Quiet, Please: Dispatches From A Public Librarian

by Scott Douglas

For most of us, librarians are the quiet people behind the desk, who, apart from the occasional “shush,” vanish into the background. But in Quiet, Please, McSweeney’s contributor Scott Douglas puts the quirky caretakers of our literature front and center. With a keen eye for the absurd and a Kesey-esque cast of characters (witness the librarian who is sure Thomas Pynchon is Julia Roberts’s latest flame), Douglas takes us where few readers have gone before. Punctuated by his own highly subjective research into library history-from Andrew Carnegie’s Gilded Age to today’s Afghanistan-Douglas gives us a surprising (and sometimes hilarious) look at the lives which make up the social institution that is his library.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Books About Books, Biography, Adult, Biography Memoir

330 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2008

Reviews

[Sarah left GR · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing.

I had high expectations of this book. I hoped the author's observations about public librarianship and library school would be amusing or insightful. They were neither.

Some advice to Mr. Douglas:

* "Smelt" is not the past tense of the verb smell, and "desert" is not what comes at the end of a meal.
* Footnotes are a bold choice, and should be used only by those with the skill to pull it off. For good examples, please see Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell or the front matter to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. For bad examples, see your book.
* Please refrain from using the phrase "in fact" in the future. I believe you have used up your lifetime allotment.
* If you're going to be an jerk, just be a jerk. Don't end a bigoted rant about {insert patron group here} with some Doogie Howser-ish nonsense about how much you learned from them.
* Don't annoy the catalogers. We can bury your book so deep in the OPAC that no patron will ever find it.

[Trin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Supposedly a memoir about Douglas’ work as a public librarian, this book is actually about how Douglas is smart and sane, while everyone else who works at or comes into the library is crazy and dumb. My god: rarely have I read a memoir where the author comes off as more of a pretentious ass. If Douglas were funny it might work, but instead he’s just mean. And not even honestly mean: he keeps trying to turn his mocking into little lessons about the importance of community, or “covering” a chapter of spiteful observations about a coworker with “I didn’t hate Brenda, but…” Oh you big liar. You totally hate her. I know that you hate her, because after saying “I didn’t hate Brenda, but…” a whole bunch of times at the beginning of the narrative, toward the end you slip and reveal, “I hated Brenda.” In the words of Marshall Eriksen, “LAWYERED!”

Douglas says there are two types of humor, David Sedaris humor and Dave Barry humor (the latter, obviously, being the unsophisticated, plebian type that’s only funny to people who aren’t Scott Douglas). Actually, there’s a third kind: humor that totally doesn’t work. Librarians everywhere can feel free to shelve this book in that section.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Why? Because
A) I thought library school was the biggest waste of my time and money and will tell it to anyone who will listen
2) I think librarians by and large are the most socially defunct group of people (I may be included in that)
III) Although I love the patrons, I have repeatedly said "This job would be great if it wasn't for the patrons."

This book reminded me of the many patrons who left me shaking my head (in both wonder and disgust). Two favorites include:
- The man who handed me a picture of a couch and said "I need to email this to my daughter." He did not want me to scan it (we didn't have a scanner nor had he ever heard of one); he wanted me to somehow (with magic, I assume) get that picture onto one of his 30 flash drives (that itself is a long story) and attach it to an email. (He demonstrated this want by banging the picture and the flashdrives together and saying "But can't you just like get it on here?")
- The man who approached the children's circulation desk and announced "I am looking for something educational for my kids." I initially thought of applauding because, well, he had found the right place. Instead I lamely replied "You mean like books... like to read?" (Yes, I have one of them there MLIS degrees and yes, it is the dumbest patrons that make you, the librarian, appear to be the mentally deficient one). He was, in fact, looking for books, like to read.

And, of course, there are the library employees who are worse than worst patrons. There are the bun heads, the racists, and the bitter ol' hens who make what seems like the most boring job in the world riddled with more drama than LC and Heidi at the same club opening (see--librarians are hip; I so know what The Hills is all about).

Most of all, this book really made me miss my favorite coworkers at HWML (favorite being the ones who didn't hate me).

