love4books wrote:
We sporatically visit our local library as we can usually find a good book on our shelves that we have picked up somewhere waiting to be read. My daughter has issues with library books and the germs that come with them. (The books in our library are very old and many have writing scribbled on them or food stuck on the pages).
Today was one of those days we decided to go to the library to check out some books that have been on our wanting to read list. I was so surprised to find that our library appeared to have cleared out their shelves. When we looked into the electronic catalog system we found they no longer carry A Wrinkle in Time and Shiloh along with many others that I have seen in the past or one would think should be their. I know that students in the school district read these two books at certain grade levels. It was very disappointing to see.
Equally as disappointing was the response that I received when I asked if my daughter and I could volunteer after story hour to straighten the shelves and pick up books that are usually scattered about. I was told that they do not like volunteers to help them. My daughter asked me why the lady was so mean as the tone was not too pleasant. I actually couldn't give my daughter an answer as I was also taken back with the librarian's reply.
We live in an area where they are severely cutting back hours and staff to libraries and I thought this would be a wonderful way to help out. I even explained that I worked in our school library for a couple of years and know how the books are shelved.
love4books
That is strange, love4. Do you think the books have not been returned, and there is just no funding available to replace them? That would explain why they're listed in the catalog but can't be found on the shelves.
About volunteering--I don't know why someone would be rude about that. Maybe the person was having a bad day. Working with the public can get to people sometimes, and if job security is under stress, well; I don't know. None of it excuses being rude to the public, but it might help patrons understand. One thought I had reading your post was that the person is worried about his/her job. If volunteers did more of the work, maybe that would be less work for the person to do and make him/her more expendable.
I agree that I hope the experience doesn't chase you away from your library or from supporting libraries. They're so important and need all the help we can give them! (maybe another librarian would have jumped at the chance to have volunteer help). If you go another time and give it another chance, I hope you'll let us know how it goes. I'm sure the library would not want patrons to leave feeling the way you did, especially your daughter--sheesh!
Message Edited by ConnieK on 04-07-2009 01:41 PM
Melissa_W
