Customer Reviews

The Library Diaries

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I had been excited to get my hands on this book ever since I heard about it because this book is based on the library I worked at as a page during high school.
I read it all in the two hours after receiving it as a birthday present. Every page I turned held a patron I recognized. Almost every page held stories I experienced or heard about when I worked there.
I am so glad that this book was finally written. I am deeply angered that this book led to the author's firing. I may not agree with everything she says, but she paints an accurate picture of what goes on every day at your local library. Can't believe I want to pursue library science as a career ;)
All in all, I enjoyed this book because for me it was a trip down memory lane.
I only wished it was longer--it is a very thin book and I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself (like I said above, it was a present) because I read very quickly and don't like spending money on books that I finish in the same amount of time it takes me to watch a movie. Although I am going to be lending it out to others who don't believe me when I tell them about all the odd people I encountered there!

This wild rant against nightmare citizens, indifferent or corrupt public authorities, social pathologies, and community reality-avoidance obviously sets some people off in a big way, and I'd say rightly so - after all, that's the point of muck-raking. This is an angry, bitter narrative written by someone who is obviously sour and disappointed. Anyone who says that's not a true librarian isn't being honest about the profession...

In many ways, I'd recommend "Free for All" (written by someone ALSO accused of not being a "true librarian") over this. "The Library Diaries" simply isn't at all well-written; it's choppy and episodic; the author can't relate an episode without digressing into politico-philosophical rage; there's either too little information or too much. I assume it's self-published, and it's a strong argument for getting editorial assistance.

All that being said, there's at least one good reason for reading it. It's a sort-of "Peyton Place" in reverse - the frustrated rage of someone with social ideals over the destructiveness of far too casually-accepted antisocial non-conformity; uncomfortable realities that public authorities too often prefer to avoid. The author's over-emphasized point, that our taxpayer-supported civic spaces are too often uncivil breeding grounds for anti-social behaviour, is presented in an over-the-top way, but is more than a little true.

Whether her extreme suggestions for addressing social issues have any merit is something that, well, more than a few of us will disagree with. Although I can't take the author's mugged-liberal eugenics ideas seriously, I think there are fundamental concerns here that deserve more attention than they have been getting. Sometimes, as the author says, it takes a squeaky wheel to get an apportionment of grease!

Excrutiatingly badly written prose plus very mean-spirited accounts of patrons, thinly disguised by changing their names, and, ultimately bad taste all around. An almost-librarian myself, I can identify with all the other reviews complaining this book is a blight on the profession. The intent of the author was to tell humorous tales about colorful local characters. The result is pedestrian prose and humor on a kindergarten level. Feeling I should say at least one good thing (lord knows why), I liked the cover.

And so sets up the foundation for this "book."

As a newly minted librarian, I occasionally stalk WorldCat, LibraryThing, GoodReads and Amazon for new or interesting materials written by, for or featuring librarians. This book was so badly reviewed on LibraryThing and here on Amazon, that while I knew I should have known better before getting it via ILL, I still ordered it anyways. Because it can't be that bad, right?

Wrong.

First, this book is self-published by PublishAmerica. Self-publishing in itself is a wonderful thing. I'm a huge fan of crowdsourcing and open source publishing models, such as Lulu.com. However, self-publishing definitely becomes a negative when the author, whose spent hundreds if not thousands via PublishAmerica getting their masterpiece into print form, do not engage an editor! Seriously! There are so many typos, inconsistencies, subject-verb disagreements that I wondered if this person even bothered to read what they wrote themselves. One trick one of my undergrad profs taught us in our intro to creative writing class is to read your work out loud. Slowly. As humans, we are all definitely fallible when it comes to writing in regards to grammar and consistency since our brains process much faster than our fingers. There is your protip for the day.

Secondly, the weird topic jump within single paragraphs was beyond annoying. She would begin the paragraph on subject X, suddenly verve to subject Y and then rant and rave for pages espousing her opinion on why the people of this town were illiterate, inbred, shiftless, lazy, public service sucking humans.

Thirdly, style. This ties into point the first with the lack of editor. She would drop in and out of time period, technology, and culture inconsistencies. For example, the book is apparently "written" by the author's sister who worked at the public library in Denialville, MI and then BOOM, died of lung cancer. The sister's greatest wish evah was to have her beloved book published. The problem with this premise is that in the introduction, the book leads the reader to believe that the sister has been dead for some time but the "sister" talks about technology and current events of the now. So apparently her sister is a time traveler?

Fourthly, the bigotry of the author. On anyone that is not her (white, "upper middle class", educated). Literally. Wow. Hate much? Here are some prime examples:

"Mr. Thee Hats is not Native American as you may have assumed by his name."
"Personally, I cannot imagine why any one [note separation of words here] without a high school diploma would begin to think she or he had what it took to raise a child properly."
"Maybe having sex shouldn't be so easy since so many poor, ignorant people are having it worth any birth control."
"I know, to a lot of you, this sounds like eugenics. I have to wonder if those of you against eugenics are aware of the human suffering brought about by poor planning."

