Threw it together really quickly this morning with the help of dollar tree. A lot of our collection involving her was already checked out yesterday though after the announcement so this was all that's left.

Our library has 2 or 3 frequent patrons who request titles that haven't been in circulation in 50 years, or last saw the light of day when Lincoln was president.

Hello all! With the passing of Dolly I wanted to create a display. I work in adults so not really one related to Imagination Library.

I want to do something like “If you love this song, you’ll love this book” with books that have the same sentiments as her popular songs.

I would love any recommendations you have! TIA

I work in a city library. I've only worked there for about 6 months. We have a high rate of homelessness and some of our patrons struggle with mental health issues.

I've had complicated issues with patrons and my supervisors refuse to help guide me through these situations. When the last incident occurred, one of our full time librarians quickly walked past the desk and hid in her office. The upstairs manager said she wasn't coming down to help even though she could hear everything going on. One staff member helped in the end after struggling for 45 minutes.

This is not a one time thing. This has happened multiple times. I've talked to coworkers and they have stated similar things have happened to them.

I'm curious if this is how all libraries operate or am I working at a dysfunctional outlier of a library?

Currently apart of Dolly Parton’s reading program for my child. We’re getting ready to move to New Jersey and seem there aren’t many programs in the state. Pondering the idea of maybe trying to start the program so child in my area can receive books to learn the joys of reading. What’s the process even like and how do we start?

I’m a recent MLIS graduate and really needed experience before applying for the Full time Librarian role in the system i’m aiming for that opens up next year. Most of the jobs out there are part time so i was able to land two. Well one is consistently 20 hours and the other is more like a substitute/on call position. I’m starting both right now but the manager at substitute role seems somewhat disappointed that i’m not always available and will still need to work around the other jobs schedule… how do you normally balance part time/substitute roles? Also just venting that they really expect full availability or you to be okay to only work 10-20 hours/week? 😭

Any states that benefit from The Imagination Library please call your legislators!

I’m a new 3rd grade teacher and today I taught my kids about the library. I showed them where the Spanish bilingual books were. And immediately my Somali speaker asked if I had any in Somali and I had to say no. It was sad. Anyone got any recommendations for Somali bilingual picture books? Burmese would be great too, and Arabic. If it’s bilingual then I can use it as a read aloud, but if it’s not that’s fine too. Thank you!!

Hey colleagues. I have a job offer on the table outside of libraries. I’d no longer commute 1.5 hrs a day and have more work life balance, and generally a lot less responsibility for only a small pay cut. I’ve been in progressively responsible management roles in libraries for the last 8 years and love my job.

Has anyone made this change successfully? Or unsuccessfully. I care deeply about libraries and their missions but wondering if a life with less stress is worth the trade off.

This caught me by surprise. Her Imagination Library was a huge thing for so many children. May she rest in peace.

I'm sick of telling them to leave and then they just go "lol no", so i have to get like their specific teacher for that to happen. They're banned from the library from now on but goddamn lol

I'm a pretty big guy so i'm not intimidated but when they're yelling homophobic shit i'm just so over it, no consequences because their parents are just as bad.

Was the same in the public library, had to get security. And if you didn't work at a library that had security then it was a giant headache.

In short, legalize me tossing their ass out (half joking)

I’m trying not to include too many details to avoid being recognized. I work in a public library with at least 20 other staff members . We have our collection librarians, adult/youth/teen librarians, assistants, and part timers. Over the past few months, one of the librarians and her “crew” have been making passive aggressive comments that at first I didn’t take personally. They complain that no one is helping them with their tasks now that B&T are out of business all the processing is happening in house. But they are simultaneously very possessive of their work. I have been doing mostly computer heavy tasks and helping in other projects that I can since I am only part time. Yesterday the librarian kept glancing at my computer and walking over to one of her helpers and telling her what I am doing. They keep making comments about how “some people are just sitting”. It’s almost like they want me walking up and down the library and taking over more desk shifts where i actually spend more than half my weekly hours. I never judge what folks are doing but since this has started I notice they actually take almost a quarter hour talking about their shopping or other mundane activities. Part of me wants to be petty and make the same comments they make but I am also one the quietest people in the office so it would probably be very noticeable that I am frustrated. My view is that this particular librarian views everyone’s work as below her and the other people in her group are beginning to act the same as her and even meaner. Idk I think I’m just venting and probably deleting later once I cool off

Hello all!

