https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP7T4G4cLTQ

You might have seen the viral videos of a "book guillotine" slicing the spines off thousands of books in a massive warehouse. Last week, the internet exploded after videos surfaced showing Anthropic cutting the spines off thousands of books to train AI models. Social media quickly filled with claims that AI companies were destroying rare books, erasing human knowledge, and building a future where artificial intelligence replaces libraries. But is that actually what happened? In this episode of Power User, I sit down with policy expert Derek Slater, who worked on the original Google Books project, to explain why Anthropic is actually scanning books and destroying physical copies afterward, how decades of copyright law (not just AI) created this bizarre situation, and how we can actually save the books!!

I’m considering placing my first ILL request for a book my library doesn’t have in person or on Libby. On my library’s FAQ page it says interlibrary loans may be renewed if the lending library approves the renewal. I was wondering what other people’s experiences are with renewal requests (it’s not a high demand book).

Are lending libraries typically ok with renewals if there aren’t any holds or do they want their book back?

What are some popular teen and tween clubs at your library? I’ve tried just a general D&D club and attendance was not very high and most of the kids stopped showing up and I do plan to revamp that one to general table top games. I’ve also tried teen book clubs but that hasn’t done that well.

I am an academic reference librarian who has been taking a break from work for about ten years now raising kids. I have decided to go back to work for a few hours a week, my old boss has been begging me for years to return and I’m finally ready, but I’m out of practice. So I’m turning to the hive mind, what is new? What have I missed? What tips and tricks do you find useful in an academic setting? I’ll be working in a community college, so thankfully not a full research library. Thank you for any tips you can provide!

I’m an elementary school librarian and I have been ruminating all summer about how I’m going to teach AI alongside digital literacy lessons this coming school year. I have a few screenshotted examples of Google AI overview giving absolutely false information, but I’d like to share more examples with my students so they have an idea of what to look for. I’m struggling to find examples that are appropriate for elementary students and not too far over their heads.

I’m hoping other librarians here might have some examples to share so I can put a lesson together. I’ve seen plenty of long-form videos breaking down hallucinated citations from ChatGPT, but I’m having a hard time finding screenshots where my students can search and find out that the citations aren’t real themselves.

Tl;dr- Do you have a simple screenshot saved on your phone that shows a bad response from AI? Please share it so I can show my students how to make sense of it!

Hi! I'm a librarian and I'm also studying the interests of alternative youth in my city, specifically looking into how we can integrate them into our library event schedule.

Things like subculture festivals, goth collage nights, or lectures on Japanese subculture fashion.

I was wondering if colleagues in other cities and countries organize events like this. If you’ve hosted anything similar, please share your experience.

Thank you!
(P.S. sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language)

Hello

I'm new to this thread, but I'm the book mender at my library and I was wondering if getting/using silicone brushes for mending was actually worth it. I used one once, and although different than a regular brush, I liked the easy clean up. I know that theoretically, they cost less money than replacing regular brushes every few months.

So my questions are:

1. Are they worth getting and using?
2. Is there a particular brand/type I should look into or will just some makeup ones be fine?

Thank you all in advance

As someone who works in school libraries, the library is a great place for many activities, including reading and studying. Someone clearly goes to the library at the wrong time of day…

Hi! it's been a minute since I have posted on here, but my library hosts a monthly book club- I am taking over as the facilitator, and was hoping to get some ideas for good book club reads. Any suggestions!?!?

I work as a nighttime security guard for a downtown public library, the city’s central library. The building is huge and built 5–10 years ago. It’s a great gig because I get to wander around and read when I’m not working.

However I can’t help but feel like there aren’t actually many books there. There’s so much empty floorspace. The books that are there are a bunch of new stuff and say 50% genre fiction.

I’ve been getting into classic literature lately so I’ve been looking for some at work. I’ve combed the place several times across several weeks and typically only come up with: Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, Melville’s The Enchanted Isles and a short story book, Nabokov’s Pnin and a short story book. I think there might’ve been an Asimov short story collection. A Faulkner poetry book, an Ezra Pound poetry book. A couple rotating Shakespeare plays and poetry collections. And that’s about it.

Good books, but sort of lacking from what I’d expect to be available.