When the book was published in 2008, there was a huge hubbub about the author getting fired from the library where she worked over the content in said masterpiece. The reasoning is that it is not so much that she published a book, but that her "fictionalizing" of the patrons in the book were actually fairly identifying characteristics of actual living persons. The author, whose pen name is a pseudonym and the premise (sister dying of lung cancer who originally wrote the book) was false, was discovered because she used images on her book cover the library she worked at as well as she aptly describes specific events and activities that are only available in that geographic area. According to other reports, she also bragged about the publication of the book to everyone and sundry. These are all smart moves if you're writing under a pseudonym and attempting to keep your actual identity on the down low.

One should also keep in mind that librarians and those who work in libraries prescribe to a code of ethics and professionalism, which Miketa completely tossed out the window in the name of her "writing." I think that part bothers me more than the awful writing and editing.

Why you should read this book? I cannot think of a single identifying reason, in any instance, why I would recommend this title EXCEPT for a perfect example of how NOT to self-publish.

If you're looking for vignettes about working in libraries, check out the often updated and constantly hilarious LiveJournal community, The Society for Librarians Who Say M-F ([...]).

I am ashamed of this author as a representative of my profession. A librarian should never be so judgmental and so nosy about the business of their patrons. The most upsetting story was when she said she could look at a young child and instantly tell if they would grow up to be a sexual predator. This woman has no business working in a library. Librarians can't just love books, they need to love working with people. The job is as much a social service as anything else, and this woman clearly doesn't belong there.

Fantastic book! This broad is crazy *lol* I loved reading every word, and I've never come across anyone who was so judgmental, so holier-than-thou, so condescending - it was just baffling at times. But I had to laugh. The author herself sounds like she'd be a nightmare customer at almost any other retail establishment in town. She makes some awfully good points though, about the cycle of poverty, mental illness, and child-rearing in rural Michigan (which I have some experience with msyelf) like these welfare moms who keep churning out kids when they can't care for them or raise them properly to go out into the world, get a job, and make something of themselves. The dysfunctional kids have MORE kids, and the cycle of poverty and crime continues. There really oughta be a test for parents to take before they have children, some sort of bare-minimum requirements. Getting back to the book though, it wasn't nearly as poorly-written as some of these grammar nazis are saying in the other reviews - I only noticed a few typos and misspellings here and there. "The Library Diaries" was quite easy reading - I finished it in an hour, laughing most of the time and gasping some other times, at how someone could be so patronizing and sanctimonious and think that her attitude is normal. I don't believe she should've gotten fired from her job though, I think the ding-bats on the library board & the director should've all been replaced themselves, if even half of what I read in the book is true about their lame-duck ineffectiveness and bending over backwards to accomodate "difficult" patrons. Anyway, yeah Ann Miketa's book is a snobbish haughty bevy of insults and judgments on lower-class people - but it was a total blast to read! Highly recommended! ...and yes, in case anyone hasn't figured it out, the capital letters in my review title do spell out pompous *lol*

I don't agree that she should have gotten fired for writing this book. She was in violation of numerous ethical principles put forth by the ALA (American Library Association). She did not keep patron information confidential, was incredibly rude and condescending to her library patrons and obviously had problems with authority, including her library director and board. Being a professional librarian myself, I am appalled that someone would actually confess to having such blatantly stereotypical bias towards the population they serve. While I encounter my fair share of unique individuals (not all my favorite people), the majority of my patrons are pleasant and polite. Don't even get me started on her philosophy of eugenics. I think she enjoyed working around people she deemed unworthy of her intelligence and breed, obviously some issues with self esteem. Recommended for shock value only.

While, as a public librarian myself, I identify with some of the situations here, I thought that the book was poorly written and actually "nasty" rather than funny. She really appears to hate her job, and I can understand why she was fired.

Sad, but funny. Now I'll be looking at the other patrons of the library more carefully next time I'm there.

If the people in the town are so illiterate then WHY are they "reading" and being able to comprehend that it is about THEM?
You cant have it both ways.

I could write a book about all the morons, idiots, perverts, dirty old men and crappy parents and animal owners I have dealt with during my time in the work force as a customer service rep, counter person, business manager,legal liaison, daycare provider and small business owner. Never mind the "winners" I get to see and deal with outside of my job. The city I currently reside in seems surprisingly like the place this book is set in. Myself. I doubt most of the people I pass on the streets here can even read. Maybe I should write about them. They would never know!!!
She is just telling it like it IS. Politically correct? No. But the truth really hurts when you are looking at it.