What a wonderful idea for caregivers of young children at this public library:

[Thtwudbeme]

16. I am a member of several professional organizations and the majority

of my friends are librarians- public, special, university and school libraries. Pardon me, but I have plenty of "perspective."

Many of them have quit- and mostly due to the perception that there WERE days when librarians "helped patrons find books, and then reshelved them." It is due to that widely held attitude that librarians have to constantly tell people what we do, and worse- the idiots that are also "supported by your tax dollars" also think that's what we do- Read, find and shelve books.

Do you think one would require a master's to do that?

Read the thread about "what did we do before "google." Then read the numerous, daily threads about Qanon followers, FAUX news viewers, etc. What's the one big thing these people have in common?

In addition to selecting books for the collection (which takes hours- you should see the 5 page collection development plan I am working on right now that is required by the county)-- reading book reviews, staying relevant in all genres of fiction, and knowing what materials are relevant to all fields of study- we also constantly assess which electronic publications and databases are used on a daily basis. ALL of those cost money- and we have budgets that we must attend to.

All of those new books AND electronic publications must be cataloged according to strict rules. An e-book, or new journal entry isn't going to be good if it cannot be found. There is much more to cataloging than assigning a Dewey number. Even copy cataloging takes time.

During all of this, we all have "desk duty" to answer questions ranging from "Is there a sequel to Jurassic Park," "Where are the tax forms for people who are living together but not married that jointly own a house" to "my friend read a great book last year that was about a lady who adopted a dog."

Then- fun times- someone decided it would be oh so cool! if the kiddos that accompany adults to the library have toys.

Those toys have to be cleaned.

Covid tests: Do you think we were trained in how to handle Covid tests, or people coughing on us? We are not nurses.

Free lunches: Since when did a place of work and study become a cafeteria?

And now- cribs? You want us to monitor the cleanliness of cribs?

We already were relevant- you as a user should have known that. Your books didn't come with a call number assigned, nor a spine label attached. Those "free databases" you use are not free by any stretch of the imagination. Those computers do not fix themselves- nor do we expect patrons to know how to use them.

So- no- librarians have to draw a line somewhere. I can't be your crib-cleaner and get your great new books to you while serving lunch and writing reports for the county bean counters. Sorry.

And yes- your response was so condescending that I handed my tablet to my husband and said, "there is no way I am going to make it 7 more years." Your friendly local librarians are drowning in the public perception of "you are a servant and must be cheerful at all times." And we are quitting in droves.