Disclaimer (added many days later): Not ALL librarians are either bun heads, racists, or bitter ol' hens. The clerks are too. No, but seriously, there are many, many wonderful librarians out there but it's the crazies that make for good story. And yes library school was a waste of time. Theory does not equate practice, and as Douglas pointed out in his book, there should be more internships and practicums instead of lecture, lecture, lecture. Either you're good at what you do or you aren't. Logging endless classroom hours isn't going to change that. Out of my 36 MLIS credits, 12 of them were useful and applicable to actual librarian work.

[Carly · Rating 1 out of 5]

A narcissist tells stories about working in the public library - not a good match between job and personality. If only there were a 0 stars rating.

If you want to read a book about working the public library, try Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks & Gangstas in the Public Library by Borchert. Borchert is funny and also has an ounce of compassion for his fellow man.

[Jody McGrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lol funny! This is the story of a man who becomes a librarian because he doesn't know what else to do. He questions his job choice, but he is really a people watcher, and the library attracts all kinds. I highly recommend this book!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review where I find I'm writing more about myself than the book at hand, only because the farther along I read in the book the more I saw myself in the book -- which might not be the best way of reading a memoir.

When I first came across this book I thought 'oh cool - a book about being a librarian', then I thought it will be nice in the biography section with the other book that came out a few months ago about being a librarian, and I'll mean to read it and probably not, or at least until it comes out in paperback, and then maybe still forget about it. Then though I happened to open the book up to an early page and noticed first footnotes (and not that I would phrase it as a man-crush like the author does, I will admit being a complete sucker for David Foster Wallace (and Thomas Pynchon, but not Mark Twain who I avoid like the plague because of a horrible first experience with him at the hands of an incompetent English teacher)), which (I'm back on footnotes here) are an instant selling point to me and on the same page the story about trying to impress a librarian by reading Thomas Pynchon, only to find out the librarian thinks Pynchon is maybe some actor in a Julia Roberts movie. That's all I needed to see, the book went right on top of my to buy pile of books and actually made it out of the to buy pile in the first week it was there (no little feat let me tell you, books can live in that pile for quite awhile).
Parts of the book were a little disheartening, since I'm currently enrolled in Library School, and hearing some of the bad things about being a librarian, and the way he questioned his decision to become one and stuff, but as the book went on I found myself seeing that it's not so bad, and that a lot of the humorous horror stories he's relating could be lifted out of my own experiences working at the bookstore, with maybe a few little details changed (for example, he has a patron come up and tell him there is a man sleeping in a restroom stall, I had a woman come up to me and tell me there was a woman scratching her skin off in the ladies room, or perverts jerking off on the computers compared to some guy blowing his wad on a woman's leather jacket (while she was wearing it) in the Woman's Study aisle). Besides taking an amused solace in similar kinds of experience I also loved reading his short tales of going to Library School. I was also happy to find out that there is some kind of web-page out there for Librarians with Tattoos, it's nice to know that in the future I could belong to something bigger than myself.
I found the book to be overall really enjoyable, I'd recommend it to people, especially people who don't work in places where the homeless and crazy come to spend their days just for the wonderfully bizarre tales they bring with them.
Good stuff.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott Douglas is brilliant! And he is, at the same time, just a regular guy. As a 5-year library employee (who would like to eventually get her Masters, but has to wait for financial reasons for a few years more), I could relate to so many of his stories, both of crazy patrons, and intra-office drama/gossip. His unique perspective of having worked at both a smaller and larger library ensures that librarians of all sorts will be able to relate to something in his book. For me, it was his old (first) work building...the one with mold on the ceilings and a regular list of eclectic patrons coming in the door.

But this book really succeeds in that it is not just a cynical tell-all of all the insane things library employees have to put up with (my personal list, by the way, includes maggots in the binding of a book, being asked by a patron if he could body paint me, a patron who once printed out 100 sheets of paper with the simple internet query "how you put in PC at home" at the top of a search engine page, and so the list goes on). Scott's book is also, more importantly, the narration of an epic quest. The quest is one to find one's place in the working world, and to find satisfaction in one's job. Throughout the book, he questions whether library work is something he really WANTS to do, or something he merely has ended up doing. In the end, he finds a peace and resolution with his role as a librarian that seems to satisfy both him, and the reader (some of which have asked...or are currently asking...themselves the same question).

Two stories in this book especially moved me. The first was about a young handicapped patron and a Christmas gift, and the second was Scott's description of the closing of his old library. Throughout the book, he drives home the fact that as library employees, we are public servants, but for some reason, his description of standing alone in an empty building that had so many memories, and how when the patrons were gone, it was no longer a library at all...that was the story that drove home the fact to me the most.

