Library Journal
Reviewed March 11, 2008 by Norman Oder
Verdict: This self-described "humor memoir" provides a mostly enjoyable glimpse into the sometimes maddening world of public librarianship. Footnotes, asides ("short pointless interludes"), and other McSweeney’s-esque touches can be grating; acknowledgement that "many things…have been exaggerated to make this book more entertaining" affirms a not-always-reliable narrator. Smirkier than Don Borchert’s wry library memoir Free for All, it nonetheless provides real insight—assuming you can believe it. Click here for Douglas’s blog.
Background: A college student who fell into a job as a public library page, then went to library school at 23, Douglas, now a 28-year-old Anaheim Public Library (CA) staffer and McSweeney’s contributor, looks skeptically at the value of his LIS education. Life in the library runs the gamut, including bureaucratic slogging (staff committees, grant writing), minor crisis (rats, masturbators, crazy patrons), and productive work. Douglas holds forth on fellow librarians—they lack social skills and don’t read—but more productively applies his skepticism to a fast-food chain plumping summer reading or politicians who neglect the library. Still, a broad variety of patrons—kids, teens, seniors, immigrants, the homeless—make use of the library and harvest his sincerity: "I was staying because I liked helping people."—Norman Oder, Library Journal
Verdict: This self-described "humor memoir" provides a mostly enjoyable glimpse into the sometimes maddening world of public librarianship. Footnotes, asides ("short pointless interludes"), and other McSweeney’s-esque touches can be grating; acknowledgement that "many things…have been exaggerated to make this book more entertaining" affirms a not-always-reliable narrator. Smirkier than Don Borchert’s wry library memoir Free for All, it nonetheless provides real insight—assuming you can believe it. Click here for Douglas’s blog.
Background: A college student who fell into a job as a public library page, then went to library school at 23, Douglas, now a 28-year-old Anaheim Public Library (CA) staffer and McSweeney’s contributor, looks skeptically at the value of his LIS education. Life in the library runs the gamut, including bureaucratic slogging (staff committees, grant writing), minor crisis (rats, masturbators, crazy patrons), and productive work. Douglas holds forth on fellow librarians—they lack social skills and don’t read—but more productively applies his skepticism to a fast-food chain plumping summer reading or politicians who neglect the library. Still, a broad variety of patrons—kids, teens, seniors, immigrants, the homeless—make use of the library and harvest his sincerity: "I was staying because I liked helping people."—Norman Oder, Library Journal
