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My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

welp

Around a month ago I applied for a job in a public library I used to work at ages ago. Great library, interesting field, great city, all that jazz. Didn't hear back but I figured they were taking their time or weren't interested. Long story short: four missed calls from their office tipped me off to the fact that apparently they sent the invitation to yesterday's interview to the entirely wrong address. :toot:

I'm not, like, massively pissed off, but in light of the fact that my current job is YET ANOTHER fixed term contract and that one would have been permanent, I'm wondering if I'm not maybe too chill about a few things. At the very least I want whoever hosed this up to own up and explain the situation, if only so I'm not forever That Guy Who No-Showed And Didn't Even Answer The Phone to them.

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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
My condolences.

Last interview I had for a full time job was something similar. Initial call to set up the interview said it would be a phone interview. Confirmation email said it would be a phone interview. Come the time and the interview committee calls me wondering where I am because they're waiting in the interview room expecting to see me in person.

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

My Lovely Horse posted:

welp

Around a month ago I applied for a job in a public library I used to work at ages ago. Great library, interesting field, great city, all that jazz. Didn't hear back but I figured they were taking their time or weren't interested. Long story short: four missed calls from their office tipped me off to the fact that apparently they sent the invitation to yesterday's interview to the entirely wrong address. :toot:

I'm not, like, massively pissed off, but in light of the fact that my current job is YET ANOTHER fixed term contract and that one would have been permanent, I'm wondering if I'm not maybe too chill about a few things. At the very least I want whoever hosed this up to own up and explain the situation, if only so I'm not forever That Guy Who No-Showed And Didn't Even Answer The Phone to them.

At the very least, it's bullshit to send someone an "invitation to an interview" at a particular time, and then wipe their hands on their pants and assume that the interview at that specific time is now set.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

Leperflesh posted:

At the very least, it's bullshit to send someone an "invitation to an interview" at a particular time, and then wipe their hands on their pants and assume that the interview at that specific time is now set.

I'm reasonably certain that if they hosed up and you didn't even know about the interview it'd be a dick move on their part to not schedule you another one. I mean, they made the mistake not you.

Rupert Buttermilk
Apr 15, 2007

🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

ToxicSlurpee posted:

I'm reasonably certain that if they hosed up and you didn't even know about the interview it'd be a dick move on their part to not schedule you another one. I mean, they made the mistake not you.

Unless My Lovely Horse hadn't properly given them their updated address.

The plot thickens.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

So I did in fact move recently and I did in fact send them an old version of my CV by accident, which had the old address, that one's on me. However I also gave them my current address in the cover letter, and quite frankly they could have noticed that and asked, and anyway I'm having all my mail redirected so even if they did send the invitation to the old address - which they did - , I should have received it, or else they should have had it returned as undeliverable, and then asked.

It seems like it just got lost in the mail. Although I'm not quite buying that two different letters from the same sender - because naturally they had also sent me a confirmation of receipt - just happen to get lost independently of each other. I'm gonna have to look in my redirection setup.

Scheduling another interview would be a bit awkward for many reasons. For example, they of course had the other candidates in on Tuesday and selected someone, and I imagine it would be extremely difficult to hold another special interview just for me and remain unbiased. Really not entirely fair to their selected candidate now either.

Well, at least I was able to get it all cleared up and there's no hard feelings.

My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Mar 7, 2019

DONT TOUCH THE PC
Jul 15, 2001

You should try it, it's a real buzz.

Lutha Mahtin posted:

how many drunk undergrads do you have to kick out in a typical semester lol. bonus points if you can break this stat down by time of day

None, my biggest issue in the University Library were the belligerent Business School students who had their expensive study paid for by the company their worked at.
The drunks were most likely faculty staff.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

DONT TOUCH THE PC posted:

The drunks were most likely faculty staff.

Seconded. Students get high. Faculty get drunk.

Captain Mediocre
Oct 14, 2005

Saving lives and money!

Dear thread of captive traumatised librarians, have any of you done much work in public libraries? What things do you most wish your public libraries had had that you weren't able to offer? I'm aware that 3D printing services are becoming a thing in many libraries and I'm wondering if there's anything else like that you think it would be cool to be able to do to meet the changing needs of your patrons. If you have anything strange and cool that you have been able to do I'd like to hear about that too.