High recommended to all of my fellow library employees on Good Reads. Stick your name on hold for it...you won't regret it!!!

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Homophobic, fat-hating, unlikeable, but he had some interesting points about libraries. Too bad he was a giant dick.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this what working in a library is like? Well yes and no. Every library is different and from what I've seen in my time in the profession, every library worker's experience of the library is different. Mr. Douglas, whether through his own mentality or through exaggerations meant to obtain what he thought would be a funny book, seems to see librarianship as long stretches of boredom punctuated by encounters with crazy patrons and co-workers. It's one legitimate experience of the library, one that is true-to-life for many who work in libraries. There are many difficult encounters with wacky, annoying, or simply sad people in the library. Everyone who works there has bad days and I've seen many get bogged down permanently in their obsession with that part of the job.

But for others, library work remains continually engaging. Whether it's pride in creating a great local institution, the pleasure of providing good service, or an ongoing love of getting to work with books and other collections every day and introduce these materials to others, many who work in libraries find the job continually sustaining.

If Douglas was funnier, or a better writer, this could still be a good book, but there are glaring problems. His use of footnotes for material that should be written into the text is annoying in the extreme, the equivalent of a drummer's rimshot to try to milk a laugh out of comic material that isn't particularly funny.

Two of the writer's personal traits annoy me too. One is the tendency to slam co-workers and patrons with cheap shots, then try to leaven the cruelty by proclaiming "I really liked them." I suspect this appreciation for the foibles of the people he met in the library is in some cases genuine, but his writing rarely shows the upsides that he appreciated, just his displeasure at what he didn't like about them.

What makes me really crazy is Douglas's own laziness, and how he never realizes how this creates most of his negative experiences. He admits that he spends most of his time off desk doing nothing and acts as if this is normal for the profession. As a hardworking librarian, that makes me angry. I don't want the job I love degraded by someone who practices it badly. As in almost any profession, one can find ways to coast, but there is no end of work to be done in a library. Those who can't find any of it ought to be fired. Even at the desk, which Douglas claims is his favorite part of the job, he seems prone to vaguely pointing in a direction or mumbling a Dewey number when asked a question. That's crummy service and I hope it isn't really typical of his work.

There's also no arc to this story. Douglas is unhappy with his job but doesn't really want to leave it. It seems like he is working toward some epiphany about his job, but instead, he finds a girlfriend and that makes him happy. It doesn't have much to do with everything that bothers him about his job or his life, it just provides him with a distraction. I couldn't help but think that his career, his relationship, or both are in trouble when this new distraction becomes less new.

Finally, I'm bothered by the author's absolute dismissal of library school. My library school experience was good, but like any other educational opportunity, you get out of it what you put into it. There were classes that didn't apply much to what I do now, but others were excellent. Most were somewhere in the middle, and I worked to make them relevant by thinking about the theory and figuring out how I would apply it in practice. Douglas should have tried the same. I have co-workers who have the same gripes as Douglas about the MLS degree, but I can't help but notice that they are generally less effective as librarians as those who have more mixed reviews of their schooling. I don't think it's a coincidence. Douglas ought to be a little more thankful that people are working to provide advanced education and set professional standards so he can make a living in the career he has chosen. Instead, this book is a wonderful argument for why shoddy librarians could be replaced by untrained part-time workers.

This isn't completely unreadable. There are flickers of insight and compassion. I suspect Douglas is a better librarian than this book indicates, that he is trying to portray himself self-deprecatingly to achieve laughs. But it just doesn't quite work and he comes off more as lazy and thoughtless. It also demonstrates the problems with trying to turn a blog into a book. What narrative structure there is here seems like it was imposed as an afterthought.

In the end though, I hope this book is not taken as the only version of librarianship by those who don't work in libraries. I hope it isn't taken as an excuse by lousy librarians to do their job even more poorly. If you thought this book was great and you work in a library or are thinking about working in a library, please consider another career.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 1 out of 5]

I expected to like this. He's a librarian, I'm a librarian, and the few excerpts I'd read sounded like he had some interesting crazy patrons stories.

