Reblogged fivekoboldsinacoat
chinese hanfu matched with xiyu fashion in guzhuang style by 青丝寸寸 （inspired by character princess xiaofeng in donggong东宫）
How bad is it, really, if someone checks something out and doesn’t bring it back for a long time? I’ve been that way since I was a kid. I’ll check something out and then either not be able to bring it back by the due date or simply not be ready. I do eventually return the items, of course, in either the same condition or in better condition than they were in before (for example, cleaning a CD or taping a ripped page in a book). But I worry sometimes that I might be doing something horribly wrong. I mean, the one thing that’s obvious is that by doing this I do keep the items away from others for longer, which I realize is probably kinda selfish but…is there any other harm done?
It's not actively harmful, except in the sense that you're preventing other people from reading the book/using the media. If it's years and years, the library might have marked it as lost and removed it from their collection, though, and of course the longer it's out, the more fines you might have to pay.
However, as long as there aren't holds on the item, you can usually renew it, usually a couple times. That's perfectly normal and acceptable.
I'm writing a story about a dragon who hoards books instead of gold. Traditionally she'd live in a cave and sleep on her hoard . Any suggestions for moderating the damage? The dragon is highly motivated, if that helps. Also, the setting is more than a century before the introduction of the paperback, so the books may be sturdier.
This one is really interesting!
So, books in general aren’t as fragile as people tend to think. Yes, they’re vulnerable to people, because people are destructive as hell, but if taken care of they’re pretty sturdy.
Ideally, the cave would be cool, well ventilated, dry, and free from insects/mice/birds/bats. Heat, moisture, and vermin are bad for books. She shouldn’t roll around too much on the books if she can help it-if her scales are sharper/pointier, throwing a blanket over the books will help protect them. If she’s smoother, it might not be necessary
Piling the books up in stacks, instead of just throwing them into a pike, will also be better for them, because there’ll be less risk of bending them/getting them snagged on other books, as well as making a more stable sleeping surface-books are more willing to slide than they look, and I can think of fewer things worse than my bed suddenly sliding out from under me.
...She should never, EVER eat her prey-or anything likely to drip ANYTHING-over the books. That’s a good way to attract vermin and damage the books. Dusting them frequently would also be a good idea.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Modern SoCal setting. Character w/ an MLS or MLIS because they "intended to be a [research] librarian" but, in a nod to common reality, they couldn't snag a job in their preferred field and wound up doing something else for a living...but I need a suggestion on what? Mostly because I am not entirely sure what people LEARN in such a program at different schools that could "transfer" to other jobs (Character will help Fight Crime though, so mad skillz in Digging Up Information would be ideal)
So, a lot of what you learn is 1, research abilities, and 2, information systems handling, which can get you work in a museum or cultural center as well as a library.
This also prepares you for jobs as an analyst, as well as working with databases. I even considered going into the Park Service, because it’s a lot to do with educating the public.
There’s also jobs such as file clerk at a courthouse, or a clerk for an elected official in general.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Anonymous asked:
So I have a story where basically everyone has a book w their life's story in it. But that's a lot of books, and I currently have the library in an old abandoned parking garage, but how would one person protect the books and organize them? (The books come with essentially a faux leather cover but I don't know about the rest)
This is gonna be multi-point, so strap in.
1. You’re gonna want the parking garage to be weather-tight. Non-negotiable. Wind and water will destroy all of the books in a month, tops.
2. The garage also should be climate controlled-you want cool, dry air. Not freezing cold, but it’s gonna be chilly, and there should be as little moisture as possible
3. If there’s any way that people can come in and look at the books, or if new books come in on a regular basis, this is not a single-person job. Even just keeping the dust out is going to be a multi-person job. There are around 34 million books in the Library of Congress, which is the largest library in the US. I’ve been there-it’s not, by any means, a small building. To fit the current population’s worth of books into a building, you’d need something like a New York parking garage, or similar, depending on the size of the books/closeness of the stacks.
4. Pest control. That big of a space, with that many hidey-holes--and libraries have a lot of hiding spots-is going to attract small rodents and insects. Some insects eat paper. Most rodents will chew on books to line their nests. You’ll need either traps, poison, or some other form of pest control.
5. Security. There needs to be some way to keep people from just walking off with the books. Most libraries accomplish this with sensi-strips in the bindings of the books-that’s what makes the sensors at the doors go off if the book hasn’t been desensitized. It takes more effort than you might think to install those strips. Also, books like this are probably valuable, so having night guards wouldn’t be an unreasonable measure.