My library service is undergoing a review and I'm looking for good ideas we might be able to pitch.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Youtube space or general media production facilities, a/v editing suite and such

One library I interned at had and still has a vinyl digitization setup, that's only become more relevant since then; officially it's for their own collection but I'm sure they let you bring yours in.

Meeting space for clubs or D&D and stuff although I learned from The Anime Club that's actually a thing in the US? Maybe?

Generalized maker/hackerspace beyond just 3D printing, or at least cooperating with one maybe for workshops and stuff

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

also heard from my old job: a buddy got into trouble with the department head for writing a private e-mail while on duty at the circulation desk

Like I know for a fact that there can easily be 15-20 minutes between visitors and there's a limit to the amount and complexity of office work you can take with you to a public-facing position and still be, well, available to the public. Speaking of which, also have it on good authority that the department head herself regularly works circulation, but takes so much admin work with her that she's glued to her terminal while down the counter the second circulation worker is hustling to get everyone serviced.

He suspects it wouldn't have been as big a deal if it hadn't been an e-mail to me and I can't even really call that paranoid based on experiences

Cloks
Feb 1, 2013

by Azathoth

Captain Mediocre posted:

Dear thread of captive traumatised librarians, have any of you done much work in public libraries? What things do you most wish your public libraries had had that you weren't able to offer? I'm aware that 3D printing services are becoming a thing in many libraries and I'm wondering if there's anything else like that you think it would be cool to be able to do to meet the changing needs of your patrons. If you have anything strange and cool that you have been able to do I'd like to hear about that too.

My library service is undergoing a review and I'm looking for good ideas we might be able to pitch.

I don't work in a library but I do a lot of work with libraries and what's really stuck with me is that the big library consortium in my town decided not to pursue stuff like 3D printing in favor of providing community oriented services such as familiarizing immigrants with the school system, gateways to literacy for children, summer programs for kids who aren't in school and helping adults find jobs.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Captain Mediocre posted:

Dear thread of captive traumatised librarians, have any of you done much work in public libraries? What things do you most wish your public libraries had had that you weren't able to offer? I'm aware that 3D printing services are becoming a thing in many libraries and I'm wondering if there's anything else like that you think it would be cool to be able to do to meet the changing needs of your patrons. If you have anything strange and cool that you have been able to do I'd like to hear about that too.

My library service is undergoing a review and I'm looking for good ideas we might be able to pitch.

I've worked in public libraries for a while.

Far and away what patrons tell us they want, and what we the front line staff want, is not dumb expensive gimmicks like 3d printing. What people want is more space, more quiet study space in particular, and more books and movies, especially new releases.

Management will never listen to this because you don't make it into news articles about a library doing something hip and trendy and it doesn't make county administrators want to give you funding.

Cloks posted:

I don't work in a library but I do a lot of work with libraries and what's really stuck with me is that the big library consortium in my town decided not to pursue stuff like 3D printing in favor of providing community oriented services such as familiarizing immigrants with the school system, gateways to literacy for children, summer programs for kids who aren't in school and helping adults find jobs.

This kind of stuff, too.

3D printing maker spaces are dumb bullshit that's a waste of time and money outside of very specific communities.

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
Having run the fab lab at one of my libraries, can confirm they're useless bullshit that gets funded because someone out of touch with reality read an article in a journal written by someone even further out of touch. Spend your money on new items for the collection, programming for underserved demographics, raises for the staff, or even new seating before you buy dumb toys.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Could be just the demographic in my area when i worked for a public library from 2002-2012, but we had wayyyy more success, stat-wise, getting senior patrons in to watch old movies in our theatre than our efforts to get teens in via gaming nights and anime clubs and whatnot. Warner Bros has a program where they'll do somewhat out-of-print DVDs on demand, so we were offering stuff you can't stream/rent/buy anywhere. ILL's helped on that front, too. Basically, we offered poo poo you couldn't see at home, let alone on a big screen, and that drew an rear end-ton of people in.

Hell, one month they let me pick the theme; it was the 50th anniversary of the original Godzilla. I made a sweet-rear end photo-shopped flyer of Godzilla looming over our library, and people of all ages flocked to it every week to catch Toho releases that never made it to US theatres/tv.

If you've got a half-decent LCD projector (which are dirt cheap now) and a place to show it, movies are a hella good draw, in my experience. It also scratches that library itch of preserving and sharing archived materials.

