Free for All by Don Borchert (2007, Hardcover)

You haven't been in a library in awhile? Still expecting to find a card catalog? Do you remember your librarian looking like Donna Reed in "It's a Wonderful Life?" Do you think the library is a "safe" place, akin to seeking sanctuary in a church? Do you imagine that librarians have little to do but sit around all day and read magazines until someone comes in needing assistance? Do you harbor warm fuzzy feelings about the library of your youth?

THEN THIS IS THE MUST READ BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOU!!

I'm a librarian, and the majority of my career has been spent performing tasks and using "skills" never taught in any masters program for librarians. The only problem with Mr. Borchert's book is that it wasn't nearly long enough for me. Everything he describes is so terribly, sadly true, and this is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg.

This is a MUST READ for anyone considering a career in this field.
This is a MUST READ for any psychiatrist who still suggests to his slightly demented patients that they seek jobs at the library, still assuming it is an easy, pleasant, stressless, quiet, no-brainer job for ugly single women!
This is a MUST READ for anyone who belongs to a "library foundation;" a typical monied group I have found most out of touch with reality. This is a MUST READ for anyone who fantasizes about how much more pleasant and fun a public librarian's job is, rather than what he/she is already doing.

Just as Mr. Borchert points out, in my daily duties as a librarian I am expected to perform as a social worker, legal advisor, physician, babysitter, mother, teacher, disciplinarian, security guard, computer expert, and clairvoyant, just to name a few.

As the nation's changing population has become less and less literate and less and less sure what exactly the library does, libraries everywhere have anxiously attempted to become the be-all and do-all for every living person, lost soul, and ne'er-do-well in the nation. As a result, most libraries continue to provide more and more new mediocre services, spreading those services thinner and thinner over more territory every day, as library administrators safely sequestered in their nice quiet offices conjure up more and more new, bizarre, all-encompassing visions, missions, and projects.

Kudos to Mr. Borchert; at least it was very cathartic reading the truth. Sad, sarcastic, cynical, and painfully funny. © 2007 S. Spika (rarebookwoman on eBay)