I am trying very hard to turn over a new leaf and rely more on my public library.
BUT THEY ARE MAKING IT VERY HARD.
The other night I decided to see if they had a DVD and a book that I’m interested in using as supplemental material in my A People’s Readalong. I was all proud of myself for remembering to go to the library’s website and do a search, and then I was all excited because they had both items. “Sweet!” I thought, and gave myself a little pat on the back.
Because I didn’t have my library card right in front of me, I added both items to a list before I went and grabbed the card and logged in. And then I couldn’t figure out how to reserve the items off of the list. I clicked on some button that said “move” and encountered this message:
“The feature you have selected is associated with personal data in your patron account. Such data may be accessed by law enforcement personnel without your consent. Do you wish to continue?”
WTF, library?? Are you fucking kidding me?? (And how ironic is it that I’m getting that message while searching for stuff that Howard Zinn wrote.) I almost gave up in disgust, because, really, I expect more from my library. A lot more. You know, like an assurance that law enforcement better have a search warrant in hand, or something like that. That message just gives the impression that they’re in cahoots with law enforcement.
Anyhoosie. I reminded myself that libraries can be good and I should support them and why am I even letting this bother me since I’m not up to no good (although I’m having serious reservations (about the library, not about being up to no good)). A few deep breaths later and I got my items reserved (I had to start over though, because that list thing was worthless…on top of everything else, their website sucks) only to discover that the fee to reserve a book (which I have to do because of course the branch in my own town doesn’t have the items I want) has gone up from 50 cents to $1. Per item. Which I can afford, but it’s the principal of the matter. What if I couldn’t afford it? What if I was poor and wanted to know how to build a bomb?? Would the police come knocking at my door?? Oh wait, no…they wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t be able to fucking afford the fee to get the damn book in the first place.
Umm, yeah. So I’m back to feeling pissy about our county library system. They sure know how to suck all of the joy out of finding books.
And yes, in the end I reserved the books (The People Speak and Voices of A People’s History of the United States…see, there’s no need to spy on me), but it left a very bad taste in my mouth. This is not how my 12 for 12 is supposed to be working out for me (this library thing is supposed to support my goal of buying fewer books, and it’s supposed to make me happy, dammit). It’s a very good thing I didn’t put clean up my potty mouth on that list. But I think I need to work on that yoga thing some more. Or at least start chanting “Serenity now…”
What?? You have to PAY to reserve a book??? WTF? That’s horrible. I’m a HUGE library person and I still say that’s horrible. I put dozens of books on hold every month and never pay a thing. I never have to report myself to law enforcement or whatever the heck that was either. Your library system really does just suck.
We have to pay here in the UK too. I think it’s something like 80p per book to reserve anything. It’s always been like that, since before I can remember – though I don’t think it applies to children or pensioners. Sucks, doesn’t it?
OMG, a fee to reserve! gaaaaah! That’s awful! And re the law enforcement disclaimer: I sort of love when real life acts like one of the dystopias I read. It makes me feel vindicated for wasting all that reading time on dystopias! :–)
That’s awful. I never had to pay to reserve a book when I lived in San Diego, but here in Scotland I do. What is worse is that their libraries are tiny and full of new popular fiction. No joke, there are maybe five bookshelves of books, and that includes the children and youth section. I have to reserve 95% of the books I check out because my branch never has what I want. I can afford to pay the fee, but like you said, not everyone can, and that sucks!
Ugh. That sucks about your library! I have never heard of a library charging to reserve books… I mean, I guess I could see maybe having that policy for really popular new releases (the ones that tend to only have a 1 – 2 week lending period), but even then it’s a stretch. The only time I pay for my books is when I inevitably keep them past the due date.
As for the weird police thing, I thought I had read somewhere that police can always access library information, though I’d never thought too much about it since I’m not up to anything shady. I guess I’m not surprised on that front since the library is run by the government.