But in fact I hated it. I *forced* myself to read to page 156, and then skimmed through the rest in about 5 minutes. The problem is, the author is a pretentious jerk. And while I'm happy to read a book by a jerk if he makes me laugh, this guy is also not funny in any way, which is a huge problem in a book that doesn't have anything else going for it. And the footnotes! Usually, I like footnotes. But not when the author forces me to look down three or more times every page to tell me something really stupid. For instance, he writes:

"I didn't think much of Michael's behavior because I was too busy to care; but it became water-cooler talk among staff."

Footnote to the above sentence: "There is no water cooler at the library."

Really? What a shatteringly interesting statement! Another attempt at failed humor, or does he imagine I actually care?

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

God damn this is a good book. As an ex-library worker I might be biased, but this book is so funny, and smart and sincere.

Scott Douglas is relatable. We like the same things, and we're enraged by the same things. If we hung out, we'd probably drink wine and talk about our favorite movie librarians (mine would have to be Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption, I'd imagine his would be Parker Posey's Mary in Party Girl, because who doesn't love her? (this is of course eliminating Sylvia Marpole as she is an animated character (though Bebe Neurwirth is, undoubtedly, a major babe))). It feels like that's what makes this book work the most. Of course, it could be any of myriad other factors (the structure and the voice both stand out quite a bit).

At any rate, this book is great! Read the shit out of it!

[Mary Jo]

Quiet Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian held such promise, the initial flip through the pages had me wanting more, it seemed so clever really the way the chapters were set up, the funny little footnotes~ until one actually sat down to read it word for word. What was initially taken as clever and insightful was actually a very sad account of someone who is clearly in the wrong profession. In all fairness to the author and the book I had to apply book club rules - read the first 50 pages to let it try and hook you before you put it down. So I did just that, and then just to say I was open minded, after all it was written by a librarian ~ I read another 70 pages - that's right 120 pages written by a a librarian who clearly was according to himself, far superior to any person he ever worked with or encountered in a library or graduate school. On page 119 a paragraph opens with (I quote Mr. Douglas directly here), "As if my job couldn't get anymore mundane, one day the library decided it needed stats, when a library decides to do stats, it does them hardcore. It jams the stats so far down people's throats that the people don't want to even come into the building." C'mon REALLY? A deep throat reference to gathering statistics, and then go on for pages to proclaim how offensive it was for him as a librarian to actually have to participate in this gathering of unholy data. Do you blame me for just putting the book down at this point? This person is truly in the wrong profession and I must say that I am not proud to have read his dispatches.

[Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story about one man's quest to...work in a library. Much better than that other piece of crap library book on the market, which is the equivalent of listening to a cranky old man bitch about his job for a few hundred pages.

Oh, and my being in the book in no way colors my review of it.

[Paula · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an unpleasant book. Scott Douglas doesn't seem to have an unreservedly positive thing to say about anything or anyone - with the exception of his significant other, Diana, who has absolutely nothing to do with the public library other than dating a staff member. He is mostly dismissive of his job and public libraries in general, then comes out with a statement like "This is my life, my passion. I see the road is long, but the road is bright." Huh? I never saw his passion for his work in this book, only his discomfort with the fact of being a librarian, a profession which he apparently finds profoundly "uncool." That's fine - he's not the first librarian I've met who feels that way, but deal with it in therapy, please, not in a tedious, unfunny book.
He makes one mean pronouncement after another about the other employees, then backtracks and says they really do get along, honestly. He tells us he hates teens, hates children, doesn't care for seniors, the homeless, or the developmentally disabled, then states how much he's learned from their nuttiness and ability to make his job more difficult while being endlessly entertaining. At one point in the book he relates how his manager decides to start serving popcorn, which Mr. Douglas find unconscionable - until he doesn't, because, as the manager explains, the kids in his neighborhood could use even the meager nutrition that popcorn delivers. But does he thank his manager for helping him to change his mind about this issue? He does not. He thanks the food: "It took a bit of popcorn and a library snack bar to make me realize that being a librarian was more than just giving people information. It was about serving a community. The food had taught me the true meaning of the word progressive." No, it couldn't possibly be that he'd learned something about compassion from his female boss, it was the food that taught him the lesson.
The way Mr. Douglas talks, you'd think every single library employee was an unmotivated, uneducated slug (except for him). But one of the things I love about working in libraries is working with so many dedicated, well-read, well-informed, enthusiastic people. There are slugs, certainly, as in every profession, but the great majority of people I've worked with, part-time pages to full-time librarians, managers, etc., have really been wonderful. And every library I've worked in has been busy, unlike the silent-as-a-tomb places Mr. Douglas works. Do the people of Anaheim really not use their libraries, or is Mr. Douglas terrified of sounding somehow old-fashioned by spreading the word that even in the 21st century, people (all kinds of people, not just seniors and the homeless) are still using libraries?
Two more things: in one chapter Mr. Douglas speaks of storytime, but refers to the people who conduct those programs as "storytellers." Maybe this is an Anaheim thing, because I've never heard that term used to refer to the person at the front of the room who is reading stories out of a book, only to those performers who are actually "telling" stories from memory. In another weird, and frankly, wrong, use of a word, Mr. Douglas writes, "You say library and there's this iconoclastic image of an old-lady librarian telling people to be quiet and not to run." I think we can all agree that what he really means is "iconic" not "iconoclastic". Did this book not have an editor?

