Do you get to read at work?Almost never. I read reviews, not chapters.
Do you keep the library quiet, or has that changed?Only the study room. The kids' corner is allowed to hum.
How do you find a book when someone only remembers a blue cover?I ask what happened in it, then search by the story.
How do you get ready for story time?Three books, one song and a backup plan.
How do you help someone who does not know what they want to read?I ask about the last book they could not put down.
How many books go in and out on your busiest day?Hundreds. Rainy Saturdays hold the record.
What are you asked most often at the desk?Where the bathroom is. Then how the printer works.
What did you have to study to become a librarian?A college degree, then a master's in library science.
What do people use the library for that has surprised you?Borrowing a cake pan. We lend those too.
What do you do with a book that comes back damaged?Tape, glue and a press. I can save most of them.
What do you wish every visitor knew about the library?That asking is the whole point. No question is a bother.
What does a librarian do when the library is closed?Unpack new books, mend torn pages and plan next week.
What does the library do now that it did not when you started?More screens, more programs, the same questions.
What happens to a book in the hour after it is returned?It is scanned, checked for damage and wheeled back to its shelf.
What is a good first job for someone who wants to be a librarian?Shelving. You learn the whole building.
What is the hardest question anyone has brought to your desk?A family tree that stopped at a ship's passenger list.
What is the kindest thing a reader has done for you?Baked cookies shaped like books.
What is the most satisfying thing to find for someone?A book they loved as a child and lost the name of.
What made you want to work in a library?A librarian once found me the exact book I could not describe.
What part of your job has nothing to do with books?Helping people with forms, printers and passwords.
What skill does a good librarian need that nobody expects?Detective work. Half my day is clues.
When is the library at its busiest, and why?Right after school lets out.
Which corner of the library is your favorite?The window seats in the reading room.
Who works at a library besides the librarians?Pages who shelve, clerks at the desk and volunteers.
How books are chosen and shelved 14
Can readers ask the library to buy a book?Yes. There is a request slip at the desk.
How do you choose where a brand-new book will live?Its subject gives it a number, and the number gives it a shelf.
How do you choose which books go on the display table?By season, by cover, and by what I want people to find.
How do you decide when a book has to leave the shelves?It is worn out, or nobody has borrowed it in years.
How do you find a book that was put back in the wrong place?We read the shelves: every spine, in order, row by row.
How long does a popular book last before it falls apart?A couple of years, if nobody takes it to the beach.
How many books does the whole library hold?About forty thousand, and we count them.
What do the letters and numbers on a spine label tell you?Here, the subject and the start of the author's name.
What has the library started lending that is not a book?Board games and packets of seeds.
What is the most borrowed book on your shelves?A cookbook of weeknight dinners. It is never in.
What is the oldest book in the library?A town history with a cracked leather cover.
Where do books go when they leave the library?To the book sale, and then to new homes.
Which section is the hardest to keep tidy?Picture books. They come in every size.
Who decides which new books the library buys?I do, from reviews, requests and a budget.
Funny ones and odd requests 14
Do you alphabetize things at home?The spices. Please do not tell anyone.
Do you really say shh?Twice a year, and I enjoy it both times.
Have you ever been shushed in your own library?By a five-year-old, at story time.
Have you ever dozed off at work?Once, during inventory. The cart rolled away.
How many library cards do you think have gone through the wash?More than have not.
What do you do with a book you did not enjoy?Put it on display. Someone else will love it.
What has turned up in the book drop that was not a book?A sandwich, a mitten and one confused frog.
What is the funniest way someone has described a book they could not name?"It is about a dog, or possibly a boat."
What is the heaviest book in the building, and who has to carry it?The big dictionary. It has its own stand so nobody must.
What is the latest a book has ever come back?Forty years. It came with an apology note.
What is the strangest thing you have found inside a returned book?A slice of cheese, still in its wrapper. Mostly.
Which book would you hide so that only you could borrow it?A librarian never would. It is behind the atlases.
Which request has made everyone at the desk stop and stare?A recording of whale songs, to play for a goldfish.
Which sound in the library makes you look up at once?A zipper. Somebody has brought snacks.
Favorite books 13
Do you finish every book you start?No. Life is short and the shelves are long.
