Are you "famous" at your library?

[LizzyBee]

The library I use is located in a city of about 350,000, so I don't expect to be personally known except by the staff who is normally working when I pick up our books. But staff members I've never seen before have made comments such as:

 

"Oh, so you're {my name}."

 

"We joke that we'd be out of business if it weren't for you and one other person."

 

It's almost embarrassing. My dh gets such a kick out of it.

[sdWTMer]

The library I use is located in a city of about 350,000, so I don't expect to be personally known except by the staff who is normally working when I pick up our books. But staff members I've never seen before have made comments such as:

 

"Oh, so you're {my name}."

 

"We joke that we'd be out of business if it weren't for you and one other person."

 

It's almost embarrassing. My dh gets such a kick out of it.

 

No, we aren't. We just buy books from local bookstores. :eek:

[Prairie~Phlox]

We are in a large city and large library, but yes, several of the librarians know me. We put holds on all of the time. When we were in a smaller town, I really liked the feel of it and enjoyed getting to know the librarian, but we are fitting in well now. DD actually has one favorite person and on the way to the library once she said, I wonder if Tia is working. I asked why, and she said, oh she's my favorite. I was kicking myself last Christmas, I wish I had taken in a plate of cookies. I'm sure being in a larger library, they don't get recognized that much.

 

Phlox

[Tonia]

"We joke that we'd be out of business if it weren't for you and one other person."

 

We hear this too! :D They like to remind us that we reserve so many books that they keep a special shelf just for us!

[Faline]

Small town here...a lot of the librarians know me by name. Once one of them said that I check out almost as many books as the local preschool/daycare does!

[Sahamamama]

Yes, it's bad.

 

When I go into the library with my laundry basket full of returns -- and to pick up another laundry basket of books on hold -- there is actually one, um, less-than-motivated worker at the front desk who will turn and make a bee-line for the staff room! :lol:

 

The rest of the staff sees Perry disappearing and they say, "Oh, Beth must have come in." :D

 

Also, because our last name begins with "B" our books are held on the top shelf. One of the front desk people (Cheryl) is 4 feet 8 inches tall and she always jokes about not being able to reach my books on the top shelf.

 

They tell me that our family "keeps the stats up." Sigh. Is that a good thing?

[LizzyBee]

No, we aren't. We just buy books from local bookstores. :eek:

 

So are you famous at the bookstores? :001_smile:

[Jill]

Oh Yes! or more appropriately said, Infamous!

I'm joking at least a little bit. I use and abuse our network, requesting books form all over but being in a more rural area, we don't necessarily have all the good books in one place. Our State Library system will even find something for me out-of-state which is so precious to me! That's the way I like to know my tax dollars are at work! There are wonderful materials suggested in WTM and the SOTW activity book and I like to be able to use at least some of them and sometimes, they are not in our immediate network.

I do try my best to be a good patron and don't fuss if I get a $.10 fine or two consdering the amounts of books I borrow. I also try to drop off chocolates or peaches once in a while! and let them know about positive things that we get out of the library so they have input other than complaints. - Jill

[Heather in the Kootenays]

Of course, it is a small town but I love it when I go in and they've set something new aside because they're sure I'll like it.

[sdWTMer]

So are you famous at the bookstores? :001_smile:

 

Ha! No...we're not because we go at different times of the day and to different area bookstores. We really haven't gotten to know any retail people.

[Tap]

Yep, we are recognized too. The children's always remembers us and especially the kids. She will recommend books to them without them asking because she not only remembers thier names, but what they like to read, and often even remembers things they have alreay read in the past. She reads simlar books to what ds14 likes (sci-fi fantasy) so they have long conversations about books when we go in. :0)

[milovany]

I'm "famous" at our library but it's more for the books I order through Interlibrary Loan! I get books on such an interesting, wide variety of topics that they always tell me they look forward to seeing what I order next. The last books I picked up were on cheesemaking and putting food by without canning or freezing.

[bettyandbob]

it's good to be famous!!!

[nakitty]

Probably more like infamous....I have a terrible time getting books back on time...:tongue_smilie::lol:

[Spy Car]

You bet we are!!!

 

At more than one branch. I've made a point to get to know the various librarians, and discuss books with them. And to express my appreciation to both the librarians and the clerks for all the good-work they do (especially handling all the special orders).

 

I think I really earned "bonus-points" recently when we were charged with not returning a whole stack of books (that I knew we returned) and instead of "having a cow", I went around to several local branches and "found" the books on the shelf.