PS: Just like Mr. Douglas, I went to library school while also working at a public library. The best part about that was that I could tell right away what was useless theory and what was useful, practical information, and there was plenty of both. I was doing the work of a reference and Children's librarian before I took a single class, but I was definitely a better librarian after I had taken classes. The point of this is to say that if, like Mr. Douglas, you assert that you didn't learn anything in Library school, then you weren't paying attention. Mr. Douglas also states that "what they hadn't told me in library school was that being a public librarian meant you were a librarian for all people." I rather thought he would have been able to figure that out on his own, since he had actually worked in a public library for years. If you really want to know what it's like to work in a public library, don't waste your time with this book. In his effort to be funny, Mr. Douglas just ends up being mean and petty. He seems like the type of guy who will end up being the grouchy old man on the block who yells at the kids for running on his lawn.

[Nik · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't have wasted my time reviewing this book, except that I see that a couple of my library colleagues have put this on their 'to-read' shelf.

Let me give the plot away: it is a stunningly mean spirited series of complaints written by a man who, by the end of the book, made me wonder not only why he continued to be a librarian but why he chose to interact with other human beings at all.

Basically the book can be summed up as "my co-workers are annoying, my managers are annoying, teenagers, the homeless and the elderly are annoying, but I'm actually a bit ok really because I like reading to children and feel sorry for the hungry ones."

It's like having your most annoying co-worker whinge at you for a few hundred pages.

Yes, some library patrons can be annoying, or entitled, or downright abusive. But most of them are pretty decent, and there are quite a few who are interesting, funny and lovely. Not that the latter get much of a mention.

The writing style is "clever male twenty-something tries to seem witty, sarcastic and interesting and fails dismally." He interrupts the narrative (if you can call it that) with tedious factoids and footnotes. The latter are supposed to contain small humorous asides. They do not. To add to all of this none of the anecdotes he relates are all that remarkable, or indeed very interesting.

I should also note that the writer uses the term "shemale" to describe a patron's transition. Should I ever meet with the writer, will earn him a smack upside the head for being such a douchecanoe. And possibly some advice: Suck it up, Princess.

I have taken one thing away from this book: I must work harder, to make sure that any member of the public who gets this book out doesn't think all of us are self obsessed misanthropic twats.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is shocking how many similar our library stories are. The most notable one is when he tells a co-worker that it's a small library and sometimes you have do things that aren't in your job description. I have two co-workers that like using the phrase "But it's not in my job description." Finally my boss printed out their job descriptions and most of the stuff they weren't doing was in fact in their job description. Plus we do work at a very small branch.

Another thing is I, like Scott, also sometimes wonder if I am working in libraries "out of true love or convenience".

I think this book does an excellent job at describing what it is like working in a library. I don't think anyone outside of the library world truly understands. I want to carry this book with me and when people give me weird looks or just don't want understand what I do for a living I will hand them this book. Side note: I once met this rock star that I have been in love with for years. We were hanging out after the show and he asked the age old 'what do you do for a living' and when I responded 'I work in a library' he goes 'what's that mean' and even after trying my best to explain it he really said once again 'what's that mean'. It was hard but I refrained from going 'You may be pretty but you're not very smart'.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every so often I get a nagging feeling that I should have become a librarian. Many thanks to Scott Douglas for an engaging behind-the-stacks look at this career. He is clearly meant to be a librarian, though he sort of wrestles with that notion, and I am clearly not, as I learned through reading this book. Librarians, Douglas points out, don't just sit around reading and revering books and dispensing knowledge; they also serve the public, and, well, I really can't deal with the public. Douglas seems to manage it with great patience and empathy.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I'm opting to be nice and just not say anything, except that I wish it were possible to give negative stars to books on Goodreads."

