Don BorchertCritiques

This is one of those exactly my experience type books. I especially identified with the MMM (makes me mad) chapter. I've met exactly those types who have a glitter in their eye when they are about to kick off with me as their chosen target.

Adult Nonfiction. One (assistant) librarian's account of all the crazy stuff that goes on inside libraries, except only some of it is actually interesting. For people that actually do work in libraries, this book can sometimes seem relatively tame, but there are other parts that do live up to expectations.

A pretty good book on what happens in our public libraries. Some moments are moving, and others are pretty funny. Public librarians today do everything from promoting reading to serving as social workers. I am a librarian, and I still find amazing the self-entitlement some clients bring to libraries, as if they could never do any wrong even when they are bold-face lying. That librarians manage to remain professional in the face of some people, to put it mildy, is simply amazing and proof that librarians and library workers are not valued enough given what we ask of them. Overall, a pretty good book about libraries today.

If you'd like a collection of anecdotes about the weird, crazy, and horrible in the library, then this could be for you. I made the mistake of expecting a well-rounded look into what it's like to be a librarian.

Funny book! And as a library employee - I can relate to several patrons and situation in this book, which makes it all the funnier.

When I tell people I work in a library, they say "What a nice quiet job" or "It must be nice to read all day".

I'm going to hand them this book and tell them this is what my job is REALLY like. Working with the public in a library is more like working as a mediator, a security guard, a psychologist, a baby sitter, a computer expert or a counselor, none of which most of us have degrees or experience in. And oh yes, now and then we get to answer a few informational questions.

Hat's off to ya, Don, you've gone and written the book we all wish we had the guts and the time to write! Now if only people were still reading instead of surfing the internet and checking out videos....

Ever wonder what it's like to work in a big city branch library? Well look no further than this short memoir by Don Borchert. He writes about all of his up and down experiences of being Branch Assistant in a California Library. He started out taking small time jobs before landing his job in the Branch. Here he learns that libraries are where anybody and everybody comes to hang out, talk, network, or even to cause trouble. He experiences everything from the noisy school kids to angry/disgruntled patrons, from when to give-in on things and when to stand ground, and even a few run-ins with the cops. If you are looking for a good laugh, a short memoir, or insight into the workings of a library give this book a try!

Heather B. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

I couldn't resist picking this up and reading it despite all the other TBR mountain books on top of it. And then I couldn't put it down - I stayed awake in bed until I was done with it, and then couldn't sleep for thinking about and also wishing for more. Believe me, I tried to be objective, because I know that stories about assorted patrons and behind-the-scenes life of libraries isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I honestly don't know how anyone could be so disinterested in this to give it less than a 'liked it' rating. Gracefully & cleanly written. Concise stories on a (relatively) wide variety of library-related topics. Funny and poignant, sometimes by turns, sometimes simultaneously.

Oh, to rebut some of the other reviewers - he likes kids, so long as they try to be moderately respectful, and he tries to help them when he can. He likes learning about people of other cultures and basically admits that he knows he's lucky to have been born white even though he couldn't choose that. And he never pretended that this book would be anything like a 'how to fix the library.'

Popsugarreadingchallenge book with protagonist in your profession
Low expectations. Initially amused. Then he got xenophobic. And not buying that it is all real.½

I preferred this over a similiar read ("Quiet, Please"). It's less snarky than the latter. Very familiar, right down to the bureaucratic issues and latchkey kids. Funny how these two books both express feelings of love, hate and indifference in the library work setting.

This was a quick, cute read. A librarian tells stories about cowowrkers and patrons he has encountered throughout his career as a librarian. Not as boring as it sounds. Stories are funny, some inspiring.

This was a quick, cute read. A librarian tells stories about cowowrkers and patrons he has encountered throughout his career as a librarian. Not as boring as it sounds. Stories are funny, some inspiring.

A memoir about being a librarian and the type of people that come in the library. I was hoping this would be a laugh out loud book, but it wasn't. I thought it interesting and at times funny, but I didn't laugh out loud.

Very funny! Follows a man who works at the circulation desk of a library and the crazy people and experiences he's had there. Definitely a book that librarians should read.

Pretty accurate picture of library work.

Although I work in an academic library, I use the public library religiously, and since I'm hoping to attend library science school next fall, I had high hopes for this book. Brochert's style was humorous to me at first, but eventually I got weary of the dramatically negative way the author worded things. For instance, when describing the library's Technical Services department, Borchert writes, "Suneeta was in the basement of the library, learning the driest and dullest of library alchemy--technical processing......Technical processing is eight hours a day sitting in an uncomfortable chair, staring at a computer screen that is all lines and fields of information, with almost no human contact."

There's a little more on this subject, but you get the idea. Both technical services departments I've worked in have been very different than his description, and since he's never worked in "technical processing," I was unimpressed by his lack of knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of modern technical services workflows and work areas.

Hey, maybe I've taking his view of "technical processing" too seriously, and you can tell by the title that this book wasn't necessarily supposed to paint public libraries in a nice way (but in many ways, it actually does). Public libraries are amazing places, staffed by many people who care about their work, and who deal with an extremely varied "customer base." Still, it rubbed me the wrong way that his brief mention of behind-the-scenes work at the library was so negative and stereotypical.

While Technical Services is well-suited for introverted personalities, there are many outgoing people in Tech Services as well. And even introverted Tech Services staff are involved in local, state, and national professional organizations, if they want to be (and many are). Sharp communication skills are vital, too, no matter where you work.

I think I'm glad I read this book, but I know I'm glad to be done with it!

Meh. Shock-value stories written without any charm.

Borchert is hilarious. He tells stories about working in a public library in a sarcastic tone with some dark humor and cussing, all of which are even more fabulous coming from a librarian. I loved this book. Thanks KD.

I probably would have enjoyed this more if I didn't work in a public library, because it was a lot of my-side-of-the-counter anecdotes--people wanting all their fines waived, opening multiple accounts with lost books on all of them, setting up programs for the unappreciative, etc. And, of course, branch-library politics, of which I got plenty back when I worked in Providence. Free For All, to me, was an entertaining write-up of what I'd already lived though. If he blogged all this, I'd probably read this. Hell, I read his whole book. But for those of you who occasionally entertain the idea of working in public libraries, and need some perspective on why it's a bad idea? Pick this up, and you'll stay in your happily-isolated acquisitions job forever. And you'll be glad of it.

(I waffle between three and four stars. It was better than mediocre, but I won't remember much content from it in a month, probably because it will all get jumbled up with my reality.)

All true, all true

I'll never look at my librarian the same again. Nor will I look at the patrons the same again. There are some classic tales in here about what the library used to be and modern tales about what the library has become. I visit a lot of libraries around my hometown and most all of the stories that Borchert tells hold true.

Good non-fiction about working in a public library

It was fun if not taken very seriously. I thought it was a fun twist on the original story. I found it an enjoyable and fast read if you want something that is just fun.

For the most part, the zombie menace known as the Zum is carefully placed in the background. Characters are aware of and talk about the threat and it affects the way they lead their lives, but their interaction with the Zum is fairly minimal until quite close to the end of the story. I do not fault this however, as the slow buildup made this mashup book far more believable.

The author did a very good job of seamlessly adding new material to the story. I dont think Twain is spinning in his grave nearly as fast as some of the other authors who have had thier works "monsterized". (Im lacking a term to describe this new phenominon of adding paranormal critters to classic literature!)

A poignant, funny account of Borchert's 20 years as a public librarian in California.