The Law Library PokeStop Isn't Inside the Law Library, and Other Woes

Like all proper libraries, there is a Pokemon Go PokeStop assigned to the law library where I work. From what I've heard from staff at other libraries, it's not unusual for the PokeStop to be located right outside the doors of the library/courthouse/museum/etc. Which doesn't explain why my PokeStop is in the middle of the metered parking lot of the building next door.

Sitting inside the law library, I can access the PokeStop for my courthouse building, but the stop that is labeled Law Library is "too far away" from said library. I would ask someone to explain this to me, but I don't think anyone can. Also, frankly, I don't care that much. It's just weird and illogical to me.

IN OTHER NEWS, I am less than thrilled that Thomson Reuters/West Publishing had massive printer errors in a lot of their reporters. They're going to provide us with corrected volumes at no cost and take away the old, error-ridden ones at their expense, which is nice. What is not so great? I'll be getting around a hundred books next month. A hundred heavy print case reporters. Guess I won't have to worry about upper body workouts next month!

Such a Good Friend...

So I've evolved in my library career and am now the director of a county law library. Since leaving public libraries, I've become an active volunteer, helping with the big book sale, counting Friends money, etc. Which is how I became the de facto Friends president for my small neighborhood library (the last one I worked at). Now, this job wouldn't be terribly taxing, but our library system's countywide Friends group is dissolving in October. This means that each individual Friends group will need to form their own nonprofit organization or be subsumed into the direction-challenged foundation. Enter the law librarian! Hey, you know things about corporations! You sit near law books! You can set up a 501(c)(3)! So now I'm drafting Articles of Incorporation, researching sales tax exemptions, and sighing heavily.

Review: Shadows of Night

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The highly-anticipated sequel to A Discovery of Witches, this July release sees Diana Bishop, scholar and witch, and her vampire paramour Matthew Clairmont travel through time to solve the mystery of Ashmole 782, the manuscript that brought them together and brought them to the attention of other supernatural beings that may not have their best interests at heart.

Diana and Matthew find themselves immersed in Elizabethan England, tracking down clues to the location and nature of Ashmole 782 while frantically trying to find someone to educate Diana in her newly-freed and acknowledged magic. They encounter Matthew’s friends from the era, the mysterious School of Night, that includes such famous historical figures as Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh.

Why I picked it up: I scored an Advance Readers copy through NetGalley, which thrilled me to no end, since the cliffhanger ending of A Discovery of Witches left me wanting to know what happened.

Why I finished it: I enjoy supernatural fiction, and this has enough historical detail and character development that it escapes being lumped in with paranormal romances in general.

I’d recommend it to: Paranormal romance fans and fans of historical fiction who aren’t put off by paranormal or supernatural subject matter.


View all my reviews

Large Print Hobo Glyphs

There is a certain subset of library patron that apparently cannot remember which books they read, compelling them instead to make a mark inside the front cover of the book to identify where they have been. Like a brand, or one of the hobo glyphs that showed up on gateposts and in boxcars around the country during the Depression. Most of these books are in the large print collection, meaning they are mostly checked out by patrons of a certain age.

A lot of these symbols are a person's initials, but some people get downright artistic. I've seen pine trees, circles, triangles, things that look like cattle brands... Some even have a small stamp for this purpose.

The thing is, we have a floating collection, meaning books that are requested by our patrons come from other libraries and, once returned, stay on our shelves until they are requested by a patron from another branch. So if Joe Schmoe from the other side of the county checks out a book from his local branch, puts his mark in it, then Jane Doe requests it be brought to our branch, then the copy of the title Joe Schmoe read and marked is now halfway across the county. Perhaps, then, while Jane Doe is reading that copy, someone else from Joe Schmoe's library requests another copy from another branch, then it is returned there. There is now a copy of a book Joe Schmoe has read, but not the copy he has marked, meaning he might check out something he's already read. Quelle horreur!

Long story short, the library version of the hobo glyph is pointless. Better to invest in a little notebook and write down what you read.

PhD in Douchebaggery

We get all kinds of people in the library. Young, old, poor, rich, black, white, yellow, orange, green. S-M-R-T and not so S-M-R-T. Occasionally we get a real superstar, though. Take Mr. PhD in Geophysics.

Mr. PhD in Geophysics comes in the other day with his son. Son goes off into the Children's Room to browse while Mr. PhD in Geophysics fills out an application for a library card. Upon presenting his application at the circulation desk, Mr. PhD in Geophysics is informed that, since he lives in a neighboring county, he needs to first procure a library card from that county and then we can add him to our system. Mr. PhD in Geophysics then states that he and his family will be moving to our county soon and he doesn't want to get a library card for the county in which he currently lives. The staff member at the circulation desk then offers him the nonresident card, which costs $25. He proceeds to puff up like a great indignant balloon and is sent to the Information Desk to speak to a supervisor.

My colleague, who is also a Librarian and is also at the Information Desk with me, fields him first. She reiterates what the circulation staff member has already told him. He says he has a PhD in Geophysics, and this is the only library he has ever been to where he could only get a card if he paid. She explained that he can get borrowing privileges for our library for free, but that first he would have to get a card for his home county.

He continues to bluster that he has a PHD!!! In GEOPHYSICS!!! And he has library cards from all over the country!!! Like Boston!!! And I stepped in at this point and said that that is all fine, well and good, but he was not going to be checking out a book from our library until he brought in a card from the neighboring county, coughed up $25, or moved to our county. At which point he is still arguing that he has a PHD IN GEOPHYSICS and that NO WONDER EVERYONE IN THIS STATE IS ILLITERATE. I gave him the number of our administrative office and he collected his son, saying the "Book Nazis" weren't going to let them check anything out, and huffed out.

PhD. And the D stands for Douchebag.

JFGI, People!

I staff a virtual librarian desk, which means that the people who are asking me questions are people on a computer with Internet access. The vast majority of the not-library-specific questions I get are questions that are quickly and easily answered with a trip to your best friend and mine, The Google.

I wonder every time I am logged on to virtual reference why these people, who are skilled enough to find a link to or navigate to our virtual reference chat site, are not s-m-r-t enough to GO TO THE GOOGLE and search for the answer there first.

Really want to send them to this site. Really. All the time.

Book Donations, A Caveat

Patron: "My wife and I are cleaning out our house and downsizing and I have a lot of books to donate."

Me: "Great!"

Patron: "I have one requirement: the books must be added to the collection."

Me: "Well, unfortunately I can't guarantee that items donated to the library will be added to the collection. We will certainly consider any that are appropriate and will sell the others in the Friends' book sale."

Patron: "Well, these are rare books and some of them are quite valuable. I have had dealers interested in buying them, but I wanted them to benefit the library."

Me: "Well, we'll be happy to take them but again, we can't guarantee what will happen to them after you donate them."

Patron: "Okay, that's fine. I'll donate them. But you should check online to make sure you ask a fair price for them."

Me: "Okay."

Patron hands me a box full of Readers Digest and Time-Life subscription series books from the 1980s.

Me: "Thanks!" [Interior monologue: Yeah, real rare and valuable.]