Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library

When I tell people I work in a library, they say "What a nice quiet job" or "It must be nice to read all day".

I'm going to hand them this book and tell them this is what my job is REALLY like. Working with the public in a library is more like working as a mediator, a security guard, a psychologist, a baby sitter, a computer expert or a counselor, none of which most of us have degrees or experience in. And oh yes, now and then we get to answer a few informational questions.

Hat's off to ya, Don, you've gone and written the book we all wish we had the guts and the time to write! Now if only people were still reading instead of surfing the internet and checking out videos....

I couldn't resist picking this up and reading it despite all the other TBR mountain books on top of it. And then I couldn't put it down - I stayed awake in bed until I was done with it, and then couldn't sleep for thinking about and also wishing for more. Believe me, I tried to be objective, because I know that stories about assorted patrons and behind-the-scenes life of libraries isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I honestly don't know how anyone could be so disinterested in this to give it less than a 'liked it' rating. Gracefully & cleanly written. Concise stories on a (relatively) wide variety of library-related topics. Funny and poignant, sometimes by turns, sometimes simultaneously.

Oh, to rebut some of the other reviewers - he show more likes kids, so long as they try to be moderately respectful, and he tries to help them when he can. He likes learning about people of other cultures and basically admits that he knows he's lucky to have been born white even though he couldn't choose that. And he never pretended that this book would be anything like a 'how to fix the library.' show less

This book should be required reading in Library schools. I laughed out loud, snickered, teetered, giggled and otherwise thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a fairly new librarian (my second career; I worked in cubicle-jungle corporate for 25 long years), this book entertained me, amused me, and finally answered a nagging question I've had for the past few years: how can someone going to graduate library school REALLY know what it's like to actually work in a library.

While in grad school I took numerous reference courses, a computer course, and so on, and only in one did the instructor/teacher/professor even comment on actually working in a library. All teachers in my Lib school were Ph.D.s -- and all but one had no clue how to prepare show more students for being librarians. They prepare you to write research papers, yes, and if you become a researcher, that's great. They teach you about archives, and if you become an archivist, that's great. But if you become a working librarian dealing with the public (or with corporate employees), they do nothing to prepare you for the real world.

Real library work includes repeatedly being asked : "where's the bathroom?" Or, other times: "do you have a bathroom?". I've had other duzzies: "can I get a piece of printer paper for every tax dollar I pay?" (we give out one or two free sheets of paper; if patrons want more they have to buy it -- at the reasonable rate of 2 cents a page). "No, I wasn't" patrons answer, as if librarians are making up a reason to tell them to stop doing what they aren't doing. "Why do you tell me to turn off my cellphone and not other people too?" One of my favorites: I told a guy to not have a cellphone conversation inside the library, and he told me "I'm just listening; I'm not talking." I gave him credit for creativity, and told him to end the call.

Library work is fun. I like being a librarian. But this book makes it clear in a humorous and accurate way that it can be a jungle out there. Highly recommended. show less

I was really hoping that this would not be a snarky, "patrons-are-stupid" humor book written by a disgruntled public servant. And I was pleased to find it was nothing like that. Sure, there was some snark... but the essays were filled with love and respect for a profession that has been around forever and is constantly striving to gain at least as much respect as the oldest profession. I could relate to all of his stories and was astonished at how parallel libraries are, no matter where they are. My system is clearly very different than his, but we face many of the exact same issues. A moving, funny, and well-written quick read.

Dan Borchert works in a public library in California. He has written this book, Free For All, to let us know what can be found in the average library these days: not a quiet space where only the occasional rustling of pages can be heard, but (as the subtitle says) Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas.

Borchert is familiar with the parents who use the library as a form of free day care, with the pedophiles who roam the stacks in search of nubiles, with the mind-numbing routines and procedures of library bureaucracy, with the people who treat library property as their own and library staff as personal whipping boys...with life at the front lines of the library profession, in sum. As a guy who just bought a "Future Librarian" shirt, I find this show more book a useful source of warnings.

On the other hand, this book has provoked some controversy among librarians -- who point out, correctly, that Borchert has no master's degree and is thus not technically a librarian at all. This may not be important, but I'd trust the author a bit more if he'd mentioned it himself.

Borchert clearly believes in the public library as an institution -- he just doesn't romanticize it. Maybe that's why he annoys some librarians...maybe I could learn from him. Can't become disillusioned if you never had any illusions in the first place. show less

I knew I was going to like this book. How could I not? It's about libraries, and books, and eccentric bookish people! Well, it is and it isn't. This book is 'loosely' many things. It is 'loosely' the sum of one man's experiences as a California librarian. It is 'loosely' a homage to the library staff he has known. It is 'loosely' a timely reminder of all the wonderful things a library can stand for, and how much will be lost if they are neglected. It is 'loosely' a romp through some of the weird and wonderful patrons that one finds lurking in the stacks.

The problem for me was that Borchert never really fixed on any of these things long enough to bring together a coherent memoir. Time skips backwards and forwards. The anecdotes can be show more quite mundane where they were supposed to be scandalous. The reflections on libraries petered out before they said anything profound, and books themselves scarcely seemed to factor at all. Though, to be fair, he does point out that while many librarians join their profession out of a love of books, eventually it can almost drop out of the equation under a tide of customer service and paperwork... I also noticed that Borchert seems to be quite preoccupied with race. He never comes across as racist - just a little misguided - and I understand that his area is hugely diverse, but it seems that every person he mentions has to be noted as being black, or Latino, or Filipino, or even pointedly Sikh or Hindu. In some cases this fitted the context of the anecdote, but in others it just seemed unnecessary. I felt myself rolling my eyes and thinking, 'What does that have to do with anything?'

That said, there are some interesting stories here, and Borchert is very good at capturing the ambience of a library throughout the working day and the working year, from the quietest of mornings to the busiest after-school bustle. There are some amusing moments and some moving ones, and it is obvious that over the years Borchert has seen it all, from drug dealers stashing their wares in the toilets to old ladies who just want someone to talk to, mothers scrapping in the car park to UFO geeks determined to uncover the truth, no matter how many internet hours it takes. In short, there are ups and downs for Borchert AND for his book. It has its flaws, but at the same time I enjoyed following these anecdotes back into my own memories of the libraries and librarians that have brightened my life over the years. Worth a read... show less

Borchert is hilarious. He tells stories about working in a public library in a sarcastic tone with some dark humor and cussing, all of which are even more fabulous coming from a librarian. I loved this book. Thanks KD.