My job: tearing up books
So my job at the public library gives me ample opportunity to work with "real people." I really do feel like I'm more in touch with reality there, even if the questions aren't stimulating, although I can't say that answering questions for clueless undergraduates is really that stimulating, either. Case in point:
Undergraduate: Do you have any articles on, like, sociology? [Yes, she actually said "like"]
Me: Yes, I can show you how to access LOTS of articles about sociology. Is there a specific topic you're interested in researching?
Undergraduate: No, I really just need articles on sociology. My paper's due tomorrow.
Anyway, one interesting feature of my public library job has to do with collection maintenance. I'm in charge of the adult fiction, mystery, DVD, and CD collections. Unfortunately, I don't get to purchase new stuff or anything cool like that. Instead, I scour the collections to spot duplicates, damaged books, things that smell, DVDs people have used as coasters, and other such nonsense.
What this means is that I destroy books. Yes, it's true. Members of that vaunted profession, librarians, tear of books on a regular basis. I really only do this for damaged books, however: broken spines, coffee stains, etc. Unfortunately, you can't really sell such items and it's not really worth the time and effort to repair them, particularly not if it's your 80th copy of the latest Janet Evanovich. Good stuff does get sold, though.
Even though tearing up the books is for the better (we're recycling the paper), I still feel somewhat queasy about the process. It's strange, in a profession whose underlying value is the proper stewardship of information, to be destroying it. In my stack of items to read is a book called Double fold: libraries and the assault on paper, written by a rabble-rouser of the profession, about more nefarious and/or unfortunate destruction of information. I wonder where the line should be drawn.
Anyway, on to cheerier things. Have I mentioned before how much I love Unshelved? Well, I do.
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remnil) wrote,