You know, that was my initial review, but forget that - why not detail how much I despised this book? Sure, I'm southern (not by birth, but by the grace of my parents moving us to the south) and I have adopted the whole southern politeness thing like I have adopted the inexplicable love of shrimp and grits, but I am deeply compelled to defend my profession from this kind of crap masquerading as a portrait of librarians or librarianship.

All this book does is showcase that Douglas seems particularly ill-suited to be a librarian. He isn't even interested in becoming a librarian to begin with, but decides to get an MLIS because it's paid for by the library he works for as a page - what a great reason to choose a profession. He is apathetic about the courses and curriculum, although becomes vitriolic towards co-workers who try to one-up him by asserting that they attended better library schools. Why defend your school and education when really, you don't even care about it? It's just perplexing.

And why continue to work in a profession you clearly have no affinity for? I guess solely for the pleasure of kicking the crap out of it. Douglas displays a disturbing lack of regard, masquerading as humor (although without actually managing to be funny), for any and all types of patrons, his co-workers, and even his friends, which seem to appear merely to highlight his soi-disant brilliant insights. He denigrates libraries in general, women librarians, older librarians, library classification systems (really?), and basically everything about libraries and librarians that one can conceive of.

Dude, if you hate libraries and librarians so much, really - why are you a librarian?

Here comes the requisite southern-girl apology. I'm sorry if this review is mean. I just don't like to see the profession I love maligned, especially in such a ham-handed manner. Libraries and librarians deserve better, and there are much, much better books about us out there that this.

[meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

the more i think about this book the more maddening it is. call me a newbie, but i actually think librarianship is worthy and rewarding profession. this felt like it was written by someone who says condescending things like "you mean you have to go to SCHOOL to be a librarian?!" instead of an actual librarian who should know better. if you don't like your job, man up and get a new one instead of making fun of it, your coworkers, and your patrons to make some money. a few good parts didn't make up for it. i didn't waste my time reading it though, it's a good example of what not to become.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

No, it is not because I am married to him, but it is really good!

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, a memoir about working as a public librarian, was readable, often funny, and usually interesting though occasionally tedious and repetitive. What was actually more interesting than reading this book, though, was reading the range of goodreads reviews. People loved it, hated it, and fell in the middle.

Reading the reviews of this book was actually reminiscent of reading the trails of comments following particularly snarky reviews of popular books on goodreads. I read a lot of these reviews and comments, and I often find these long, drawn-out arguments between commentors saying things like, “You go, girl – I hated this book too!” vs. other commentors saying things like, “You’re obviously one hell of a snob; you think you’re better than everyone else and how dare you insult this precious work of literature?” and then a few saying, “Lighten up, people – I didn’t think the book was that bad, but she’s entitled to her opinion.” Goodreads reviewers’ reactions to this book and its author spanned a similar spectrum.

What seems to have evoked a particularly strong reaction was Scott’s biting and irreverent tone – unexpected and kind of incongruous in a memoir about working as a public librarian. While some reviewers thought it was hysterical, lots of others felt it was overly cynical and bitter and that Scott was clearly in the wrong job. My personal reaction to his tone was that I enjoyed his humor overall, although it got old and repetitive at times. I disagree with the assumption that Scott hates his job; I was often touched by some of his anecdotes which emphasized the “love” aspect of Scott’s love-hate relationship with public service. Although a lot of weight is given to crazy library staff and crazier patrons, Scott also describes his personal growth in the job, and his actually (dare I say it?) idealistic and inspiring insights into the varied and sometimes surprising community needs that libraries try to fill. I did not feel that his reaction to his job was one-dimensional, which was one of the things that kept me reading.

I had mixed feelings about the frequent footnotes – that was a cute device at first which eventually became tiresome. I did enjoy the library history and other trivia asides. They broke up the book for me, and were often surprisingly interesting. The Acknowledgements section was also great.

With all its positive aspects, the book was a little too long for me which was why I came down on the side of 3 stars rather than 4. By p. 200 I was already a little tired of reading it and feeling like, okay, I got the point and I’m ready to move on to a different book. Unfortunately, I still had 120-odd pages to go at that point. Oddly, though, every time I sighed and picked the book up hoping to just finish it already, I found myself immediately immersed once again and turning pages rapidly.

