Libraries/Bookstore Annoyance

[littlemissattitude]

*I found it in the fiction section instead of the Scifi/fantasy section - our library seems to have a problem with this. Quite often books by the same author, in the same series are filed under the wrong genre - so I've gotten used to checking severral sections out at the same time - browsing is much more fun than using the computer catalog anyway unless I'm in a hurry. Ok, off to read now!

My library has this problem as well. I always look in at least seven places for any novel - general collection, sci-fi collection paperback collections (there are two separate ones), mystery collection, large-print collection, and new books.

The good news is, I got to go into Fresno to the the main branch yesterday. I didn't have long to look - it was a hit and run sort of visit between other things I had to do - but I found a couple of non-fiction books that look to be pretty good.

 

[dwndrgn]

The good news is, I got to go into Fresno to the the main branch yesterday. I didn't have long to look - it was a hit and run sort of visit between other things I had to do - but I found a couple of non-fiction books that look to be pretty good.

Yay! I love visiting other libaries for both the variety of titles and just for a fun change of seen. In addition, if you've never been there, you've got the 'newbie' fun of finding the differing genres in all their new places.

My mother has been enjoying 'Lords and Ladies' with me, she has had to listen to me cackle while lounging on the couch reading and watching tv...

 

[littlemissattitude]

Okay...this is about as annoying as it gets. I was in the library a couple of nights ago, just getting ready to leave. So, I went and put the book I was using back on the shelf (this is against library policy, but I know where it goes, I wasn't finished with it, and if I let them put it back on the shelf it wouldn't be back for at least a couple of days and I knew I would need it again the next day - and if you go asking for it before it's back on the shelf they are likey as not to claim they don't have time to look for it - but this is not the complaint I'm here about).

I saw someone I knew and was standing there talking to her. I was in sight of the table where my things were - purse, paper and pen, notebook, and Walkman - and I was keeping an eye on them. Well, a kid - probably about thirteen or fourteen - sat down at the table and was reading a magazine. Which is fine. But after a few minutes, I saw him reach over and start to pick up my radio and headphones, and start to put the headphones on. "Excuse me," I said. "That's mine."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "They're yours?"

"Yes. They're mine."

"I thought they were that girl's who was just sitting here." (A girl had sat down for a couple of seconds, not in the seat where the radio was and long after the radio was sitting there.)

"No. They're mine."

"Oh." He puts them down, but looks at me as if he thinks I'm lying.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand this. I wouldn't dream of picking up something that didn't belong to me. And if I did think I knew who it belonged to and wanted to use it, I would ask them before I picked it up. Am I hopelessly old-fashioned, or am I right to be annoyed by this? It isn't as if I walked off and left my things unwatched. I had my eye on them the whole time, and was never more than a few feet away from them. Am I wrong to think it is unreasonable to be able to go put a book back and stop to speak with someone for a few minutes without having to pack up all my things and carry them with me?

Sorry for the rant. But sometimes I just don't understand people.

 

[dwndrgn]

You are not wrong or old fashioned - this is just plain disrespectful and unfortunately I see this kind of stuff more and more these days. Working in an office I see it all the time - with adults! They eat the food you bring in for yourself (I know one person had her take-out leftovers eaten!!), take things from your desk etc. If I had been there I would have told him how rude it is to touch other people's stuff without their leave. It probably would have gone in one ear and right out the other but I would have said it anyway.

I wouldn't dream of touching anyone's stuff unless I asked first. Sheesh.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Well, I hope I properly embarassed him. There were quite a few people around, and I deliberately spoke loud enough so that everyone in the area could see what he was up to. Personality flaw that it may be, I don't have any problem publicly embarassing people who are acting like jerks.

Will it have any lasting effect on his behavior? Probably not. But at least he got very publicly caught with his hands in the cookie jar, so to speak.

 

[Incognito]

I'm still trying to think of some kind of witty warnnig you can put on your Walkman to stop this happening again.

Darn shame and quite amazing.

And no one eats my left-overs, either - I don't leave any.

 

[jerchar]

Well, I have to tell you that kids just get loud, but if they're in a library they should be with a supervisor. At our library there is a hole wing only for kids, going from 3 year olds to 14 year olds, it is just what they need, and that's how they learn to like books. When Charlotte was 3 years old we used to go to the library and rent books, my neighbour asked me with pity in her eyes "what, you have to go to the library? I buy the books." I just answered "that's my way to make Charlotte understand that a book is a valuable and has to be respected, as well as the place where you can read or buy books", my neighbor was speechless and just walked away. I was very proud.
I think people (not only kids) just don't respect the basic rules, that in a library you should be quiet because it's a place where so many people come in search of something. I think they should start something like the driver's licence only for libraries, it would certainly discourage the people who just think of destroying things.

 

[dwndrgn]

So, they are still thwarting me! No 'Lord Foul's Bane' in stock at all. To make it worse, Amazon has it but for more than regular paperbacks published after 2000, for some reason. Still no 'Legends II' either. Oh well. I did pick up a couple of interesting books on my last visit so once I get to them (haven't finished the Mercedes Lackey yet) I'll let you guys know how they went. Both were found just by wandering around the library looking at the books and their titles/covers. Both seem just a little bit out of the ordinary for me but still seemed interesting for some reason or another.

BTW - our library does not have a 'request' list either. I finally asked. Oh well. I'll just have to donate all of my books as I read them so that their shelves get a little more full...

 

[Elysium]

I love the library. It is a wondefull place. i never buy books unless I know the author and want to support them I just do not have the cash power to read as much as I would like and buy the books. So I am in the library all the time.
I hate it when they have book two and not book one. It usually means that I will read book two and never read book one unless book two has me so enamored that I stop and go purchase a book one. Which is tough to do because I will be confused for the first chapter or so of book two.
The noise levels- yes that can be annoying. We have computers in the main room so some kids will always be sharing a computer and yelling about how cut the picture of Ricky Martin that they found is. It happens. I wish it didn't, but it is a public place.

 

[rune]

I find I have to order most books from my local library because they never have the earlier books in from a series

 

[littlemissattitude]

I find I have to order most books from my local library because they never have the earlier books in from a series

Uh-huh. We know. I think most libraries are like that just to frustrate us.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

BTw, rune, welcome. Nice to see you in this neck of the woods.