rules to sleep in a library

Like sorry you have comfy cozy chairs out??? Also homeboy wasn’t snoring or anything like it wasn’t even disruptive sleeping what the fuck

[liprairian]

A fun piece of anecdata for anyone working in a library that doesn't save patron reading history (I assume most, if not all, American libraries).

So, our system does keeps reading history of patrons if they specifically consent to it - we're not subject to the Patriot Act, so we didn't ever have quite the same panicked lockdown of patron information as American libraries. Our ILS has a checkbox for it that we can default to "off", so we just do that.

We do make damn sure staff ask for specific consent before checking that box on, though, and you'd be shocked at how many people are super offended by the question. It's not a common occurrence, but it is a familiar one that just about everyone front-line I've talked to has had. The question going through these prospective patrons' heads is some variation on "Do I look like some kind of criminal to you?!" Like the idea that they would ever do anything so unrespectable as to end up on a watchlist is an affront.

I don't have a point to make about this at all, I just find the existence of these people extremely funny and thought people who work in other libraries should know about them. A fascinating subset of humanity I would never otherwise have had the chance to witness.

I think libraries are hindered in their ability to reach a wider audience by....themselves. Libraries' social media team can't sit you down and say, hey, look at me. We don't keep your data. You fill out an application and that information goes in our database and it's only ever accessed when you lose a book or something and we have to send you a notice. That information does not leave our database. There's no third parties or cookies or analytics. It's just your name and your contact info in the digital equivalent of a filing cabinet. Your data and your privacy is your own.

But I can. I can say that.

[liprairian]

I have no idea how I forgot ALA had a store, that's perfect, thank you!

Today's #patron energy question was a board member who said a patron was complaining they couldn't find anything in nonfiction because it was "so random". The board member's proposed solution to this problem was why don't we put it in sections, like a bookstore!

[liprairian]

School libraries here are getting phased out in favour of Learning Commons areas that may or may not have books, so it's entirely possible these days to get kids in who have never had to navigate a library before. I suspect it's a bright idea we imported, head empty, from the States, so it may be happening where you are as well.

I also suspect, just given the demographics of the town/library in question, that the patron was likely in their 50s at least. Honestly, patrons Will be patrons, and I'm inclined to just roll my eyes at the original asker. I'm much more annoyed about the board member, who should at least have known to ask the manager what the status quo was rather than immediately come up with solutions worse than it. That kind of ignorance in a board member is actually kind of scary, given that we've been importing book challenges and culture wars from the States recently as well.

Today's #patron energy question was a board member who said a patron was complaining they couldn't find anything in nonfiction because it was "so random". The board member's proposed solution to this problem was why don't we put it in sections, like a bookstore!

[liprairian]

Lol yeah the signs are the first prong of my plan of attack. The second is starting that board on a new-member orientation plan that includes a "how to use the fucking library you purport to govern" presentation from staff.

Today's #patron energy question was a board member who said a patron was complaining they couldn't find anything in nonfiction because it was "so random". The board member's proposed solution to this problem was why don't we put it in sections, like a bookstore!

[liprairian]

Today's #patron energy question was a board member who said a patron was complaining they couldn't find anything in nonfiction because it was "so random". The board member's proposed solution to this problem was why don't we put it in sections, like a bookstore!

[liprairian]

A genius use case for GenAI, really, as long as you don't mind that nothing of value is being created here. They've taken the problems experienced by your traditional vanity press - which all amount to the fact that you have to look like you're actually doing something in order to receive money from authors - and completely automated them away.

“Given that Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society research shows that in 2006, average author earnings were £12,330, dropping to £7,000 in 2022, the value of forking out up to $5,000 to have a book published in three weeks might be questionable.”

[liprairian]

The house breeds uninvited guests and libraries.

[liprairian]

God, I just realized the potential of Storywalks for activism. Imagine how much fun you could have setting up a Storywalk of Maus on old election signs somewhere fun and funky according to your whim.

Folks in the U.S.:

We just had an election, and that means there are a bunch of campaign signs littered around everywhere. Almost every single one will wind up in a dumpster, but here's a secret: post-election, pretty much nobody gives a shit if you take them.

If you snag one from the side of the road and repaint it, it can say whatever you want. Make your own political signs, or just use 'em as free canvas for art. They're usually made out of corrugated plastic, which is waterproof, and a couple layers of cheap acrylic paint will cover up whatever's on 'em.

I started repainting one today for myself. It's going to say "covid isn't over" on it when I'm finished, and I'm going to use it for a couple upcoming projects for @covidsafecosplay.

[liprairian]

~ Beaver Valley Times, November 1, 1946

[liprairian]

The thing about small towns is people who don’t live there will tell you they’re safe and quiet and people who do live there will tell you the average persons hobbies include owning illegal weapons and being a functional meth addict and somehow every street has some sort of horrifying unsolved murder however the police are too busy walking into walls and contaminating crime scenes and playing candy crush on their phones to look into it. And despite all of this you’re still probably fine spending hours in an empty abandoned park in the middle of the night