One thing my current local library does, which I've been meaning to check out, is they have a zine club. That appeals to not only old farts like me that remember ye olden days when xeroxed zines were the only way to get info about counter-culture things, pre-internet, but to younger hipsters and kids as well. Low-tech, cheap as gently caress, and keeps the spirit of the printed word/art alive. Very pro-library.

DONT TOUCH THE PC
Jul 15, 2001

You should try it, it's a real buzz.

Captain Mediocre posted:

Dear thread of captive traumatised librarians, have any of you done much work in public libraries? What things do you most wish your public libraries had had that you weren't able to offer? I'm aware that 3D printing services are becoming a thing in many libraries and I'm wondering if there's anything else like that you think it would be cool to be able to do to meet the changing needs of your patrons. If you have anything strange and cool that you have been able to do I'd like to hear about that too.

My library service is undergoing a review and I'm looking for good ideas we might be able to pitch.

Another ex-public librarian checking in (and one of those who got the useless media/fablab dumped into his lap), confirming what has been said before:

In my experience, the most useful thing you can do as a library is nothing of the sort like 3d printers (that no one knows how to operate) unless you make a deal with someone to haul theirs to the library every 6 months (which is a special event that attracts a lot of people). That soft of flashy stuff usually ends up in brochures, but will never be used.

What you do is usually a lot more mundane: Open classes for kids to learn on how to use digital sources for their homework, Teaching people on how to search jobs online, My library had a "form brigade" that came by every so often to help people fill out forms. I have held classes that taught kids how they could influence local politicians so they would build a new skatepark or what have you.

Don Gato
Apr 28, 2013

Actually a bipedal cat.
Grimey Drawer
I'm not a librarian, but as a teenager having an open space to play Dungeons and Dragons was a godsend, especially since I didn't have enough space to have friends over at home. Also movie nights at the library introduced me to directors like Akira Kurosawa but I'm pretty sure I was the only person there under 50 so it's probably not the best example.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
Also, spend more money on the county library branch in the poor/black/hispanic/appropriate-local-minority part of the county. It's [not at all] funny how the libraries in the wealthy, white parts of the county in my experience always have all the latest toys and the most staff, while the branches in the areas that need the help most have tiny staff complements, small buildings frequently in poor condition with few amenities, and almost no programming for the community.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

I'm about to take a 33% pay cut for a new job in exchange for getting back into university library reference/circulation, being able to walk to work, and hopefully less cringey coworkers (still librarians tho so y'know). New job is still fixed term, but all things considered I'd rather have another year of reference on my resume than cataloguing, which I loathe passionately.

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


Just make sure it's a job you'd enjoy rather than tolerate.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

By popular demand posted:

Just make sure it's a job you'd enjoy rather than tolerate.

This. One of my biggest professional regrets was moving from a mainly back-office technical oriented position to a front desk job that I had a very hard time adjusting to.

For my part, I'm still unemployed since my OPS job ended in May. I've been getting interviews regularly in phone, video, and in-person varieties, and have since before the job expired, but no luck to date on any of them turning into an offer.

I was very amused that a non-library administrative records position I interviewed for last week paid significantly more than any library job I've had in the past. 15 dollars an hour sounds like such a windfall compared to how I've scraped by to date.


Average income for people in my age group (millenials, funny to think we're hitting 30) in my state is about 10 dollars an hour.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

I'm sure it's gonna be fine, I spent a year at the front desk before and it was pretty much the best. At the very least it's gonna be better than my current gig, and even if somehow it's just about the same I'll still be doing better in terms of free time, commute and such.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Job update: it owns, my bosses are supportive, my coworkers fun to be around, my stress levels have dropped to sub-basement levels and I'm spending each day just completely chilled and unfazed. There's talk of a fulltime position and the words "permanent contract" have been thrown around.

although one of our regulars did waltz in drunk yesterday and passed out/shat himself in the elevator, that sort of thing probably wouldn't have happened at the courthouse library

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
To be honest, I don't envy you. I've recently started a new job, but it's not in a library at all. Instead I lurk in a back office at a college entering data on a computer. All the technical skills I used working in libraries, none of the customer service or interacting with the public. Feels good.

value-brand cereal
May 2, 2008

Is this real or is this a tumblr shitpost? Do library staff really get trained on this program?? Is the Knowledge Keeper really real???

