Mind your own beeswax, ********! - Page 2

[rmzbm]

OP - you rock. Your DD rocks, too!

About a week ago I took my girls to the library and there happened to be some group there. We just stayed out of the way & let that group of kids do their thing. I found a comfy chair & started to read a book to the girls when a little girl, about 4-ish, came over nearby to a table full of coloring sheets and took one, proceeding to write on the top - her name, I assumed. The "leader" of whatever this group is RACED over, grabbed it, and hollored "You're WRITING ON THIS!" Um, it was a coloring page! Get a grip, lady! : What WERE they for??

[Rivka5]

Aw man, am I ever grateful for our amazing library where all the children's librarians know my two-year-old by name and a little about which books she likes.

I asked for mermaid books the last time we were in, and two librarians spent about ten minutes going back and forth finding books and discussing reading level and scary content issues with me. They really *care* about finding the right books, even for a two-year-old, even if the right books might be off the beaten path. (For the record, none of the books was the Disney novelization.)

[MyLittleWonders]

I am ever grateful for our librarian too ... she'll even call me to tell me when Borders or B&N is having an "educators" discount sale so I can go get homeschooling books.

OP - you rock! I am so thankful we don't have librarians like that ... all of ours are wonderful. I still remember the childrens' librarian from when I was little and she was cool too.

[Mom4tot]

Originally Posted by Cassiopeia

I can't believe she complained about ten books!

They must not have many homeschoolers come in!

Really.


The kids and I have 3 library cards between us and we frequently fill up at least 2 cards, 50 books EACH card. The librarians compliment us on "keeping the library open". We are the customers, we keep their circulation up. It would seriously depress me to have the "cranky" woman discourage us from checking books out. Do they have a director you can call?

[wonderwahine]

Originally Posted by momto l&a

10 Books is too many :

Our library when when we joined I asked the limit. The lady said dont worry about it, its like a couple hundred dollars value of the books :

We check out books for the 3 girls dh and myself and have never hit the "limit"

Our old library had a biddy for a librarian. She like me and dh but to most people she was nasty.

Such a good way to discourage people from taking advantage of all those wonderful books.

I like the op comeback

ours used to not have any limits, and it rocked, we get alot out for ds and myself. Now they have a new policy of only 3 per author/subject/type so im only allowed to get 3 kids books

so we go to the other 2 close towns librarys where there are no limits.

[guestmama9908]

Ughh I really dislike mean librarians. We have that problem here. The librarian wouldn't let me in to story time with DS one day because we didn't get there 15 minutes early.

Then another day they kicked us out because DS was talking too loudly. We were the only people in the children's library at that point. :

[joandsarah77]

once my then 3 year old DS was looking at a book, and dropped it, and it made a sound (GASP!) and she came over and shook her finger in his face and said "bad boy!" and put the book back. Ds then started to cry, and she started SCREAMING at me and DS. THIS IS A LIBRARY, IF YOU CANT SHUT HIM UP GET OUT NOW! We left and never went back.

That is the worst bad library experience I think I have ever heard of.
What a bat!

[Baby Makes 4]

Oh gosh, she would hate us!

We fill up our wagon with books every Wednesday. Usually somewhere around 30-50 books, DVD, books on tape, magazines and computer programs at a time.

Not to mention that my 2 year old has no volume control.

[MonicaS]

Originally Posted by kidspiration

thanks for your tips in your previous post, isn't it so amazing what the little ones absorb? a few days ago i discovered dd sitting on the couch by herself with our digital camera, she had turned it on and she was happily scrolling through the photos and making comments about each one. "ohhh, kira, beach!", "pool, swim, jump!" and "uncle d!". she even knew how to make the little video clips play. i don't know how she figured it out but she did and was using it completely safely and appropriately.

I'm thoroughly convinced that this is because they aren't afraid they'll break it. They aren't afraid to push all the buttons to see what will happen. LOL I tend to be much more careful and make sure I don't push the wrong thing - forever causing my camera/computer/dvd to never function again. But man, these kids just whip through the stuff w/out any hesitation - learning how it works along the way.
When my eldest DD was around 2, she was just poking away at my mom's computer keyboard (at her job) and caused the computer to do something that the IT people had been actively trying to make it do. They were never able to make it happen again.

[emdeecee_sierra]

Originally Posted by natensarah

Oh yeah, we have librarians like that, too. Some of them are great, and some are so awful. Totally on powertrips, like they transferred them over from the DMV.

: Great analogy!!