I’m in shock! You have to PAY to reserve a book? I reserve books ALL THE TIME – by the dozens, in fact – and it’s free, free, free. And while my library’s website can be a bit bulky (aacpl.net, if you’re interested), it’s definitely not impossible to navigate. AND that Big Brother thing is creepy as all get-out. Sorry your library experience is such a dud. I’m so in love with my library system that I wrote this week about just that. I guess it’s all dependent on the library, though.
You have to pay to reserve a book??? Your kidding right. Isn’t the whole point of the library to offer services that encourage people to read, not discourage them. Anyhow that message would have totally thrown me off. Law enforcement and the library doesn’t make much sense to me.
That would have left a bad taste in my mouth too. Why must people in search of knowledge be made to feel like criminals? This just sucks big ones, and makes me very angry. I wonder if you would have been put on a list had you bought the book?
Don’t be too hard on your library. The notice about law enforcement is more of a FYI public service announcement because the PATRIOT Act allows the federal government to access your library (as well as bookstore) records without a warrant and for no other reason than they think you might be suspicious and they don’t even have to tell you about it and library staff are not allowed to tell you about it either should law enforement come calling. Your library could have done a little bit better job with their announcement though.
I’m just guessing, but the fee to reserve materials is probably something instituted after deep budget cuts. It really sucks but with the economy the way it is, government cuts libraries first. Be grumpy at the library for making your experience not exactly top-notch and rant at the government for making it so difficult for libraries to provide the excellent service you want.
That is pretty bad. Of couse, it could be that only YOU were flagged for getting liberal agitating propaganda like Zinn’s material! HAHA. I kid … but seriously, have you read some of the Amazon reviews for the Zinn book? Lots of poeple don’t like it!
Talk about making life difficult. I can’t imagine paying a fee to reserve a damn book! Our library has made some changes because of budget cuts. Like no longer being able to PAY FOR AN INTERLIBRARY LOAN. No I/L loans available at all. No drive-up window. But! The rich old person who died and left money to the home delivery program is getting my vote, because I can still order books online and get them delivered to my doorstep. Now that is pretty awesome.
Stefanie’s right about The Patriot Act. Some libraries disclose it to make patrons aware. Some refuse to turn over the material without a warrant and have gone to jail (there’s an excellent chapter in Marilyn Johnson’s This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All on one case). We more intrepid librarians have opted to not keep much patron information on hand so when the government comes, we (oops!) don’t have that patron’s check out history, so we can’t give it to you, and we don’t have to go to jail.
It does suck to pay to reserve a book. Many libraries have had to start charging for some services. Mine charges $1 for audiobooks and DVDs. I’m glad it’s not to reserve books, as I do that constantly.
I hope your experience improves! Sadly, not all libraries are created, staffed or funded equally, which makes me even more grateful for the public library system in my town.
I can’t believe you have to pay a fee to reserve a book. I place holds all the time as most of the books I want to read are sitting in another branch. And I thought it was outrageous that my library charges $3 for interlibrary loans! (which is why I’ve never used ILL since moving here).
Bad taste indeed! And on the larger level, I take issue with the Patriot Act more than local libraries. The policies are hard to fight (though plenty of libraries have found ways around having this info accessible). There was a chapter on this issue in Marilyn Johnson’s awesome book This Book is Overdue!
Where are all the people in the above comments from?! In Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, AND Santa Barbara County I’ve never encountered a library that DOESN’T make you pay a fee for reserving books (checking out, no, but holding- yes). I’m so jealous! I never put books on hold for that very reason (or almost never)… it bugs me too much. Though I do understand that they need the money here in California where our politicians decided that anything intellectual (i.e. school, libraries, etc) should be cut from people’s lives.
However, I had NO idea about the Patriot Act. I’ve never seen that warning before. Scary! Now I have to wonder if my libraries have just been negligent in telling me, or if they don’t keep records (as Carrie suggested). And books stores keep track too!??!? Creepy. Not that I’m doing anything weird, bit I feel like that’s a giant invasion of privacy. Are they going to tap our TVs next? Then our phones? We all know Google already knows where we are on the Internet (and formulates ads to respond to that). Then again, our President just signed an act allowing any of us to be taken to Guantanamo without a trial, so… Oh jeez, you got me started.
