Useless Librarians

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Obviously all of the librarians on ILX are wonderful and erudite people, and my general experience of librarians over the years has been very good. But. Today I tried to get Baudolino out at my local library, for the Book Club reading. Not on the shelves, so I asked if they had it or could order it or something. Who's the author? "Eco," I said. "Umberto Eco." I said it very carefully. "Echo?" he said. "That's E-C-H-O?" I corrected him, and he found that East Ham had no copy, and the only one in the borough was in Stratford. He'd ring to get it sent round. Again on the phone, he had to spell the name. (And they couldn't find their copy, so I may be in trouble on this one, as I'm not keen enough to buy it in hardback. I'll try the university library, you never know.)

I don't want to sound all pompous (though I don't think I'm avoiding it at all well), but wouldn't you be surprised? I know Eco is no Grisham, but he's hardly an obscure figure. Or am I living in a delusion? I have a pal who once claimed "Everyone knows who John Dos Passos is" though he did eventually back down as far as to insist only that anyone who had ever been at a university would be familiar with him. This is also completely untrue, of course.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

haha d00d what library was this? what did the librarian d00d look like?

(I have a friend in Newham library service j00 see)

― DG (D_To_The_G), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

If it's just an assistant, then they might not be required to know that stuff to do their job. However, if it's a professional, I'd say that it is embarrassing. You should have a good sense, at least, of the names of well-known authors and what sort of books they write. Sadly, lots of people go into the profession because it's an easy professional degree to obtain. You wouldn't believe how many librarians take little to no interest in the collections they deal with.

― Ann Cognito (dymaxia), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

It was East Ham, DG. He was very young (very young = less than half my age = under 21.5) and Asian. I'd not noticed him in there before, but the staff turnover there does appear to be very fast.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 20:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

(I have a friend in Newham library service j00 see)

This isn't in the Stratford area, is it, DG? If tis, I may have a few ideas of who it could be...

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Friday, 20 December 2002 21:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

At least they know how to order books at your branch! At one of my local branches the librarian seems confused when you bring her books to check out.

― rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 20 December 2002 21:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

They have always been rather rub at checking them back in. I have had to go and get several books from their shelves to prove I don't still have them.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 21:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Can't you order things yourself from the computer terminals?

― Graham (graham), Friday, 20 December 2002 23:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's not what you call a good system, plus they are generally occupied, but I do normally use that. Today I wanted to know if I could get the book in time to read it for January 11th, and the system couldn't tell me that.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 23:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ann is OTM. There were a handful of people in my program who were going for the degree because they considered it easier money than whatever they were currently doing. I'm talking about people who would go into panic attacks when asked to write papers for a class (!!! - how in the hell did they get their bachelor degree without writing a paper is a question I still don't know the answer to), or sit in class with one of those gape-mouthed "huh?" expressions whenever discussions took a literary or philosophical bent. I don't really blame them, I blame the instructors who coddle them and allow them to pass, they are an embarassment to the profession.

― Nicole (Nicole), Saturday, 21 December 2002 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

My significant other just graduated with an MILS and could not have done so without extensive writing of papers, budget proposals, model grant proposals, etc. Is it really easy to get a library science degree in the U.K.? Or (likely) few of the people working in said library actually possess one?

― webcrack (music=crack), Saturday, 21 December 2002 02:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

"This isn't in the Stratford area, is it, DG? If tis, I may have a few ideas of who it could be..."

haha yes, well at least till v. recently...who do you think it is?

― DG (D_To_The_G), Saturday, 21 December 2002 10:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

I work with a librarian (who has an MLS) who was unfamiliar with the school MIT, something I found pretty surprising. I don't know how one gets that far as a bookish person without at least having come across MIT Press, or authors who teach at MIT.

Most of my co-workers impress me with their knowledge, however.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 21 December 2002 14:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

you know, its more likely people will remember the one thing you surprisingly don't know then all the stuff you actually do.

But librarians are flawed human beings. Or else I wouldn't consider becoming one.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 21 December 2002 19:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Obviously the last thing I would want to be is unreasonable, but I think they should stop employing flawed human beings! They're rubbish!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 22 December 2002 10:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

I have a pal who once claimed "Everyone knows who John Dos Passos is" though he did eventually back down as far as to insist only that anyone who had ever been at a university would be familiar with him.

oddly, I only became aware of John Dos Passos' existence as part of my studying librarianship.

Martin, you were probably dealing with Library Assistants. It's not their job to know things.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 23 December 2002 14:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

A good librarian always blames the computer! :)

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 December 2002 15:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

My mother is an ex-librarian. She is also very suspicious of computers ("why has my Library Association Record become Library Information & Systems Update?" ect ect). So whenever a librarian rings her up to tell her a book is overdue and she knows she has returned it, she goes and looks on the shelves in the library, finds the book in question and attributes the problem to the electronic checking in/out system which is, of course "inferior to the old Brown system" (using cards).

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 23 December 2002 15:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

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