 

The staff was amazed and delighted when my response to their error was "hey, we check out so many books, we really appreciate the library, so a few books were mis-scanned, no big deal".

 

We've been treated like "heros" ever since. And recently *I* really goofed, and had a DVD slip under my car seat and not get returned. I was pretty sure we had another "mis-scan" event, but when I found it I was red-faced, and we had a $26 fine :001_huh:

 

But when I went to pay the fine? The clerk (who knew me well) said "well we can't have that" and cancelled the fine. Yippie! :D

 

Bill

[fenni]

They know me well but we are in a small town. They usually complement my book choices. They have so much twaddle there! bleck!

[PariSarah]

At school, it's pretty easy to get to know people--the school's only about 400 people. So, yes, all the librarians and the student staff know me.

 

A few people at the public library recognize me. One of them is my next-door neighbor, actually! :D (So I have to behave, don't I?!)

[BabyBre]

Yes! When we walk in they immediately turn around and pull my holds off the shelf for me.

[momzilla333]

We do have a lot of books out all the time. The kids read lots for fun and so do I. But what really got their attention was when we won a Wii game system by winning the scavenger hunt contest- our time was 1/2 the second place competition. I think the reference librarian was impressed. When that happened, they asked my daughter to be on the teen advisory board. I think we gave homeschooling a good reputation. :D

[Mrs. Readsalot]

We adore the library staff and they are wonderful to us. They are always interested on the rare books we get them to track down for us. A hundred year old Henty has been our best yet. I still can't believe the library that owns it sent it to our little corner of the world. It was carefully read and returned. At the moment they are trying to find another lesser known Henty for us. As soon as we walk in they pull the books we have requested and I never have to actually get out my card. I tend to keep them well supplied with homemade goodies, tomatoes and herbs. I am so grateful for interlibrary loan, and I firmly believe that you should treat people the way that you would like to be treated yourself.

[PinkInTheBlue]

In our old library in NC (4yrs ago), we knew everyone and everyone knew us. They were wonderful, the book selections were wonderful, the building was wonderful and the inter-library loan/computer system was wonderful. It was in a much smaller town even.

 

The library here is terrible. Everyone acts as if they hate their job and are just grumps. I swear the books are the same books they still had here back when I was in high school. There is no inter-library loan or computer reservation system. When we moved here and they were creating our cards, they actually typed our names on rectangular name tags with an old typewriter and stuck them to a card. My (at the time) 8yr old asked me what that machine was! LOL

 

I miss being famous at my library. :(

[Peek a Boo]

well, I'm on the Library Advisory Board in our little town, so yeah, they know me, lol.

 

our library consists of only ONE room w/ about 9000 items in it. I actually have more QUALITY *books* than they do!

 

But hopefully we're gonna try to change that :D

 

At the other bigger libraries we also use, no, the librarians don't really know us. But that's because....like nakitty.....I run up fines out the whazoo! it's cheaper for me to just buy books. I usually hit the thrift stores or amazon tho.

 

They DO know me at the thrift stores tho and will call if they get a couple boxes of 'new' books in...... :D

[neesek]

Yes, our local branch knows us well. They know all of us by name, they know where my dh works, and are very supportive of our homeschooling. When my dd was born 2 years ago, the staff even signed her online baby registry. We love our local library!

[G5052]

There's been a few staff changes, but I'm known at the town library. They're very willing to renew things "one more time," which is a blessing.

 

We also use a small branch of a bigger county system 20 minutes away, and they're starting to know me. They actually "forgave" a lost book this last week because of my record with them. She said that it was up to be retired at the end of September, and that she'd waive the fee because I was a good patron!

[Tammyla]

Yes...I've learned to simply acknowledge them with a nod and a smile.

 

The library I use is located in a city of about 350,000, so I don't expect to be personally known except by the staff who is normally working when I pick up our books. But staff members I've never seen before have made comments such as:

 

"Oh, so you're {my name}."

 

"We joke that we'd be out of business if it weren't for you and one other person."

 

It's almost embarrassing. My dh gets such a kick out of it.

[Melora in NC]

Probably more like infamous....I have a terrible time getting books back on time...:tongue_smilie::lol:

 

Me too! And our library system doesn't charge overdues -- they really are wonderful. All they ask of me is that I remember to renew (which I can do over the computer!), and I don't even manage that. It is a small library, and all the staff know our family by name. Despite our failings, they are very nice to us.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

well, I'm on the Library Advisory Board in our little town, so yeah, they know me, lol.

