Comments on: Is It Really the "Anonymity"?

By: elderlibrarian

elderlibrarian — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:45:45 +0000

Dear AL

Life is not fair.

By: Mr.Kat

Mr.Kat — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:19:26 +0000

mc213, there are some people who prefer political assassination to intellectual debate because for one, it's easier and because two they are good at it.

Sacrificial Selfless Service is a mark of socialism, and in a capitalist society such thinking will get yourself lost or forgotten. I do believe this is one place where librarinship has gone ary: we expect the librarians to completely sacrifice themselves in the process. Librarians themselves go one step further by contributing to the support of the selfless, nameless role. As nice as this unflavored entity may seem, it's an inhuman role.

anonyous, I can work on it. Some days are better then others. In the meanwhile, I only ask that you spend a little time thinking creatively and can come up with a name for yourself that separates you from the unwashed masses.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:50:43 +0000

re: Anonymous, before you blame anyone fore censorship<<

For pity's sake, get a spell checker and review grammar before posting. At some point, even AL is going to have a word with you.

As for the rest of your comment, how would you know what was deleted if deleted messages simply disappear? Trust me, they're gone.

And one more thing -- people really don't much like cheerleaders. Some people like AL and some people like cogent detractors (even if AL doesn't think they're particularly cogent). It's why LJ decided to spiff AL for recycled posts.

But cheerleaders are just, well, lame. Wordy cheerleaders are even lamer and should consider whether the host really didn't cover it sufficiently in the top blog. Sorry, but you need to know.

By: librarydude

librarydude — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:18:53 +0000

My local public library is full of users, that’s for sure.

By: mc213

mc213 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:35:03 +0000

What I don’t understand is why people get so offended by other people’s comments. Why does it matter who is criticizing your work or your profession? If it was a man in a suit would it be more valid than a sweatpants-wearing fellow? A name and a face mean nothing. The ideas are there, should be free, and as some of you mentioned, the majority of things on the internet are written by people who never use their real name to begin with. It’s egos getting hurt, plain and simple. But the profession is not about us. It is about the user. How can we best help the user? How can we best serve them? How can we help ourselves to help them?–but not about how we can just help ourselves. We need to stop thinking about ourselves and how we can get ahead and focus that energy on how we can improve the institution where we are and the users we serve.

By: soren faust

soren faust — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:47:16 +0000

Sadly, the 20 cents person does not have the excuse of mental illness. I’d like to call him insane; but really, he’s an arsehole and they are a dime a dozen. Luckily, I work in a library that is big enough where I don’t have to interface with people concerning their debts. However, I can imagine that in a smaller public library or in one of our branches, for instance, that it would be just another one of the irritating issues that I’d have to deal with.

There’s no doubt that working a public library can be challenging, especially in regards to the wide variety of personalities one faces. Still, even if I don’t stay in this for the rest of my working life (which, being a librarian, is probably until I die) I think the experience with the public on this level has been nothing but fascinating. I would say that working with the public is certainly not for everyone; maybe I’m a masochist.

By: jmo, mls

jmo, mls — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:45:16 +0000

* whenever the public library is mentioned it’s made out to be a haven for the scum of the earth and no normal citizen uses it anymore. That’s simply not my experience.*

Small side-question: Do people who consistently argue with you about 20 cents worth of overdue fines–until they are literally blue in the face–count as mentally ill?

By: soren faust

soren faust — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:34:26 +0000

jmo, I work in an urban public library and know that a small percentage of the patrons are mentally ill, however a large percentage of the patrons are not. I suppose my response to your comment is due to the fact that whenever the public library is mentioned it’s made out to be a haven for the scum of the earth and no normal citizen uses it anymore. That’s simply not my experience. Of course, there may be public libraries whose sole population served is the mentally ill. In that case, perhaps they do need to build a sanitorium style library, which really means, that the mentally ill really need to be re-institutionalized.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:46:33 +0000

Anonymous, before you blame anyone fore censorship, take a good look at what you post right after you post it – becasue LJ is rather fiesty when it comes to actually positing the content. It’s not the humans, it the code.

In other news, why be so concerend with what was deleted? Let it go and discuss what is left to discuss, becasue if I see right there is one long blog and over 55 comments still here. So that means there’s PLENTY to still discuss!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:25:07 +0000

Of course, if you continue to change history with selective deletes, we’ll never really know what the topics and issues really are. Oops, nevermind. Emily Litella would be proud