A perspective on the library issues...

My friend Caitlin, who also happens to be a librarian in my area (though not my city), left this comment on one of the library posts, and I wanted to put it in a post so all of you involved in the original discussion would see it:

"As a librarian and a manager of circulation staff, this is exactly the sort of thing I would want to know about. If he did just take the book from you for no good reason, I would want to discuss this with him. It's entirely possible that he didn't realize that patrons could keep books longer than the renewal limit, in which case other patrons will suffer as well. I had a similar situation occur with one of my staff members, and it was only because I was at the desk at the same time as the transaction occurred that I was able to correct her and discuss it with her. I'm always upset when a patron doesn't receive good service, but even more so when I don't find out about it for a long time. If you don't mention this sort of thing to the managers, then things won't ever improve at this library.

Also, as far as the "no adults allowed" policy, it is generally in place to protect kids and teens from predators and cover the library in case they have to ask someone to leave. If there's no policy to point to and no signs posted, the library can get in serious trouble. Generally speaking, as long as you are looking at the books and not at children (even if you are browsing and not looking for anything in particular), no one will say anything to you. And if they do, I would ask to speak to the director. You do pay taxes that support this library, and you have the same rights as other taxpayers to access all of the materials."

Thanks, Caitlin! You make very good points. I don't know the name of the circulation worker in question, but if it happens again, I will figure it out and contact someone in management. And you're completely right about the children's section policy, and of course protecting children should be the priority. In most libraries, I wouldn't really worry about it because I'm sure it's always clear that I'm looking for books, but I tend to get stressed out (and probably overreact) about any interaction with the staff at this library because of several unpleasant conversations in the past. My general strategy is to smile and be super-polite and convince them to like me eventually. :)

REVIEW: Imaginary Girls

Chloe has always had her big sister Ruby to take care of her - and Ruby has never had any trouble making Chloe and everyone else in town do exactly what she wants. But after Chloe finds a girl's body in the reservoir in their town, she's sent away for a while, and when she returns, she starts trying to figure out exactly what's going on with Ruby, the maybe-dead girl, and everyone else. It's twisty and turny and haunting and beautifully written.

But honestly, Imaginary Girls was one of those books that I admire but never quite warmed up to. For one thing, everything was really mysterious, and while I do like books that deliberately confuse me for a while (see also: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer), I get frustrated if things aren't explained to my satisfaction eventually. We do get some answers in this book, but not enough for me. This is an issue I always have with magical realism, and though I haven't seen this book classified that way, that's probably what I'd call it. I hated Ruby, which was probably intended but made it harder to keep reading, and I spent most of the book wanting to shake Chloe. By the end, the reasons why Chloe was acting in infuriating ways are explained, so I don't hate her in retrospect, but it still made for a frustrating reading experience.

On the other hand, the mysteries were compelling and kept me turning pages. There's a drowned city, which is an element I always like. And, as I mentioned, Nova Ren Suma's writing is completely gorgeous, so even though this book wasn't my favorite, I will definitely read her next book.

Oh, my library...

Yes, as you've all noticed, my library has some Issues. About that children's/YA policy, here's the official line:

"Adults unaccompanied by a child who do not require immediate materials from the Children's area shall be asked to relocate to other areas of the library."

There are signs up that have it worded a little differently - I forget exactly how, but they're where I got the "Looking for a specific book is okay but browsing is not" idea. And they're posted in the YA area as well, so I assume that's included. I assume the basic idea is to protect children from predators. They've never challenged me - it probably helps that I'm female and young-looking - but I'm always ready with an "I was looking for xyz book" answer just in case.

And yes, I do know this library is "backwards" (as a commenter put it) in many ways. As someone who trained as a librarian (though I don't currently work in a library), it drives me completely crazy. Making it worse: I am in the second-largest city in the state. Not that tiny towns don't need good libraries too, of course, but for some reason I expect this sort of thing less in cities. But here, actually, I've lived in two nearby much-smaller towns that had great libraries - and were part of a system, so it was actually easier to get specific materials than in this plays-well-with-no-one city library - and the city's is much much worse. Sigh.