All in all, I would recommend this book to most people seeking a light, funny, and interesting read about an unexpected but highly relevant topic. After all, presumably we goodreads readers love books, and what lover of books doesn’t love the library?

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an extremely quick and fun memoir about being a librarian.

It amazed me how little work he actually did (not him specifically, sounded like his profession as a whole at least according to him). I don't know if this is an accurate portrayal of most librarians' days or not but wow---it blows my mind to think how busy I (and other professions of course) am for hours and hours a day at my job, never feeling "done" with work...and he seemed to have about an hour of work a day and the rest was computer games and websites. He actually had a section complaining about the level of boredom at work, whereas most people could replace that word with stress. I don't blame him but it's pretty messed up librarians get their master's degree and get paid more to do the same things they were already doing. The truth of libraries is that as vital and essential as they are to our country, many libraries(depending on area and so on) can spend large chunks of the day being relatively empty, save the "regulars": homeless people, unemployed people using the internet for work, retired people, etc, as all others are at work or busy! There is nothing wrong with this (although in my bibliophile mind, I wish I could be a librarian who was just endlessly busy with bookish tasks: recommending books, reading stories, leading book clubs...sigh). The libraries for sure need to exist. But those long lulls make for an odd job, as he explained.

The range of patrons at the library is fascinating and anyone who has spent any kind of regular or extended time in a library knows some weird, sad, touching, and creepy things can go down there. I won't go into any details of his tales but they are worth reading.

Also interesting to read was how to keep the library relevant and how much to stay true to the stereotypical idea of a library (solely for reading, learning, quiet, etc). Should people be flocking in solely to read and learn? Is it ethically right to "get them in the door" other ways for example, with food? How much technology does a library need: should it always be completely up to date and cutting edge, or should the tech meet the needs of the patrons in the area? How do you politely (if at all?) deal with the patrons who (homeless, unemployed, etc) nearly "live" in the library and are overusing the bathroom, stinking up the library to the point others complain, etc...Librarians may have a somewhat lighter workload than other careers but it seemed like there was a new personality or situation to work through each day!

It is an interesting and thought provoking read good for any bibliophile and anyone interested to know more about this profession as I have always wanted to.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved, loved LOVED this book. I picked it up totally randomly at a book store (!) while waiting for the bus after eyeing it a few times - it looked sort of interesting, then I skimmed it and was hooked.
This is an annecdotal memoir of a man's experience or sort of coming of age in, of all places, the library as he climbs the library ladder to become a librarian. In short, it is hysterically funny as well as touching and insightful.
There were so many amazing lines that made me stop and laugh out loud or think that I kept finding myself turning down pages so I could quote him in my review, but in truth there were just too many.
The book's charm is its scholarly style of footnotes (which are often wonderfully cynical, and at times informative and boring but always worth it to check) and random information tossed in as well as its highly unusual format for highlighting life lessons (ie, quite funny to see the world of business play itself out in a library).
The book's weakness, in truth, is also a part of its strength in that at times it is preachy or a little too smug/overblown/memoirish but it is so incredibly funny and at times even those drawbacks are so on the mark that I still give it four stars and it was just shy of five.
Sometimes the humor is over the top and it's an easy book to put down, but plenty easy to pick up since it's a light but thoughtful and smart read that will always entertain even if the 'plot' is not compelling.
At times he could've done with a better editor (even just in his one liners) but I'm nitpicking - this book is a trip.
Yoch D. and Yoch L., if you still visit this site, this book totally made me think of you both.

[Almira · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are not employed, or have never been employed, in a public library, this may not be as humorous as I found it!
I will write a better review shortly.

Later--------

Scott Douglas, public librarian at Anaheim Public Library, has written a delightful look at the ups and downs of being a public librarian. He brings to life the best of co-workers and the worst, the best of patrons and the worst.
Having worked in a public library for 37 plus years, I think that everything he wrote about, I have experienced.

I so enjoyed his experience at being "thrown to the lions" when he was chosen to do story times - I, too, had been "thrown to the lions" to do preschool story times, having had no experience or training in this area, I have since been doing story times since 1982 - I am sure that had Scott continued with children's services he would have been a leader in his field.