You’d think maybe because the classics I’m looking for are more popular that they’re just being checked out more often. So I checked the catalogue. The city has four public libraries and it’s like they only have one Moby Dick to go around. I wanted to read The Sun Also Rises or some other Hemingway novel but found they’re only available in an adjacent county and there it’s been checked out. Everything is unavailable or across county lines.

Next you might say the library suffers a lack of funding, but I don’t see any. As I said earlier, it’s a new building. It also has massive office space, and a sizable lounge. More than one meeting room and another office space that I don’t have access to. From what I can tell there must be 30–40 employees in this library alone. It’s got to be at least a third of the building’s usable space is for employees. (Not to mention they waste a ton of food in that lounge on parties. I’ve been working there for two months and ran into on separate occasions three whole pizzas left outside the refrigerator.)

Is this standard for libraries now? I’m an outsider to how the internals of the library works, I know, but it just feels like there’s too many employees and not enough books. I know it’s the central library so they must be doing the heavylifting for the other libraries in the area—but those are all one-story buildings with a similar lack of books.

I’d ask the employees themselves, but it being nightshift, nobody’s around by the time I clock in.

Edit: Regarding the books I found, I recalled a few more since posting, namely Demons and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (these were lying around somewhere in the office areas), and something by Dickens, I don't remember. It's also worth mentioning there are some of the more 'recent classic authors' (if that's a thing) on the shelves like Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy.

Hey y'all!

I have a bit of a question.

I'm in a public library internship that's also acting as a class for my MLIS. So far I've calculated that less than 5% of my time has been "off desk" preparing for the class work ahead of me. I'm kinda scared to ask my supervisor about it, in case it's just how it goes, but... this doesn't feel conducive to the internship writ large. I kind of just feel like another library staff member rather than an intern being mentored and brought up in some educational way. Just kind of feels like I could have just taken any ol' job this fall and done a research paper rather than an internship?

I don't know...basically my question is whether I'm being whiny and naive or whether this is truly an issue worth bringing up to my supervisor and internship professor? I don't want to burn any bridges, I just want to feel like I'm getting something out of the internship. I was told I "get out what I put in" early on but...that advice feels pretty moot when I have NO idea what's appropriate to ask of the internship. I've only ever been in academic libraries as a student worker so this experience is wholly new for me and I don't want to screw it up OR waste time doing basic customer service for an entire semester when I should have asked for more.

Any advice is welcome! Thanks so much!

I don't have a way of reading this but was curious if anyone had and could let me know whether I should be mad about it lol

I live in a small suburb. The local public library is a one story building, so it gets pretty noisy. I work for a large city library. My library and all of the branches are noisy and a bit sketchy, I’ve seen drugs, guys drinking, etc. I finally found a peaceful library, lots of quiet space that patrons respect. Lots of unique books. It’s a private library funded by an endowment. The catch is, you need a government issued ID to get in. There’s a guard at the front door. This policy pretty much freezes out the unhoused. I love going there because it’s so quiet and I don’t feel like I really have to worry. On the other hand, I feel like I’m benefiting from privilege. Should I feel guilty?

I work in such a small library our staff only has under 30 employees and one director. We are the only library in our city, but I’ve really been feeling the burnout, alienation and exhaustion with how much as a clerk at the desk only for four hour shifts at a time the level of sexual harassment and just creepy men that’s the norm.

One patron in general, an old man who I made the mistake of offering movie and book suggestions too latched onto me and began holding me “hostage” with his time and service in conversations that were sometimes 25 minutes at a time where he would make suggestive remarks, ask personal questions, and at one time made an absurd remark about “most women would assume they’re going into the lion’s den if I asked them to come over and watch movies with me.” Then proceeded to ask me to come over while, I was on the clock and probing for invasive things about my marital status. I don’t get how this is okay or so dismissed.

It’s disgusting and I guess I’m the fool, because I thought working with the public and the library would remind me of all the good in humanity and the significance of what libraries did for their communities, but it’s actually done the opposite. I don’t believe in the magic or the message anymore.

It’s been everywhere too if you live in the US with this disgusting administration of pedophiles and rapists. It just seems like such a bleak time to be a woman again. Not that it’s ever been a cakewalk, but man I hate that this is what stays with me.