I did just get an email that they're holding Saving Francesca for me again finally, so I'll go retrieve that over the weekend. Still working on Imaginary Girls - the writing is good but I really dislike pretty much all of the characters so far so I'm having a hard time.

Clarification

A few of you asked about the renewal issue, so: The library has no published policy of a renewal limit. They do have a limit of two renewals online, but usually, if you bring the book into the library they just check that you haven't destroyed it or anything and go ahead and renew it. (As long as no one has it on hold, of course.) This time, the guy* said "No, that has to come back," so I just assumed someone had put it on hold. But when I got home and went to the online catalog to put myself back on the list for it, the status was - and still is - "Shelving Cart" rather than "On hold for someone," which is what it has always otherwise said when a book is, you know, on hold for someone. So . . . maybe there was something else going on I couldn't see from the patron view of the catalog? Maybe he just decided I had too many books out and he would take that one back? No idea.

I'm not going to make an issue of it with management, for two reasons: 1) The librarians** at this library are known, both in my own experience and in general reputation, for being unfriendly and unhelpful, and 2) I try to keep a low profile there, because this library does have a policy against adults browsing the YA or children's sections, and I semi-blatantly ignore that. (I do always have a title in mind I can tell them I'm looking for if they challenge me.) So I don't want to complain about this incident if it will result in that guy and/or other library staff looking for an excuse to bar me from YA and children's. Because I love those sections!

* Not sure if he's a professional librarian or not.
** Here I do mean professional librarians; the teens who work circulation are delightful.

Miscalculation

I am enjoying Saving Francesca but didn't finish it, planning to renew it at the library today - but they wouldn't let me. I assumed that meant someone else had requested it, but no, I just checked the catalog and it isn't on hold. They were just being mean, apparently. Sigh. (Some of the people who work at this library are mean to everyone, all the time. It makes me sad.) So I've requested it again, and in the meantime I will continue with Imaginary Girls and start the Steve Jobs biography, which is due on Monday. I'm going to have to make a point of carving out reading time for the next month, because the Oscar nominations were announced today, so I am embarking on my mad struggle to see as many of the nominated movies as humanly possible. So we'll see how that goes.

REVIEW: Anna Dressed in Blood

Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood was either the sweetest horror novel I've ever read, or the most graphically violent sweet romance I've ever read, or, probably, both, and more than that. I had heard a lot about this story of a ghost hunter who falls for a violent, deadly ghost, and yet I was still surprised by just how good it was. It reminded me a little of Supernatural, except set in a world in which women are equal characters. And it pulls no punches - people (and animals) are dying all over the place, and the main character, Cas, knows from long experience that he has to be pretty callous about using people. If he's trying to save the city from a ghost, does it matter whether he hurts some feelings along the way? Not really, and so he's trained himself to never care. Except this city is different: this time he starts caring about his schoolmates, and the ghost, so all bets are off. It's scary and beautiful and heartbreaking and I can't wait for the sequel. (August!)

Bad Week

This was one of those weeks that wasn't bad because some huge awful thing happened, but rather because of a progression of small things, plus my general mood and the fact that I haven't slept through the night since November. The fact that I also haven't gotten much reading done this week plays into this from both ends. On the one hand, having a bad week means I've been too distracted to have much time for reading, and have had trouble getting into books when I do have time. But on the other hand, I know perfectly well that the very fact that I'm not reading much brings my mood down and contributes to the bad-week stuff. So it's a very bad cycle.

So! It is Friday night! The work week is over! I am starting fresh! I'm going to finish Anna Dressed in Blood tonight, really, this time, I swear. And maybe make some progress in Game of Thrones. And/or start another library book. But I will read! And I will feel better!