How many books are on your nightstand right now?Five, and a sixth under the lamp.
Paper, screen or audiobook: which do you reach for?Paper at home, audio in the car.
What book have you read more than three times?A slim novel about one summer on a farm.
What do you read when you are tired?Cookbooks. Nobody is in danger in a cookbook.
What is the longest you have ever read in one sitting?A whole rainy Sunday, with one break for toast.
What kind of story can you never resist?Anything with a map in the front.
What was the first book you remember loving?A picture book about a bear who could not sleep.
What would you hand to someone who says they hate reading?A graphic novel with a fast first page.
Which book got you caught laughing at the desk?A collection of letters from a grumpy gardener.
Which ending do you wish you could forget, so a book could surprise you again?A mystery whose ending I can never forget now.
Which kind of book character would make a good librarian?A detective. Same job, different hat.
Which kind of book do you recommend more than any other?A short mystery. Nobody has ever brought one back unhappy.
At a college library 12
How do you get a book that this library does not own?We borrow it from another library, usually within a week.
How do you teach a new student to tell a strong source from a weak one?Ask who wrote it, when, and who checked it.
How early should a student come to you about a research paper?The day the topic is set, not the night before.
What can the library find that a search engine cannot?Journals behind a paywall, and a person to ask.
What do professors ask you for that students never do?A book set aside for a whole class to share.
What do students ask for most in the week before exams?A quiet seat, a charger and one more source.
What is in the special collections that almost nobody asks to see?A box of student newspapers a century old.
What is the library like at two in the morning?Very quiet typing, and one person asleep on a backpack.
What is the most unusual research topic a student has brought you?The history of the shopping cart.
What mistake do you see in almost every first bibliography?A web address where the author's name should be.
What would you tell a first-year about the library on day one?Learn one librarian's name. It saves hours.
Which seats in the library do students compete for?The third-floor desks by the windows.
For a class visit 14
Can I borrow as many books as I can carry?Almost. Our limit is twenty at a time.
Can you help me find a book about sharks?Follow me. They live right next to the whales.
Have you read every book in the library?Not even close. Nobody could.
How do I get my own library card?Bring a grown-up to the desk and we will make one.
How do you know where every book goes?Each one has a label on its spine, like an address.
Is there a secret room in the library?A storage room full of holiday books. It is not very secret.
What do you do if you cannot find the answer to a question?I keep looking, and I ask another librarian.
What does the word librarian have to do with books?It comes from liber, the Latin word for book.
What happens if I bring a book back late?You say sorry, and we are glad to have it back.
What is the biggest book you have?An atlas as wide as a desk.
What is your favorite kind of book to read aloud?One with a lot of animal noises.
Who chooses the books you read aloud to us?I do. It is the best part of my week.
Who fixes a book when a page rips?I do, with special tape that does not turn yellow.
Why is the library so quiet?So people can read and think. Whispering is fine.
How it works
These questions to ask a librarian begin at the desk: the blue-covered book, the busiest hour, the mended pages. Five more groups cover how books are chosen, odd requests, favorite books, a college library and a class visit.
Read the full guide
Questions to ask a librarian about their job
The sheet opens on twelve from About the job; Pick 12 new questions brings the other twelve. For the work behind the desk, set the box by Print this list to How books are chosen and shelved: who buys the new books, when an old one has to go, how a misplaced one is found.
Questions to ask college librarians
At a college library is for a campus visit or a first-year seminar: what students ask for before exams, how to tell a strong source from a weak one, how to get a book the library does not own. The example answers are invented and name no real book.
Questions and answers
What are good questions to ask a librarian?
Ones with a story in the answer: how do you find a book when someone only remembers a blue cover, what do people use the library for that has surprised you, what is the hardest question anyone has brought to your desk.
What are funny questions to ask a librarian?
Do you really say shh? What has turned up in the book drop that was not a book? Do you alphabetize things at home? Funny ones and odd requests holds fourteen.
What can kids ask a librarian on a class visit?
Whether the librarian has read every book, what happens to a late one, who mends a ripped page, how to get a library card. For a class visit holds fourteen, worded the way a child would ask.
What does a librarian do besides check out books?
The work varies with the library. Some librarians choose and buy the books, some answer questions at the desk, some run children's programs such as a weekly story hour.