Free for All
Over the holiday weekend, while Jim's family watched copious amounts of college football, I sat in front of the fireplace reading Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, the new tell-all library confidential by Don Borchert.
I'd been looking forward to this book for a while. My friend who works in acquisitions tipped me off to it as soon as it became available for pre-ordering (I think her exact words were, "omg i'm putting a hold on this right now.") My first thought was, "crap! Someone beat me to it!"
(If you aren't a public librarian and have no idea what kinds of antics go on in the public library, either read this book or check out the long-running Tales from the Liberry. Be sure to scroll through the Rogues Gallery.)
Then I started to wonder in earnest why no disgruntled librarian had ever written a book like this before.
Ten pages into the book, I realized what was going on.
Don Borchert is not a librarian.
Don Borchert is a library assistant. He did not go to library school, and so he had no lofty, library school ideals going into this job. For him, it is exactly that - a job, equal to his previous jobs selling records and chopping down Christmas trees (he's just managed to stay at this one a little longer).
He is not a member of "the profession," and thus there was no risk of being shunned by "the profession" if the book turned out to violate some kind of library patron confidentiality code. He didn't feel beholden to any professional standards. (Library Journal asked him if he's a member of the American Library Association, to which he replied: "No.") As he suggested in another interview, he is just a writer that works in a library.
I haven't looked or asked, but I'm guessing there are probably a few librarians out there who are mad that Borchert misrepresented himself as "one of them." Well, okay, I did kind of look, and found this quote attached to a 1-star Amazon.com review:
(FYI - it's not a "dry and boring read," it's hilarious and totally accurate. And if Don Borchert is a cranky old man, well, then I am a cranky old man, too.)
The bottom line for me: sometimes I wish I hadn't gone to library school. I was happier just being someone who worked in a library, rather than a librarian. Thanks, Mr. Borchert, for reminding me of that.
PS - There is no way I could have disliked this book, as Chapter Two begins thusly: "When I was a little kid, my mom and dad took us to the public library on West 119th Street and Lorain Road in Cleveland...."
I'd been looking forward to this book for a while. My friend who works in acquisitions tipped me off to it as soon as it became available for pre-ordering (I think her exact words were, "omg i'm putting a hold on this right now.") My first thought was, "crap! Someone beat me to it!"
(If you aren't a public librarian and have no idea what kinds of antics go on in the public library, either read this book or check out the long-running Tales from the Liberry. Be sure to scroll through the Rogues Gallery.)
Then I started to wonder in earnest why no disgruntled librarian had ever written a book like this before.
Ten pages into the book, I realized what was going on.
Don Borchert is not a librarian.
Don Borchert is a library assistant. He did not go to library school, and so he had no lofty, library school ideals going into this job. For him, it is exactly that - a job, equal to his previous jobs selling records and chopping down Christmas trees (he's just managed to stay at this one a little longer).
He is not a member of "the profession," and thus there was no risk of being shunned by "the profession" if the book turned out to violate some kind of library patron confidentiality code. He didn't feel beholden to any professional standards. (Library Journal asked him if he's a member of the American Library Association, to which he replied: "No.") As he suggested in another interview, he is just a writer that works in a library.
I haven't looked or asked, but I'm guessing there are probably a few librarians out there who are mad that Borchert misrepresented himself as "one of them." Well, okay, I did kind of look, and found this quote attached to a 1-star Amazon.com review:
I couldn't wait when I heard there was a book coming out about a librarian's life of public service! Then I got the book, and found that not only was this not by a librarian (he's a library assistant), but it was a dry and boring read. It's nothing more then a memoir by a cranky old man who discovered too late in life what he wanted to be when he grew up; if that sounds funny, then you are mistaken--it's not.[emphasis mine]
(FYI - it's not a "dry and boring read," it's hilarious and totally accurate. And if Don Borchert is a cranky old man, well, then I am a cranky old man, too.)
The bottom line for me: sometimes I wish I hadn't gone to library school. I was happier just being someone who worked in a library, rather than a librarian. Thanks, Mr. Borchert, for reminding me of that.
PS - There is no way I could have disliked this book, as Chapter Two begins thusly: "When I was a little kid, my mom and dad took us to the public library on West 119th Street and Lorain Road in Cleveland...."
posted by Christine at 8:03 AM
9 Comments:
Sounds like a hell of an interesting book, Christine. And the fact that he appears to be a Cleveland native makes it only that much more interesting. Thanks for sharing it.
For an account of someone who actually did go to library school & is a member of ALA (not that it really matters, but you did mention both these things), then you will probably enjoy my book "Quiet, Please," which comes out in April from Da Capo Books and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
www.scottdouglas.org
Interesting. Also interesting is that it appears from your blog that some librarians are purposely giving bad ratings to his work so it won't be read. That's yet another instance of the hypocrisy of the Freedom to Read crowd.
Scott Douglas, does your book discuss anything regarding the use and/or abuse of the availability of the Internet?
I don't think it's anything quite so nefarious, SL. Librarians who love their jobs - and there are A LOT of them - are very defensive about libraries and librarianship and they don't like people saying bad things about them, and they'll say so. That's a completely different thing from expressly not wanting someone to read the book.
You're also generalizing about the "Freedom to Read" crowd - quite a large crowd - from an excerpt of one bad review. If ALA came out and said, "don't read this book! It's all lies!" then you could make a good case for your argument.
Besides, librarians know that if you tell someone NOT to read something, that just makes them want to read it more. The "forbidden fruit" syndrome.
Speaking personally, I totally want nonlibrarians to read this book, because I want people to know that civil servants have to put up with a lot of crap.
I agree completely, Christine, but there are those, particularly in the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, who have in the past and will continue to control what people see and don't see, exactly the opposite of what they claim they stand for. So when I see someone acting in a fashion in line (broadly) with the OIF's past actions, it causes me to take notice more than I might otherwise have. The OIF has in the past denigrated the efforts of individuals and governments to do one thing or another, so when I saw this individual doing the same thing, is was something for me to keep in mind.
OK, well, be careful about generalizing. :)
I probably don't agree with all of your organization's mission - I particularly don't think that "the ALA pushes porn on children and gets away with it scot free" (from your website, emphasis mine), and I do believe that everyone of all ages should be able to look at whatever books they want (I learned about "the birds and the bees" via a combination of "The Blue Lagoon" and Desmond Morris's Naked Ape, and I grew up a normal, ethical, intelligent, functioning citizen.)
But I can tell you that I think libraries are getting away from their basic mission - promoting literacy and providing well-rounded collections (not just acting like a "free Barnes & Noble"). I think libraries are trying to do too much, be too many things (a "free for all", if you will). So maybe we can find some common ground there.
Just found this related librarian blog:
http://ifirantheuniverse.blogspot.com/2007/11/wed-only-be-screwed-in-good-way.html
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Interesting. Thanks, Scott, and good luck with your book.
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