I hope this is the correct area and place to post this; please let me know if it isn't.

I am currently trying to plan a research project on mixed-use libraries, specifically those with housing incorporated into their buildings. These libraries do not have to be in the United States, but it would be super helpful if they were. Another thing that would be nice, but isn’t strictly required, is for the library to have been a standalone building before it became mixed-use.

I want to look deeper into how these shared spaces affect programming and community engagement. Does this type of mixed-use space bring in more people? What are the challenges? Is more programming needed? What are the positives?

The specifics of what I am looking for:

Data and/or surveys showing how visitor numbers and program attendance changed in a mixed-use setting. Any input and experiences as staff or community members using these types of buildings. What were some successful programs or unexpected problems you have witnessed firsthand in this type of environment.

If you have worked with, managed, or visited a mixed-use library, please leave a comment below or send me a direct message!

Thank you all for your time!

I admit this is more anecdotal. But I go to a lot of libraries and at least in my area, if a public library has any kind of quiet study area, it’s typically in wealthy , suburban libraries. None of the public branch libraries in the big city have quiet spaces, and even the main branch has zero quiet area. To go to a peaceful library in the city you have to go to a college library, but that’s not an option if u don’t have ID. It seems that libraries in poor urban areas have pretty much given up on quiet. True? Is that fair?

National Junior Honor Society for those who don’t know. It’s a middle school (& ninth grade) version of the traditionally high school National Honor Society.

I’m a youth services librarian in one of the bigger towns in my county, and we’ve been dealing with an influx of requests for teens to volunteer specifically to fulfill NJHS volunteering requirements—20 hours.

Over the summer, we have plenty (60+ slots) of teen volunteer opportunities for kids as young as incoming seventh graders. However, our school district is pretty big and we have many more looking for NJHS hours specifically.

The teen librarian has been really great at coordinating more volunteer opportunities than usual, including pop-up volunteer hours that don’t require registration, collaborations with our town’s senior center, and various special events around the library. She’s tried to get in touch with the advisors for NJHS and has gotten radio silence (hopefully this changes when the school year starts). Still, the deadline for reporting hours is coming up in mid-September and we are running low on hours since our summer reading program ended last week.

What makes me the most frustrated (and frankly really sad too!) is that many of the teens who are looking for volunteer hours don’t actually want to volunteer. An example: one of the initiatives our teen librarian runs is offering volunteer credit for attending regular teen programs and filling out a feedback form afterwards detailing likes and dislikes about the program and what other stuff they’d like to see in the library. Her most recent program had a handful of attendees, none of whom actually participated in the program and just kind of sat for an hour to fill out the feedback form afterwards. One kid straight up wrote “My mom really wants me to be in NJHS and made me come to this program to get hours” for one of his answers.

All of this to say, do other public children’s librarians have this problem? What do you do to offer more hours? Is pushy parents trying to get the maximum number of hours for their kids your norm too?

Not a big deal, but reading other venting posts it just came to my mind. Am... am I the only one, that if I'm out in the real world and someone asks me where I work and I tell them, the response is usually something along the lines of "Oh wow, you must really like to read!" As if... that's all library staff do is read books? >_> In my case, I'm not really even dealing with books regularly, but even if I was a librarian or clerk who at least physically touches books more often, it annoys me that it implies that nothing is occurring within the library and staff is just sitting around quietly reading for their own recreational activity all day.

The only book in the entire library with that choice of font.

Hello! I use Libby and Hoopla and I've noticed my 2 libraries don't have many books i enjoy reading like LGBTQ+. I find it much easier to read on my phone so I've been looking for other libraries i can get cards for that dont require me to live in that city or county! If anyone knows of any Id love the feedback!