quote:

nest
at my job we have to go through a training program that teaches us the library of congress classification system, and when i was first being trained my boss started to boot it up and she gave me a really anxious and guilty look and said “listen, i’m really sorry in advance, there’s nothing i can do about this, just…. just try to get through it” and i was like lol what’s she talking about and then the program loaded and i was greeted with a deliriously funny-looking photoshopped wizard with glowing eyes pointing at some intro message like “AH YES, JUST AS THE PROPHECY FORETOLD… APPRENTICE, YOU COME AT A TIME OF MOST DIRE NEED… YOU MUST LEARN OUR WAYS” and my boss just looked at me helplessly and was like “i’m so sorry. it’s like two hours long.”

thankfully it wasn’t an elaborate fever dream and i have found screenshots


Captain Mediocre
Oct 14, 2005

Saving lives and money!

I've seen some appalling e-learning resources for libraries but that really is astonishing.

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


Boss should have brought booze and sat down to riff on this crap with the employee.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

value-brand cereal posted:

Is this real or is this a tumblr shitpost? Do library staff really get trained on this program?? Is the Knowledge Keeper really real???

That is exactly the kind of poo poo a library manager trying to be hip and trendy and funny would do. We're all so quirky, you guys!

mercenarynuker
Sep 10, 2008

I would play Encarta Mind Maze as OTJ training

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

mercenarynuker posted:

I would play Encarta Mind Maze as OTJ training

All you need for 95% of all reference work at a public library - and an academic library if you don't actually have 'librarian' in your job title - is basic knowledge of using a search engine.

At my last public library job, the managers kept telling us circ grunts that they wanted us to be upbeat and happy, then one asked what the hell was wrong with us when I was talking and joking with a coworker during opening procedures (before we opened the doors to the public) and we were laughing so hard it reached the second floor.

Then at the next staff meeting asked why morale seemed so low in our department.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Oh I didn't know we've worked at the same place.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

My Lovely Horse posted:

Oh I didn't know we've worked at the same place.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if I unwittingly worked with another goon at Martin County.

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
I got trained using LC Easy and yes, it does look like that.

LoC best sorting system, deal with it.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
...I just heard from a friend and former coworker of mine. A mentally ill homeless man not only somehow got a taser, not only did he bring it into the library, but he tased himself with it while sitting at a library computer "to see if it worked."

the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe

Cythereal posted:

...I just heard from a friend and former coworker of mine. A mentally ill homeless man not only somehow got a taser, not only did he bring it into the library, but he tased himself with it while sitting at a library computer "to see if it worked."

:sigh: if only he had the presence of mind to Google "does my taser work" instead

Chupacabra
May 20, 2005

value-brand cereal posted:

Is this real or is this a tumblr shitpost? Do library staff really get trained on this program?? Is the Knowledge Keeper really real???

LOL! We use LC Easy to train our new student employees (academic library). It is kind of silly, but it works!

It doesn't take them 2 hours though. More like 30 to 45 minutes.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



A lil' off topic but as the creator of this thread I'm running with it. :colbert: I seek the wisdom of my library comrades who actually have an MLS.

I got tapped to do a radio show, and I've decided, as a former library serf, that the theme is gonna be "A thru Z". Every week I'll bring you stuff by the letter [whatever]. I'm having a blast sifting and ripping my collection of CDs, but one thing is nagging me: I have a lot of German bands. Do I list these under "D" because they are Die Haut, Die Krupps, etc, or under the [whatver the band name is after the German equivalent of "the"]?

Lurking Haro
Oct 27, 2009

JacquelineDempsey posted:

A lil' off topic but as the creator of this thread I'm running with it. :colbert: I seek the wisdom of my library comrades who actually have an MLS.

I got tapped to do a radio show, and I've decided, as a former library serf, that the theme is gonna be "A thru Z". Every week I'll bring you stuff by the letter [whatever]. I'm having a blast sifting and ripping my collection of CDs, but one thing is nagging me: I have a lot of German bands. Do I list these under "D" because they are Die Haut, Die Krupps, etc, or under the [whatver the band name is after the German equivalent of "the"]?

Ignoring the article for archiving is better form.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Lurking Haro posted:

Ignoring the article for archiving is better form.

Yeah, that'd be like sorting every band that started with "The" under "T".

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My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

German librarian here: yes of course ignore the article.

Actually these two are great examples: Die Haut is roughly grammatically equivalent to, say, The Cure, while Die Krupps is a standard plural like The Beatles. And you ditch the article for both.

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