So, to summarize: a library that size isn’t something a single person could expect to be able to take care of properly, especially not without dropping from exhaustion or killing themselves from over-work. However, there are ways for a small team of dedicated professionals to keep on top of it, depending on whether people are allowed in the library.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Anonymous asked:
Hi, thanks for running such a fantastic blog! My protagonist works at a library that is also an official depository for gov docs, but is now de-accessioning their gov docs collection the same way they discard regular books--by deleting their records and tossing the docs into a recycling bin. Does this seem accurate or likely, or is there a different procedure for a depository getting rid of gov docs that technically "belong to the people"?
Okay, so to start: we don’t typically just recycle the book. There are several places that will take at least some old library books, and book sales also happen. When we recycle them as a last resort, we cut the covers off, rip the pages into sections of a manageable size, and recycle the papers. Also, while government documents do technically ‘belong to the people’, that means that the government isn’t supposed to remove all the copies, not that institutions can’t get rid of their copies. So while they might shred some bits with important information, I see no reason for anything less than a government library to have truly sensitive information, and thus the documents would likely just be recycled.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Anonymous asked:
Tysm for this blog, it's helped me a lot. Also, I have a comic based story that heavily involves a Creepy Book of Mysteries and I'm stuck with the design of the book, do you know where references of Creepy Old Books may be?
Hey, thanks for writing! In my mind, there are two schools of Creepy Books. One, they’re creepy because of their designs, in which I’m less help, but there are ones that are creepy because you know what they’re made of, in which case I suggest human-skin bound books. It’s called Anthropodermic bibliopegy, and it’s exactly as cool/weird as it sounds. Beyond that, look up old religious texts, because they tend to be imposing. Chain books are also a thing- old Bibles were sometimes chained to the altar/pulpit, because they were fancy and expensive, and they weren’t supposed to leave.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Anonymous asked:
Hey! I know this isn't a question about a library for a book I'm writing, but I hope it's alright to ask... I'm planning on applying for a position at a carnagie library and I was wondering what kind of things they would ask me. I know there's a "No reading the books" thing, but that's nbd for me becuase I just like organizing. Thank you! I hope I haven't overstepped my boundaries
I’m sorry, but this is a strictly writing advice only blog, so I can’t answer this question. Good luck on your interview, though!
-The Librarian
Reblogged theticklishpear
Today I learned that the university of Coimbra in Portugal has a great 18th-century library, the Biblioteca Joanina, that maintains a colony of bats to effectively control the population of paper-eating insects called papirófagos. These bats are less than an inch long. They roost during the day behind the bookcases and come out at night. There doesn’t seem to be any English word for papirófago, a cursory search turns up no details about what sort of insect they are, and ngl I am slightly concerned about them as a phenomenon. But I think my overarching point here is clear:
This library keeps tiny bats that look after the books.
I’m here for tiny bats saving books.
Aaaahhh!!
While many times people think Archives they think history not current events. Here’s an interesting article on how the Montana Historical Society is working to document the Woman’s March.
Keep that in mind when working with Archives & Libraries in your stories. It’s not all ancient history!!
- The Archivist
I always like to say it was never lost, just hadn’t been discovered yet.
An interesting article, about finding what was assumed lost, but was really stashed in an Archive.
You can use this concept for your story. A character is looking up history the town, or wants to more about their grandparents to discover that the local history society or university has had the information tucked safely away.
- The Archivist
Anonymous asked:
I'm a librarian working at a specialized library (academic health sciences). Are you seeking any help from other librarians for the blog?
Hey Nonnie!
At the moment we’re not seeking any additional staff. If and when we do open @scriptlibrarian for moderators, we’ll make an announcement via the blog.
Thanks so much for your interest.
- The Archivist & The Librarian
Reblogged
tonelessmandarin
Person with housemates can study.
Person who has spent all their cash on rent and food still has a place to get out of the house and do something interesting.
Cool community classes and community art shows.
ESL tutoring.
Tax prep and forms.
caesiopeia
tbh fuck anyone who says a single bad thing about libraries
Not content I normally reblog but libraries are super important and our world would be diminished without them.
The library was how I was able to read so many books as a kid that my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford.
Libraries. Are. Important!!!!!!
Reblogged
Behind the Scenes: Ledger Digitization
Last year the registrars at the Indianapolis Museum of Art were very eager to get access to two ledgers of loans in and out for exhibition that dated from 1910 to 1920. Unfortunately, the condition of the ledgers was cause for some concern, as the binding had been so strained that the spine had come completely off of one. Repeated use would almost definitely lead to the other spine falling off, and potentially to additional deterioration of the pages and binding.
