Finals, Spring 2015

It is Finals week. I'm nearly done. There's just the one for web programming, and I'll do that pretty soon, this morning. I need to sign up for Summer semester courses. Those will be fun, I think. Advanced and Intermediate searching are required courses for graduation, which makes sense. That they're only 1.0 unit each suggests there should be one course that's more in depth and might come in sooner. Librarians have core responsibilities.

1. Check out books
2. Check in books
3. Put books back on shelves
4. Find books for patrons
5. Buy new books
6. Prep new books for the shelf
7. Charge overdue fines as needed

Notice there is nothing listed there about the following: 

1. Babysit children
2. Babysit homeless
3. Provide internet porn
4. Be a movie rental store
5. Teach classes
6. Run a plastic extrusion shop with 3D printers

This became a test question, actually. The point being that too many head librarians are trying to turn their libraries, in some kind of manic desperation, into those other things. A library is NOT a homeless shelter, nor it is a mental health clinic, nor is it a place to abandon your children. If I see stuff like that where I work, I am calling the cops for an arrest to be made. It is also not my job to enforce any laws beyond overdue book fines. That's where my responsibility ends, and I really wish that other librarians would remember they are NOT trained mental health technicians, and they are neither qualified nor are they certified pediatricians or child welfare officers. That's not our job. If it were up to me, I would hand off management of these other facilities to other relevant departments. The county IT department and fund and maintain and PAY FOR STAFFING the internet kiosks that a prior librarian got installed and then ran away from the costs to another job. Not cool. 

I swear you learn so much just attending to volunteering and internships. I am learning a ton from others mistakes and while it looks like DVDs are now a common part of a library, it literally killed off the area's movie stores. There's no reason not to just stick to redbox kiosks, since the local movies only really serve the extra poor, who always have money for beer but complain they can't afford a computer or streaming netflix and broadband? Please. No. That was another final's test question. The entire concept of the digital divide is a scam for handouts. Its the modern Obamaphone of libraries. I recommended free wifi, but no loaner computers and no internet kiosks. Bring your own computer or use the hardcopy books. Libraries are not in place to provide internet porn. And you'd think that would be obvious but other librarian students in my classes have actual rules about what porn is allowed, in public. Are you kidding me? Too much tolerance for abuse is the same as lawlessness. I swear that there needs to be tasers and cattle prods in libraries, but that crosses a line. You have to remove the internet kiosks instead. Make the place a proper information archive, not a hangout for druggies and mental health patients. Its not in the job description and the staff aren't trained for this.