Scott basically started as a page, went to library school and became a librarian. He started in one branch, with after many years was demolished, went for a couple of years to another branch while the new building was being constructed, then returned to the original location, naturally NOT being any thing close to what the branch had once been - different staff, many of his former patrons had moved on, new patrons had a different perspective and the neighborhood had changed as well.

I really enjoyed reading Scott's book, perhaps he will write another one.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the size of this book, I was already ready to convince myself that I wouldn't like it so I wouldn't have to read the whole thing.

And then.. dangit, I read the first chapter and fell in love. I have lived this book. I have weird patrons that I love. I've had encounters or questions that just throw me for a loop for the rest of the week. Heck, there are some things I will never get over, but after a while, they become hilarious "I survived..." memories.

Reading this book, I imagined myself working with the author. Part of me thinks I would enjoy him as a coworker. And the rest of me is pretty positive I would hate him. I'd be willing to give it a shot either way.

Good book. And it would be great to give to someone that is going to library school without having ever worked in a library.

[Hope · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is taking forever to read because, well, as much as I wanted to like it, it just isn't very good. I am abandoning it for now - too much else to read that is actually worth reading.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Ultimately, a library is a library.’

This book sheds light on the career of Scott Douglas: from his mid 1990s job as a library page (I love that job title), his experiences of library school, and some of his experiences as a public librarian in Anaheim, California. Some of Mr Douglas’s anecdotes are amusing, but his style of delivery (replete with footnotes) is definitely an acquired taste. Amusing at times, irritating at others: I kept telling myself I could ignore footnotes but sadly, I can’t.

While I’m pleased to have read Mr Douglas’s book, I’m even more pleased that I borrowed it from my local library: one of my favourite places to visit. As I returned the book, I couldn’t help but think of my own sixty years of experience as a public library patron and different libraries can be from each other. Mr Douglas’s book has led me to muse about a number of library-related issues and to wonder, as well, about the future of libraries.

It is possible to read this book and be amused by many of the anecdotes: I enjoyed the story about the librarian who thought that Thomas Pynchon was Julia Robert’s latest flame, as well as some of the vignettes about particular clients. I especially enjoyed Mr Douglas’s notes of library history based on his own somewhat idiosyncratic research.

Worth reading if you are interested in one man’s account of life as a public librarian. Worth considering if you wonder about the role of public libraries, and those of us (whether staff or patrons) who frequent them. The humour can be enjoyed, endured or ignored depending on your taste – but it is only part of the journey, not the complete destination.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish this. Douglas’ tone put me on edge from the start and did not get better. It was as if he is resentful toward the LIS profession rather than seeing it as a calling. I implore other readers to actually ask their librarian friends why they go into the field.

Yes, library school seemed like a load of crap, but it taught me the value of on-the-job experience. The work does not prepare you for the real world, but the conversations and connections will.

[Jules The Book Junkie Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A realistic and humorous snapshot of life at the public library.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

Edited to add: After Reading Amanda Oliver's Overdue, I think I better understand Douglas. Humor is my defense mechanism, too. While I still think many of the jokes fell a little flat because they were at someone else's expense, I think I can better see the hurt underneath them.

I'm seriously thinking about setting one of my books in a library so I've been looking for some research books. Mind you, I love libraries and have spent so much time in them that I used to shelve books for my hometown librarian and on more than one occasion was mistaken for a librarian at the UT library. One of my great honors as an author was to speak at the Hoover Library as a part of their truly excellent Southern Voices series. On more than one occasion I've questioned whether I should've been a librarian rather than an English major.

I say all that to say...this book was not for me.

If Douglas has anything nice to say about his coworkers, I'm not sure what it is. He's often kinder to patrons, especially the homeless, so I know there's compassion in there somewhere. He often references the library's relationship to community. But all the same...mercy. Now that said, thank the Lord I didn't write any memoirs when I was in my 20s. I know I lacked maturity. High school even more so than college, I was a pretentious heifer.

Soooooo I think this is a case of not letting enough time pass between the experience and the telling there of. Also, there's some understandable bitterness for lack of funding, something that would feature largely in any memoir I ever wrote about being a teacher. Similarly, it's a lot of customer service, and people are so peoply. So very peoply.

Trying to read this on an e-reader is an adventure due to an incredible number of footnotes. I'll cut Douglas some slack there because he apologizes in the afterword. I might've done the same in my 20s/30s.

TL/DR This is more like if the library were The Office. If that's your jam, then carry on.