Author’s Note: There many websites and books that gather funny questions and comments from library patrons. This type of data collection makes me uncomfortable because I don’t think librarians should ever mock their patrons even anonymously. Among all the jokes at the patrons’ expense, I have seen very few stories that reveal the human-side of librarianship, and how working a public reference desk broadens a librarian’s exposure to the others, marginalized groups that mainstream society ignores, fears or demonizes. In my next few posts, I will share how my perspective and life has been enriched and changed by exposure to people that I probably would have never met if it were not for the public library.
While working the reference desk at a branch library, as a new librarian with less than seven weeks of experience, in the roughest part of the city with the highest crime rate and highest poverty level, a young black man in his mid-twenties asked me if I would help him apply for jobs online.
I promptly helped him sign onto a public computer and closely stood behind him to instruct him on which websites to search. As we got deeper into the search, he told me that he was living with his grandma and promised her that he would look for a good job. He wanted something local with minimal travel in trucking or warehousing.
By entering a few keywords, I found about 30 jobs for him to review. As I started to explain how to open the links to see if the employers wanted a resume or if the application was online, he interrupted me and said, “I need a place that will accept a convicted felon.”
My eyes were automatically drawn to his prison tattoos on his neck and arm as I tried to not reveal my alarm while simultaneously mapping out the fastest exit strategy. If he would have been a dog, he would have sensed my fear immediately. But unlike dogs that tend to interpret my anxiety as a signal to jump on and lick me, my patron would have considered my nervousness to be more discriminatory than stimulating. So, I pushed through the reference interview with a smile on my face and got so deeply involved in keyword searching that I stopped trying to guess his crime. Eventually, I located three places that accepted felony convictions. He applied for the jobs. I also introduced him to our resume making software and gave him some books on Internet job searching and resume writing.
After we finished, he shook my hand and thanked me repeatedly for my help.
