SELF-SERVICE LIBRARY
Library staff have been relieved of the drudgery of helping patrons with menial check-in/check-out tasks. It is now up to patrons to handle their own transactions using the library's automated terminals.
The staff of course are thrilled but it feels to me like a harsh reduction in service. A librarian assured me that no staff members were dismissed as a result of automation. I suppose this frees them for more librarianly duties.
The familiar customer service counter is now closed. The slots where you once dropped your materials are now hooded in black plastic. There are signs directing you to a self-check corral.
I suppose like any self-service initiative, we'll come to accept and maybe even like it.
SCULPTURE REMOVAL
I posted a picture of the library with a big iron sculpture in the side yard. One day the sculpture was gone.
I asked a librarian about it. "What sculpture?"
I asked another librarian. "We don't have anything to do with the sculptures," she said snappishly. She probably thought I was going to lodge a complaint.
Regardless of who manages the sculptures, you would think that library employees would take at least a passing interest in what goes on in and around the facility.
The Sahara West branch has more than its share of snooty, snappish employees. There's a high turnover. The librarian you get to know and like may be gone next time you visit.
Not that I blame them. A degree is required for what is in many ways a menial job. Dealing with sculpture inquirers can't be fun. The poor things probably get into it for the love of books and wind up hating anything and everything to do with books.
BOOKSTORE BROUHAHA
The Friends of Southern Nevada Libraries, which operates the used bookstores, have balked at the library's request for an audit and a contract. It creates the impression that the Friends have something to hide. Here's the story http://www.lvrj.com/news/19708549.html