 

our library consists of only ONE room w/ about 9000 items in it. I actually have more QUALITY *books* than they do!

 

But hopefully we're gonna try to change that :D

 

At the other bigger libraries we also use, no, the librarians don't really know us. But that's because....like nakitty.....I run up fines out the whazoo! it's cheaper for me to just buy books. I usually hit the thrift stores or amazon tho.

 

They DO know me at the thrift stores tho and will call if they get a couple boxes of 'new' books in...... :D

 

Are you aware of the surplus book program from the Library of Congress. Distance might make this impractical, but I remember that our homeschool group used this and I got some cool things from it.

[6packofun]

Same here! We walk in and one of our favorite clerks will usually say, "Have you read the latest by......... yet??" Or, "I think you'd really like this one..."

 

It's kinda nice. But now that we're broke, that will have to start happening at the library instead!! LOL

[Alyce]

For a long time we went to our local branch. Then ds decided he couldn't find anything that interested and the main library was near dd's ballet classes. Since it's bigger we began going there. One day we decided not to drive into town and when we went into the local branch 2 librarians said they'd missed us and they even asked why son wasn't with us. Now the downtown library knows us so well. They are always asking when I'm going to bring them some more books. Occasionally I buy paperback books at SAMS and when I'm done I donate them to our library. They put them in their stacks because they are in such good shape. It's so nice to have a library that nows you so personally.

[philda62]

I am known not so much because we are there all the time, but because they are going to be able to build a new wing for all the library fines I end up paying! :tongue_smilie: LOL

My dd's work at the library and so we are known through that also. However, they even keep up with where we are chronologially in history by the books we check out.

Gilda

[Jumping In Puddles]

How many books do you all have out at one time?

 

I usually have between 4 and 19 out at any given time. My highest was 27 books once. That's for the whole family of 4.

[Lynn in WI]

Yup. But we live in a very small town and our library is one block away. They do joke about having a "hold" shelf just for us.

 

We have the best librarians. :)

[Tatt2mama]

:D

 

Our library is a smaller branch of a county-wide system, within an excellent state-wide system (I can get almost anything I want through interlibrary loan). My local branch doesn't generally get as much traffic as some larger branches-so I am somewhat famous/infamous there. I generally have over 100 things out at any given time (yes, I have no shame), beween books, DVD's, video games, books on CD, and music CD's. We really use the library! We're there a minimum of once a week, and usually more often than that-DVD's can only be kept out for a week at a time (for free!), but overdues on DVD's are a killer, so I try to stay on a weekly schedule to make sure I get them all back on time. I don't take out things 100 at a time (at least not usually :lol:), but we keep many of our books the full 6 weeks-the ones we really love anyway.

 

 

So yes, I'm well known there. The upside is that my kids (5 and 4) love requesting things from the librarian, all by themselves (my son will say "mommy, I'm just going to ask the librarian a question-you don't need to come."). I love that they feel so comfortable in the library and have their own favorite sections. The downside is that I think some of the librarians think I "overuse" the library (just a sense I get from the attitude I get from one or two of them). But there are two librarians-one who homeschooled her now-grown children, and one whose dil is homeschooling-and they are both lovely to me.

 

 

But anyhoo-it's just great to know that I'm not the only one who's "infamous" at their library-my dh finds it funny too, when he's not too embarrassed to come in with me!

[LizzyBee]

How many books do you all have out at one time?

 

I usually have between 4 and 19 out at any given time. My highest was 27 books once. That's for the whole family of 4.

 

We usually have close to 100.

[LizzyBee]

Tatt2mama,

 

I just noticed you're from Baltimore. That's where we moved from. I still miss the food!! But not the traffic and pollution!

[Kathleen in VA]

Yes! When we walk in they immediately turn around and pull my holds off the shelf for me.

 

Me, too. They don't even ask for my library card half the time - just type my name in. The last time I was in there I got to joking with the librarian about how much time we spend there and she said I ought to get a job there and handed me an application.:D

[Trivium Academy]

I was the only one checking out so many books a year, even before homeschooling! But since we changed to buying our history books and having a good size home science library, I don't check out nearly as much as I used to. That will probably change as the kids' reading appetite grows, I hope. :rolleyes:

[dorothy]

and asking the lady who knows us to look in the back for more, another librarian shouted, "So YOU'RE Dorothy!!" :001_smile:

[dangermom]

They tell me that our family "keeps the stats up." Sigh. Is that a good thing?

