Blogs written by bookstore employees or librarians
April 25, 2014 5:38 AM   Subscribe

Google doesn't seem to help in regards to what I'm looking for, which is personal blogs written by either bookstore employees or librarians, detailing their day-to-day adventures (or misadventures); perhaps an anonymous blog would be even better, because I appreciate reading snarky and critical posts, too, about dealing with weird costumers, for example. Also, when it comes to librarians' blogs, I'm not looking for the more technical aspects of the library world (that's why Google didn't help). Thanks!

Bonus points for people with good taste in books.
posted by denika to Computers & Internet (27 answers total) 61 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not Always Right has library and bookstore sections.
posted by lharmon at 6:06 AM on April 25, 2014


Krrobar.com is a webcomic written about bookstore employeehood.
posted by 4th number at 6:18 AM on April 25, 2014


Here are a few, though I'm not sure about the identity of the producers of most of them:

Chapter 16 (Nashville Public Library and friends)
Ivebeenreadinglately
The Second Pass (seems, sadly, to have been discontinued)

I used to really like Scribd, but it seems to have gone commercial.
posted by mmiddle at 6:20 AM on April 25, 2014


I Work At a Public Library focuses on the odd little day-to-day things that happen to public librarians.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:21 AM on April 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


There are a lot of librarian tumblrs out there, though I don't really read any - you might want to check out this huge list Libraries/Librarians on Tumblr (libraries are at the top, librarians underneath).
posted by mskyle at 6:22 AM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Sci-Fi Fan Letter ~ Jessica Strider used to work at the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto until it closed in March.
posted by dgeiser13 at 6:24 AM on April 25, 2014


I enjoy the Facebook feed Things I Know about Bookselling.
posted by BibiRose at 6:27 AM on April 25, 2014


The Annoyed Librarian blogs for LJ.
posted by lyssabee at 6:30 AM on April 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


Last checked 29/10/2012 so a lot of them are probably not around any more but here's a partial list of UK librarian related blogs
posted by halcyonday at 6:35 AM on April 25, 2014


Coming back to add that I feel like maybe Screwy Decimal might be the kind of thing you're looking for.
posted by mskyle at 6:46 AM on April 25, 2014




i guessed right that jessamyn has a blog, at jessamyn.com. whether she has good taste in books, i couldn't tell you, and i suspect there will be difficulty objectively defining this metric.
posted by bruce at 7:29 AM on April 25, 2014


And Jessamyn's professional blog is at Librarian.net.
posted by MsMolly at 7:33 AM on April 25, 2014


The Age of Uncertainty - at one point he managed a bookshop, now he sells books from a farm. Sort of. He has a great wry voice and I look forward to all his posts - a mix of books, family and historical asides.
posted by viggorlijah at 7:37 AM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Check out (ha!) Unshelved, a comic strip working in a library.
posted by stampsgal at 7:49 AM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


And Jessamyn's professional blog is at Librarian.net.

Yeah but I mostly work here and not in a library. Librarian blogs I read that have a lot of day to day stuff

- Swiss Army Librarian - recovering from a hard drive failure (public)
- Agnostic Maybe (public)
- The Society for Librarians* Who Say "Motherfucker" on LiveJournal (mostly public)
- The Librarian Kate
- Lower East Side Librarian (academic)
- Attempting Elegance (academic)

And yeah the Annoyed Librarian is an anon blog that is probably what you want. I have mixed feelings about it, but it's definitely snark-filled and biting.
posted by jessamyn at 7:50 AM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


I really like Free Range Librarian by K.G. Schneider.
posted by JimBJ9 at 8:04 AM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


A real interaction I had while working at a book store in the late '90s.

Customer: "I am looking for a book"
Me: "Well, you came to the right place. Which book is it?"
C: "I am not sure."
M: "Can you remember the title?"
C: "No."
M: "Do you know who it is by?"
C: "No."
M: "Do you know what it is about?"
C: "No."
M: "Did you hear about it on Oprah or the radio?"
C: "No."
M: "Where did you hear about it?"
C: "I don't know."
M: "Okay, is it fiction or non-fiction?"
C: "A little of both I think."
M: "I can't remember the name either but I am pretty sure Barnes and Noble down the street has it."
posted by munchingzombie at 9:13 AM on April 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


The Vampire Librarian has sadly retreated to the crypt, but their archive has over four years' worth of this sort of thing (they were the night-time librarian at a university library in the US).
posted by daisyk at 9:41 AM on April 25, 2014


A non-blog suggestion, but you may like browsing the ALA Think Tank group on FB.
posted by trillian at 12:07 PM on April 25, 2014




Response by poster: Whoa, you guys are awesome.
posted by denika at 12:52 PM on April 25, 2014


It's all gifs, but if you want some laughs, try Librarian Problems. It makes me laugh because it's so true all the time.
posted by itsamermaid at 4:04 PM on April 25, 2014


Oh god I love Librarian Problems. I forgot Librarian in Black. Sarah is now a library director but she's still pretty upfront about what she believes and good with the snark when she needs to be.
posted by jessamyn at 4:52 PM on April 25, 2014 [1 favorite]




Miss Information is the snarkiest.

"It isn't far to the reserve shelf which Miss Information is grateful about. She is also happy she is not holding a pen because she would surely have stabbed the woman before they got there. This is a really unpleasant woman."
posted by mr. manager at 10:34 AM on April 26, 2014 [1 favorite]




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