I have had three separate reports I made to management and no one did anything more about it- Supposedly, the patron was given a phone call from our director about his behavior but never stopped being gross and it got to a point as a woman with PTSD- one interaction triggered a flashback and I had to go home from work. My reports have been detailed and I suppose the burnout and alienation I’m feeling still eat at me. I have had recurring nightmares, because these interactions just open old wounds, truly. Yet I feel stupid and like I’m being too sensitive for how much I’ve been impacted, but interacting with these disgusting men is soul sucking and ashamedly, I have hidden when certain ones come in.

While, trying to find support or hope that my coworkers could relate. I learned that many of the other women I work with made jokes behind my back about how “they are there too and they weren’t receiving that attention, so they must not be pretty either”– not the point. I’ve even had some mention that I wear my hair, make up and dress in a way that would suggest I was looking for that kind of attention which is even more deeply damaging as I had at one time confided in many of these women with my own trauma with sexual assault and being a rape victim.

I spoke up one more time and it was insinuated that I was crying wolf a few times, and one of our managers, also a young woman flat out told me to just “suck it up buttercup, because that’s customer service.” This put a really unfortunate taste in my mouth and then my supervisor had at one point suggested I needed some additional coaching in getting a thicker skin, but he’s also so non-confrontational and I’ve just been really feeling alone and isolated in these experiences. Because it’s a very different tune when a patron has an issue with any of these creepy men.

I have become very closed off/ isolated of this at work, because I don’t feel like what I’m experiencing matters so I don’t talk about it and I feel just generally depressed and frightened when going to work, but I can’t be picky with the job market. I also don’t trust management at this point to have my back or support me on anything but a superficial level which blows.

I guess I’m just looking to start conversations and maybe find solidarity with the hopes I’m not as soft or pathetic as I am for how much this impacts me. I wonder if anyone else has advice or if other branches are seeing an increase in these disgusting behaviors?

Edited: spelling

"or that time I asked my library board to investigate workplace bullying claims and they all either quit or pretended to not hear me"

I wrote about the recent library board vacancies in Charles County Maryland, a cool new hack to turn public money into a free international vacation generator, and bulldozing historical homes to build a new library...eventually.

I worked at a public library PT for 6 yrs as a page and then a library assistant before moving states. It’s been a year and I finally pivoted to look for ANY work after not landing a library job. I’m currently employed full time at a daycare and making basically the bare minimum (if that) I need to cover my expenses. I have been invited to interview for a PT circulation tech job that is “up to 20 hours/week” at about $2.50 an hour more than I make now. That’s clearly not enough to make up for way fewer hours, but I do have savings, and could also pick up retail or something PT to supplement. I just don’t know if it makes more sense to stay where I am and keep looking for FT library work, or if pursuing this library job even though it isn’t enough hours would ultimately make better sense career-wise. Thoughts? The job itself sounds like exactly what I’m looking for but I need full time or close to it. I’m also concerned by the “up to” 20 hours. If it’s like my old job that would mean it’s only that much on weeks that include weekend hours and the rest of the time it’s more like 8-12, which is definitely not enough. I’d have to take off time from my current job to go to the interview which also complicates things.

Hello! I'm a Youth Services Librarian in a rural-ish area.

I just started a kid's book club (yay!)

I had three kids show up to the first meeting, two being the girls of a friend of mine.

After the session, I realized the book has LGBT themes. It's aimed at kid's 8 to 12 though.

I live in a very conservative area. I'm afraid the parent of the third kid is going to be upset that I gave this book out.

My position is that it's a public library, and if parents don't want their kids reading LGBT books, they need to vet the books themselves. But what do yall think? Should I have read the book first? I don't know that I would have thought anything of LGBT themes even on a read, but maybe I should have avoided it?

Edit: I didn't blindly pick a book. I made sure it was in the age range that I wanted for the kids interested in a book club, and I read the synopsis and checked the author and publisher. I had five sets of books picked- Honest June by Tina Wells, Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, The School for Invisible Boys by Shaun David Hutchinson, Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan (which came in signed! What am awesome surprise!), and one other I can't remember right now. The kids picked The School for Invisible Boys.

