Back in early January I read a review of Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library
by Don Borchert on One Literature Nut. This seemed like something I would enjoy so it put it on my library list. Amazingly, the library had it on the shelf the next time I went so I actually get to cross something off my list earlier, rather than later.Borchert is a librarian at a small library in a large system. He's written a book telling about his experience with the patrons and the employees of said library. The book is full of little insider scenes from a library that I am sure librarian bloggers are all too familiar with. Turns out as many people want to scam their library as want to scam their credit union! Free for All is a quick read, one that I enjoyed, but you have to appreciate a little bit of bite with your humor or you may find it a bit harsh.
Free for All by Don Borchert
Virgin Books
2008
224 pages
I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.
So how exactly do you scam your library? I must not have an evil enough mind, because I'm baffled.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jill, I'm wondering what people try to pull off on their library. I think it would be worth reading just to find out!
ReplyDeleteScam your library? Walk out with DVDS without checking them out. Stealing is so much more gangsta. Denying that the book you returned was the one that fell into the tub when you fell asleep in the hot water. Cutting pictures out of the magazines - only the cool ones! - when you're alone in the stacks. Getting that overdue erased just by talking the book in question and putting it back on the shelf, then acting outraged when they ask you to resolve the issue. Going through the donation barrel thinking ingenuously that books in this area are 'open sport'.
ReplyDeleteAll these would go under "Scamming the Library for $100" Alex.
Don