I’m not a huge library fan because of a bad experience when I in grade school, and I’ve never been able to get over that bad taste in my mouth. But I can’t believe they charge you to reserve a book; that’s nutso. And that whole law enforcement thing is batshit crazy.
I pretty much quit using the library because they NEVER had the book I wanted in stock. I’d put it on hold and it would NEVER come in at a convenient time for me. I just gave up.
You should write a letter. Haha. Or you can donate money to the library with the specific direction of letting poor people put books about making bombs on hold.
Wow, that’s crazy! I really didn’t like my library for years, but in 2009 I moved and didn’t have enough room for all of my books, so I started using the library instead. If I had an experience like that I would never have used it! My big issues have always been the selection… But, any way.
Every place I have ever lived during and since college made me pay a fee, so I guess our library charging didn’t faze me. And….wouldn’t you like a reminder that Big Brother is watching you as opposed to checking out that bomb book, thinking that you’ve got it made, and having the G-men knocking on your door the next day? Just saying…Trust No One, especially when they tell you not to trust them!
There are so many things wrong here. Having worked in a library that really worked hard to protect privacy, I get very annoyed when other library systems have caved the The Man. And then that fee is just silly. That’s why your taxes go to the library-so it’s FREE! I can see why you’d be ticked off.
I would suggest advocating with your local government (mayor, governor) to get your library system better funded, or working with the library Friends program to see if there’s something they can do about the fee. As far as the disclosure, they have to cooperate with law enforcement but you could ask them to clarify their policies and reassure you that they only hand over data with a search warrant. I’m sorry you had such a frustrating experience but these are not insoluble problems.
Aw man, I’m sorry you had such an awful experience. I’m a librarian in a SoCal library and Wallace is right–most everyone charges a fee around here. In the case of our library, though, the $1 reserve fee was instituted by our City Council, not us. Not fair, but unless our citizens decide to make a stink about it and start a letter-writing campaign or something, there’s not much we can do.
Because of the Patriot Act, we don’t keep records of patrons check-outs or even computer sign-in sheets for the Homework Center. Most likely, your library is going a little overboard with the warnings. If a police officer comes in with a search warrant, they would have to hand over your data. That’s why they try not to collect any and if their user interface (usually provided by a company like Sirsi or iii or something) stores information, they want to let you know.
You want to hear something really scary? Here we are trying really hard to preserve everyone’s right to privacy (believe me, it’s a BIG deal in libraryland) and Amazon started offering e-books to libraries through a company called Overdrive. Yeah. But, Amazon collects all your data and Overdrive doesn’t stop them. Here is a librarian who is trying to get the word out about that (she does a really good job of explaining how vital patron privacy is to our core values): http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2011/10/wegotscrewed.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Librarianinblack+%28LibrarianInBlack%29
Anyway, sorry to go on and on. It stinks that you had such a bad experience. Just know there is more going on behind the scenes than you may realize.
I’m up on the soapbox with you – a fee to reserve a book?! Your county system needs an overhaul!
I use the library once in a while (often for the kids, more rarely for me), and have recently discovered the audio downloads … those are NICE!
I’m certain I’ve mentioned before my experience with the library and sending my fine to collections when I was in high school? It took a long long time before I worked myself back up to visiting the library. Actually, I don’t visit–I only use them to download audiobooks online. And actually it’s been pretty awesome.
Hopefully just a one time #libraryfail and the next experience will be awesome. Or…just make sure you have a strong drink in hand while browsing next time.
Ugh that is just all around icky! I’m with you on that. What about ppl who can’t afford to pay??? What do they do? Can they just ONLY read titles in stock? Do you pay to reserve if you do so from the library itself? How gross. And in cahoots with the police? So weird…
Yo, your library sounds pretty awful. A) It is against the very code of ethics of the library institution to infringe on an individual’s privacy like that. Your library director needs to revisit ALA’s Code of Ethics, principle III. Most libraries do exactly what Phaedosia describes. B) I can’t believe they charge for interlibrary loan. I really can’t believe it. That is terrible.