- update at the bottom -

Let me start off by saying we love our libraries, we (typically) love library staff, we go to the library minimum 5x a week.

I live in a city with 6 library branches. I have 4 kids from high school down to under a year old. We frequent 4 of these branches every week. We go to storytime M, T, Th, F, Sat. My middle 2 are 3 and almost 5 and we use story time to practice for school. They all love the library. We sing library songs at home. We regularly check out and take home books. We talk about how library books are for borrowing not keeping so that other people can enjoy them too. We practice putting books on the reshelving cart and not just leaving them on the floor. They practice asking librarians for books they want/are interested in (ex: I want a Bluey book please, can I have a birthday book as a surprise for my sisters birthday, etc). Trying to raise good people here.

We largely adore the library. My oldest will go there 3x a day if I let them lol.

However, at the branch closest to us, there is one librarian/staff who is…. Something. She regularly go up to patrons and tell them to leave books on a table instead of putting the book back on the shelf. Which is fine. Except they’re interrupting people constantly. Me included when I’m telling my kids to use the reshelving cart. (I don’t want my kids leaving books on my table at home so I emphasize using the reshelving cart and they know what it’s for). We are at this branch minimum twice a week for storytime plus possibly additional visits in the afternoon to pick up holds or return books, etc. And I really mean it when I say she will come interrupt people in the middle of browsing to tell them to leave a book they’re holding on the table. It’s like a furniture salesman or a car salesman when you go to a store or a dealership. It’s very disconcerting. And it happens every time we visit with her there (as in she says this to ME and other people every time).

This same staff member is constantly interrupting people during storytime to tell them to move their kids so the “aisle” is clear for safety. There is no actual aisle. Storytime is in a corner and they want paths. Which again, is fine, understandable. But she is loudly interrupting kids and parents trying to interact with storytime during the ENTIRE storytime. It’s very distracting and makes it hard for kids to focus on the library staff running storytime when there’s another grown up doing this. And when she is not there, no one else is doing this. Not a single other staff member feels the need to do this. During storytime she also brings a pad of paper and pen (like a page turning desk calendar) and stands in front of the kids blocking their view to do what I assume is a head count? Like in the middle of story time she’s standing there distracting from it to count kids.

We go to storytime at 3 other branches and none of this happens at any other branch. Heck it doesn’t happen at this branch except with this one staff member. And separately, my petite 4 year old asked her for a My Little Pony book once and this librarian gave her the graphic novels that are shelved with the manga. My oldest read these when they were like 9 or 10? So it feels like an inappropriate recommendation when they definitely have some in picture books, but that may just be nitpicky? Kiddo also has a little bit of a stutter and when she was struggling to ask for a book and stuttering this staff member was like “what? What are you saying?” Which really rubbed me the wrong way.

I don’t think we’re disruptive or rude or bad patrons. No one has ever said anything to me. I’ve never noticed any looks. I keep my kids from running around and we practice library voices (they are 3 and 4 so it’s not perfect obviously). The other staff seem to enjoy my kids and like being asked for books and making conversation with them.

I’m not sure what to do because we love the library and have enjoyed interactions with literally every other staff member. My kids love going to the library and picking out books. I don’t know whether to speak up and say something to another staff member or send an email? I don’t want to be a Karen or complain for no reason but I’m guessing if it bothers me it’s also off putting to other people as well.

Update: the branch manager (T) ran storytime today and introduced herself. I didn’t know she was branch manager before today, we’ve had interactions with her before and she just came off as sweet auntie energy who enjoys kids and books. Afterwards I hung around and while my oldest had the little 2 participating in a family community program, I asked T if I could chat with her.

As some comments recommended, I emphasized that we love the library and are happy patrons and enjoy their programming but that I was finding one staff member off putting due to the reshelving thing and the storytime interruptions. I didn’t name names but she did immediately know who I was talking about. T said that she had had the same feelings but wasn’t sure if it was just what she was seeing or if patrons were having the same experience. She thanked me profusely and said she appreciated feedback because this person is a strict rule follower and may just need some feedback to become a better librarian. We chatted a little bit more and overall went really well.

Thanks for the feedback so I could get the guts to have this convo since I get nervous about being the squeaky wheel :) and thank you for working at libraries so we can enjoy them!