Ten books? Gosh, we'll get 10 books, each, on a first pass near the easy reader stacks. And there are 4 of us grabbing and gathering. Then there are the ones we actually look for. Oh, and don't forget the 5 or more already on hold for us... Grrrrrr to her for giving you a hard time: She needs a new job. We have upwards of 90 items checked out at once on a regular basis- we'd probably give her an aneurism if she saw our account
OP, to your response to her re: the computer usage!

[bigeyes]

That is so sad.
On one of my last visits to the library in the town where I went to Jr High and High School, a librarian stopped me and told me she had enjoyed watching me grow up in our library.

I didn't even know she'd noticed, but it made me feel good.

Years later I was told by my 'new' librarians that I was the only one who didn't complain about paying a quarter to request books. I told them that since I read so fast 25 cents a book is so much cheaper than the bookstore I'd be crazy to complain. I used to pick up stacks of books I could barely carry at least once a week.

I loved those guys, they were such interesting people to talk to, and they were the ones who clued me in to what it really takes to be a librarian.
It's surprising how many people don't know it requires a degree in library science.

But, oh, those bad librarians, ugh. Anyone who shuts down a child's joy when they are discovering books shouldn't be working in a library. :

[Melsie]

Originally Posted by natensarah

Oh yeah, we have librarians like that, too. Some of them are great, and some are so awful. Totally on powertrips, like they transferred them over from the DMV.

We've been scolded for returning the books to the book slot instead of just setting them on the counter because then they have to bend over an entire foot to get them out. If it's so hard, why in the world do they have it? Of course kids are going to want to use it.

I'm not a snarky mama but I am serious about my profession and all its misconceptions. True librarians have a master's degree in library science so they aren't coming from the DMV (hopefully)....The people checking your books in are most likely clerks making a little more than minimum wage which in no way excuses their bad behavior....

[Mom4tot]

It's unfortunate that some children have to meet with that negative attitiude from the first people they meet and see at the library. No wonder so many adults don't enjoy the library later on.

[elizawill]

my library has a 10 book limit too. i live in a VERY small town though (population under 3,000) so maybe if everyone could take 30 or 50 books, all of the kids section would be checked out or something i don't mind the limit though, we live downtown (ha, ha looks like mayberry) and the library is only a block away and we really enjoy the walk.

[Lillian J]

Although, fwiw, playing devil's advocate here, most people don't expect that a child that age understands tech stuff or reading or writing - so I'm not surpised that someone would assume a toddler was just being allowed to play freely with things she had no understanding of. I remember when my son was that age that he used to turn on the VCR and put in and play our home movies and his favorite Winnie the Pooh film. I never thought anything of it - but a friend of ours who had a very bright son his age was amazed when she saw that he was able to figure it all out on his own, and still mentioned it years later.

Lillian (who is probably older than that librarian, by the way, and has seen plenty of young rude clerks in her time).

[rmzbm]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Although, fwiw, playing devil's advocate here, most people don't expect that a child that age understands tech stuff or reading or writing - so I'm not surpised that someone would assume a toddler was just being allowed to play freely with things she had no understanding of. I remember when my son was that age that he used to turn on the VCR and put in and play our home movies and his favorite Winnie the Pooh film. I never thought anything of it - but a friend of ours who had a very bright son his age was amazed when she saw that he was able to figure it all out on his own, and still mentioned it years later.

Lillian (who is probably older than that librarian, by the way, and has seen plenty of young rude clerks in her time).

There's alot to be said about assessing a situation before spouting off.

[LilMama23]

How frustrating to have such a difficult librarian. Our library is not very child-friendly either, so DD winds up playing Starfall and other games on our computer at home and we go to Barnes & Noble and sit in the kid section there and read.

[heket]

Man, it's bad librarians like that who make me want to . I really feel for you mamas who have to go to another town just to have a decent library experience.

Unfortunately, they are out there. My former location had a children's librarian who was upset with the lower shelving that was installed in the new library, "because now the kids are just going to mess up the books and put them in all wrong places..." : Granted, she am I had come from very different philosophies, but it still made my head swim. :

[momto l&a]

Originally Posted by wonderwahine

ours used to not have any limits, and it rocked, we get alot out for ds and myself. Now they have a new policy of only 3 per author/subject/type so im only allowed to get 3 kids books

so we go to the other 2 close towns librarys where there are no limits.

:

Thats crazy IMO

Wonder why Because thats certainly a good way to curb someones desire for learning!

[harmat]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

most people don't expect that a child that age understands tech stuff or reading or writing - so I'm not surpised that someone would assume a toddler was just being allowed to play freely with things she had no understanding of.

I know some people who wouldn't let a young child near a computer or digital camera, "cause they will brake it". Kind of like said librarian. (I sure wouldn't have figured all the stuff my 4 year old can do on the computer, simply because I wouldn't have been allowed to "play" with it.)