For this reason it was decided that preservation digitization would be essential, and allow registrars unlimited and close-up access to the ledgers at any and all times–through digital images of each page.
Once again, the Photography Department let us borrow one of their studio spaces, equipment, and set-up to completely photograph both 200+ page ledgers. Though the process was a bit tedious, requiring each page to be turned and set before photographing, the result is has been increased access to and the continued preservation of these ledgers packed full of important loan information!
Digital Photography has been a new way to digitize many older books that would be harmed or damaged if used on a flat bed scanner.
Looking for a way in your stories to get a Photographer to talk with an Archivist - this could be an interesting fun story or set up.
- The Archivist
Anonymous asked:
Hello! I was wondering if a character, who only has an undergrad degree, would be able to get a full-time job in a public library in a large city after graduation (given they did work-study at their college's library before graduating), and what type of job that might be, and if the pay would be enough for my character to live in their own? Or might they also need another part-time job to help with expenses and such? Alternatively, what if they didn't do the work-study? (Please and thank you!)
So, this is actually super relevant to me right now, because my sister-who was also a work-study librarian-is in the end stages of being hired by a Denver-ish public library, and a friend who I met while being a work-study librarian just got hired by our library. Without a master’s degree in some form of library science, I doubt they’d get to put ‘Librarian’ in their title-my friend has Circulation Assistant as his title, and my sister is being hired I believe as some form of Coordinator-and I guess the money thing would depend entirely on cost of living in your character’s city. My friend and I live in a smallish town, where rent is pretty reasonable, and he lives by himself, but my sister lives in very close to Denver, and she has a roommate.
If they didn’t do work-study, I very much doubt they’d get anything more than a part time circulation clerk job at a library-there are so many different processes and duties involved in a full time library job that most libraries want someone with the education or experience to not need to be trained from scratch.
Hope this helps!
-The Librarian
Reblogged
Anonymous asked:
Is it possible for someone to stitch themselves up and avoid infection without access to medical supplies? I have a character who is frequently in fights and has to get stitches, but can't get them from a medical professional, so she does them herself.
Hey! This is definitely doable,although your character would have to have a pretty high capacity for pain,because stitches hurt like the ending of worlds without anesthetic.
However, I’m going to put a big, screamy disclaimer righthere:
DO NOT DO THIS SHIT AT HOME.
This is not a blog to teach you first aid, this is a blogabout people doing stupid things like this infiction.
Also, consider that the arms are the most common places toget injured and require stitches, and it’s almost impossible for one hand tohelp suture their own arm, so in cases like this she may need a friend to getthe job done.
If she’s going to do this on the regular, I’d suggest havingin her background that she purchased a wound care textbook secondhand at somepoint. (For the purposes of this blog I bought one for $12 on Amazon; it’sdefinitely doable).
Your character will need access to actual physical suturematerial (you can buy “training kits” on eBay or choose that she uses somethinglike fishing line); some gloves; some antiseptic like iodine, peroxide, or(OUCH) rubbing alcohol; and the steel nerves of the gods.
Again, though, this is going to help the most in areas on orclose to the trunk or legs, where she can use both hands effectively.
Goodnight, and, good luck.
xoxo, Aunt Scripty
So, funny story that also irritates Aunty-your local Librarian actually has given herself stitches. In my defense, I was three hours from a trailhead and didn’t have the money to pay for calling the Wilderness Recuse people, but because I know I’m clumsy, I did have a suture kit in my backpack. I gashed my hip open on a sharp rock, and thanks be to all the gods, I have plenty of disinfectant AND the sunburn numbing spray in my backpack, because: clumsy.
It was a maybe 2 inch long gash, which was bleeding freely. Even with the numbing spray, it still hurt like HELL to do, and I have literally cracked multiple bones and not noticed before. I have what’s politely called a ‘freakish pain tolerance’ by my family and friends. This was a few years back, and the scar mostly just looks like a stretch mark now, but I am unutterably lucky that I didn’t get infected, and that I had done enough leather sewing to have a decent idea of how skin sews, because it’s not at all like cloth.
If your character does this, they will be covered in scars. They’ll eventually get an infection, unless they have some god out there keeping a very careful watch on them. I know that the first thing I did when I got back to civilization was to go to my campus clinic to get an antibiotic prescription, at which point I received several lectures, but due to the 3+ hours it took me to hike out, plus the several hours of drive, it was elected that it was best to just pull the stitches and bandage the wound closed. Plus, by that time, the stitches had done their job and the bleeding was pretty much stopped, unless I bumped them particularly hard.
Don’t be like me, kids. Don’t do that to yourself.
-The Librarian