I'm not sure what it is about the public library that attracts people who just need to talk about their problems, but they'll stand there at the desk for hours, telling you all about their messy personal issues. It's not just a few people either. I'm starting to think we should change our mission statement from meeting the "educational, informational, and entertainment needs" of the community to the "educational, informational, entertainment, and counselling" needs.
Do all public libraries see this phenomenon, or is it peculiar to our community?
They will know it when they see it…
15 hours ago
2 comments:
Having worked in the computer lab at the Warsaw library (back before the govenment mandated that software should monitor internet activity, rather than a trained mon.. er, human) I can assure you that this is endemic to libraries.
I dare say it went far beyond that, too. I sepcifically recall one lad who walked up to my desk and said, "I'm bored."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
[glare]
"Is it my job to entertain you?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes!"
"No."
...he wasn't a satisfied customer that afternoon.
You also get the folks who are trying to solve all their problems at the library. People needing help with their resumés, people looking for evidence that they were implanted with chips back in California (to my astonishment, I was able to help her find evidence), people trying to find their birth parents despite the fact that the information had been sealed by court order. Some of it was bizarre. Some of it was heartbreaking. Some of it made you feel like there was hope for the human race, after all.
Good Job! :)
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