Yes! It's great! The more books you check out, the more holds you put on things, the more ILLs you request--all those stats get collected and shown to the people who are deciding how much money the library gets. The higher the stats, the more likely that the library will be considered good for the community and will get to keep its money.

 

I don't count here because I work at the library a bit, my mom works there full-time, and so they all know me very well. But I always have at least 50 books checked out, up to 100.

[JFSinIL]

All the full-time staff knows us - city of about 100,000 now - I have a few on-going conversations with a few folks there - we get to chat unless the line is long behind me for checking out books.

[scubamama]

Yep, we are known at our small town library. I am a regular and always have holds. Our favorite librarian is Miss Barb...a gravelly voiced older woman who reminds me of Roz from Monsters Inc. She won my eternal gratitude and undying love the day I rolled into the library 6 weeks post partum and said "MIchele! you look great!" so loudly in her chain smokers voice that another librarian shushed her :lol: I still like to pretend she was right!

[Allearia]

We go frequently, but we are more well known at the very small library bookstore run by a few volunteers. I usually buy a huge stack of books each time.

 

A couple times I have been in there with ds6 and ds3 and done this and the volunteer has told the story of how a woman came in with a toddler and and an infant in a sling and bought a huge bag of books and said they were going home on the bus. :eek: She just couldn't believe the woman could handle both kids and the bag of books.

 

Of course, "that woman" was actually me three years ago. :lol: I usually drive now. :auto:

[gardenschooler]

No, I don't think so. We live in a big city and there are lots of homeschoolers, so they don't think I'm all that unusual. I have known all of our librarians for a very long time, and they're very helpful.

 

I figured out that someone in my city is also using the library for TOG Year 2 Rhetoric level, because the books are going missing a week before I need them! Most of the books we have several copies of, but there are a few that only have one copy on the shelf. I feel like not spreading the word about TOG, because I don't want everyone running after 'my' books! :lol:

[Sahamamama]

Yes! It's great! The more books you check out, the more holds you put on things, the more ILLs you request--all those stats get collected and shown to the people who are deciding how much money the library gets. The higher the stats, the more likely that the library will be considered good for the community and will get to keep its money.... I always have at least 50 books checked out, up to 100.

 

That's what we do, too. I used to work at the library years ago, at our town branch, and most of the people there are the same crew I worked with then. We almost always have 50 items (the max) checked out on each card (4 cards for our family, my husband just hasn't gotten his yet, for shame). ;) We do holds through the computer, ILL, reference questions (did you know that they TALLY up the reference questions to justify the number of reference librarians they need to have on hand?).

 

It's true. So whenever I go to the library I go back to the reference librarians and ask a question, even if I know or could find the answer. Is that lame? No, these people do a good job of keeping our library system up and running, and I don't take that for granted. They deserve support.

[jail warden]

Yep, they know who I am when I come in most of the time because I have so many books on hold! They are very kind and don't seem to mind pulling all those books for me!

[Tess in the Burbs]

but my daughter always needs to go potty when we get there at opening.....and they use the blue cleaner.......and everytime during 3 year old story time she goes potty....and then opens the door WIDE OPEN and screams, "MOMMY my pee is greeeeeeeen!"

 

And I always go running full speed across the room to shut the door.

 

*sigh* famous alright. just for all the wrong reasons.

[Cinder]

When we lived in a smaller town a few years ago all the librarians knew us and we knew them. We were regulars--every Friday after lunch. They would even hold brand new books for us because they knew what we liked and that we'd be in on Friday anyway.

 

Now we're in a much more populated area. Bigger library, but you know, our small town library had more of the books we liked than this big library does. And after nearly 3 years here only one librarian knows us by sight and pulls our reserved books from the shelf when we check out. Oh well, at least the librarians are all nice even if they don't know us.

 

Cinder

[KidsHappen]

the changed to self check-out and now I don't see any actual people when I go to the library. All holds (including inter-library loan) are put on a shelf which you get and check out yourself. Returns are dropped in a bin and otherwise you just find your books and check them out yourself. If you can't find something on the shelf then you can ask for help but most of the time they can't find it either. Before that I knew all of the librarians and talked to the every weekend when we went.

[Riverfront Headmistress]

I use to be known as the lady with the laundry basket. I've now upgraded to a cart with wheel so I don't stick out as much.

[HappyatHome]

Yes, at least half the staff at the large library nearest us greet me by name. I think it actually got me a little part time job (8 hours a week) when our little town opened a little library this year. One of the librarians from the library I usually frequent assured the man interviewing me that I was VERY familiar with the library system.