As you’ll know if you read my previous blogpost – my local library has gone self-service. I couldn’t help thinking back to the times and particularly the older ladies who were my work colleagues back in the 1970s, pre computerised libraries, in Scotland anyway.
One of those ladies in particular had the distinct impression that she was a massive cut above the rest of us, in fact she was called the duchess behind her back, and all of the book borrowing public believed that she was in charge of us all, when in fact she was just on the same scale as the rest of us. But she was happy with her delusions.
Anyway, as with most workplaces which deal with members of the public there were plenty of experiences and tales to be told about eccentric characters who always gravitated towards the local library, almost as a place of sanctuary.
In those days half of the people in the reading room were tramps just there keeping warm, we didn’t really mind, as long as they kept quiet and weren’t boozing. It was quite annoying though when they walked off with the large newspapers at the end of the day. Of course we were supposed to keep all of the papers, just in case someone wanted to look up an old copy. The Times was the tramps’ favourite, not for reading of course but its big pages were best for keeping them insulated on chilly nights when they were sleeping rough. These were proper tramps with coats tied round their middle with string, you never see tramps nowadays. I quite liked them and was brought up to always say hello to the local tramps who were completely harmless and added a bit of character to the area, and they didn’t want to settle down in houses. One of them still suffered from shell-shock after his war experiences. We knew them all by name, but the one known as EEK! was no tramp – he was scary and not a good guy at all.
Well, I’ve wandered from my subject as usual, which was the library. Way back then the women I worked with would have been appalled at the thought of members of the public being allowed to check their own books in and out. In fact it was only sometime in the 1950s that readers were even allowed to browse actual books. Prior to that the librarian gave people a list of books which were available to borrow, and you just had to choose books from the list and they were brought to you. So no chance of being attracted to a book because of its cover then, or just randomly taking a chance, closing your eyes and seeing what your hand came up with! I know some reference libraries are still like that, which is fair enough I suppose, as you don’t browse a reference library, but it must have been awful for ordinary public libraries to have that system.
So, I might have been having a good old moan about my newly refurbished library, but at least we are able to browse the shelves and read the blurb to judge for ourselves if it’s something we want to borrow.
Mind you, the few people who are ‘manning’ the library now wouldn’t have a clue how to deal with drunks, they aren’t in danger of having their tights dissolved by splashes of cheap wine (I kid you not) they never put the lid on that bottle which is in their pocket you know! And best of all, there’s no chance of some old drunk peeing all over the place in their sleep. Thankfully the floor was covered by linoleum and not carpet. Hmm – not everything about the old libraries was good when I come to think about it!
such a humorous post about libraries! I guess our library is not self service as the librarian does still check us out. Instead of a card in the back they stamp we get a sticker from a gun with the date due on it. sometimes I get a book with a dozen or more stickers jig jaggy over each other and it irritates me to death and I usually take them off. There now I’ve had my moan too:)
Peggy Ann,
We get a print out of the books we have just taken out and the date they are due back. It looks just like a till receipt and I suppose it can be used as a bookmark so that you don’t lose it. I would prefer it if we could use a date stamp too. I know what you mean about the dates being all over the place, I suppose it was because they were in such a hurry.
Libraries really have changed! We get lots of homeless people, but most of them are on the ‘scary unpredictable’ side of the scale. We do have our alcoholics too. I had to rouse a man who had passed out in the women’s restroom a while ago. Unfortunately, we also have quite a few sexual perverts who like to hit on young girls (or boys) and solicit unsuspecting readers. It’s not a part of the job that I like very much.
But I do like that readers can browse and choose their own titles!
Anbolyn,
I remember that you wrote about someone in your library being under the influence of something which I had never even heard of, it sounded scary!
I’m gobsmacked at the thought of sexual perverts frequenting your libraries, I hope that never happens here, mind you, thinking about some of the readers – way back when – the SPs would have got their heads in their hands!
My branch library is a very busy place and only ever had one person at circulation checking books in and out and that person was almost always very slow so there would be long lines of people waiting to check out. When they got self-checkout it was wonderful. There is still a person sitting at the circulation desk who will help you but there are no more lines which is really nice.
Stefanie,
That’s very different from how it was here and when I worked in libraries, we all did a bit of everything and of course no computers were used then so there were rarely any queues, unless it was closing time and they all wanted to leave at once. We usually had at least six members of staff available for checking books in and out.