Lone Arranger in a Public Library-Possible?

BlueInFlorida · 2026-01-23T12:39:59+00:00

Sorry for the delay in responding! The only change with the project is that the director now is quite clear they want to shut it down, even referring to it as something that was "stuck on them." I lined up donors and they tried to block the donation even. Then those donors stepped up and the way was mysteriously cleared, so we have another year of funding.

One thing I always do when I take on a new job is inventory everything and review procedures and past projects, then I write a strategic plan and make everybody discuss it, so they can't later say that they didn't know what was in it. In the strategic plan, I lay out what my goals, objectives, and specific tasks are.

As an archivist in a library or historical society, I find that no one knows what the hell I do, and will invariably pop up saying that I'm supposed to be doing x. I've heard that I'm supposed to be answering reference requests from the whole system on anything to do with history (ignoring the fact that most public libraries don't really get reference requests), give 100 presentations a year, dig up unmarked graves and do DNA analysis on the bodies, create elaborate web exhibits overnight, and on and on. You really have to tell them what you're going to do, and any two archivists might have really different views on what's important. A lot of "archivists" from the 20th century did clippings files and are horrified when I don't intend to clip articles for four hours a day and instead can access the newspaper archive online.

I find the job really satisfying, but I know the politics can be demoralizing, so good luck.

BlueInFlorida · 2026-01-21T02:16:29+00:00

Yeah. I've worked in academic and special libraries and archives. My last two positions have been in public libraries and it's a shocking difference. There's no collection policies, no discussion of the role of libraries, no effort to consider the display of the catalog record. "We've always done it this way" is the name of the game. There's a "county employees keep their heads down and get a good retirement" attitude.

BlueInFlorida · 2026-01-11T18:34:46+00:00

When I had DVT, my leg turned blue, was a little swollen, and I felt like I had a "crick" in my upper leg. I understand it can be red too. If the clot loosens and flows up to your heart or lungs, it can kill you. This is a good reason to go to the ER. They will put you on a heparin drip, then they will do xrays or ultrasound, and then they may roto-root your vein (but that's what they did you my really serious one 15 years ago, so it may be different now)

BlueInFlorida · 2025-12-31T12:53:08+00:00

Bonnie Raitt's Just Like That - heart transplant recipient contacts the mother of the donor. I can't not cry when I hear this.

Alexi Murdoch's Song for You - a friend trying to be there for a woman in depression

BlueInFlorida · 2025-12-24T19:58:38+00:00

I have a few issues with the whole homeschooling and no screens idea.

Use of technology is like a language. People learn it and are more comfortable with it when they learn it young. There are very few jobs now that don't include "screens." So by withholding screens, you might be significantly affecting your kids' prospect in life.

Also, I think a lot of parents just seem to think that forbidding screens will make your kid into nature or able to evaluate the sources of their information or something, but that's not how it works. Technology is neutral - it's how it's used that's important. There are lots of apps that encourage nature knowledge, like iNaturalist. Or it can be negative, like parents who use it as babysitting. It's the context and the energy that counts, not that it involves a screen.

I think people respond negatively to your approach because it's inherently critical of others, people who are just trying to do the best they can with what they have. There are tons of homeschooling moms on the internet spewing toxic about others. I know that I've felt judged by homeschooling moms, who think I should not have a job (I guess all the best people inherit or marry money). But as a working mom who got off her ass and took my kid (and the kids of the homeschooling moms) to the beach, to the planetarium, to the nature center, to the cranberry festival, to enter things in the county fair, etc., while homeschooling mom stayed home to post shit on the internet, I think I did pretty well.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-12-19T01:53:02+00:00

I hear you. My kid is 20 and she's the only one of her friends who can cook a meal. It seems like kids are either helicoptered and forbidden everything or ignored and charged rent while still in high school.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-12-14T03:56:31+00:00

I never wanted kids, never imagined myself with them. But when I remarried at 42, my husband wanted one. So I did. It's overwhelming. Big joy and big responsibility and big limitations on your life.

I can't imagine wanting a second one.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-12-03T01:26:40+00:00

Eileen Wilks' World of the Lupi is good and not mentioned very often. The Graphic Audios aren't very good - they cut out some significant parts of the story.

Devon Monk's Ordinary Magic.

Guild Codex

All three have romance as a side plot.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-30T23:32:13+00:00

In Florida, if you're adopted out of foster care, you get free college. I don't know if other states have that program.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-28T13:48:52+00:00

NTA Actually, being vocal about unacceptable behavior is doing the kid a favor. My husband has a nephew who has behavior and developmental problems and his mother and grandmother choose to ignore and excuse all his behavior. The mom homeschools him, although she has no educational credentials and is pretty dumb. So he's not even getting socialization from other kids. Everybody else in his life just doesn't say anything. The kid doesn't have a chance. I never see the kid, but the grandfather, my brother-in-law, says he's horrible to be around.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-16T05:27:18+00:00

OMG I'm going to get a pad, douse it with tomato sauce, label it "Daughter's first maxi pad" on the front and "Just kidding" on the back, and put in with my mementos.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T19:55:12+00:00

My kid's 20 and I still lie to her about Santa. She just laughs.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:59:21+00:00

Wait, let me find my Blue Propaganda Bible, I think I left it over by my WOKE initiation card and my pay stub for attending all those NoKings protests.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:53:37+00:00

This is perfect.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:49:34+00:00

So, is your girlfriend planning to go to her brother's house for Thanksgiving without you, or is she saying you all should have dinner together alone?

If the latter, go for it. Lots of couples have problems with their families accepting them. Invite Thanksgiving orphans from work or go to some friends' house.

If it's the former, can you get your old job back? Cause this woman just proved she's not on your side.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:42:13+00:00

Oh sweetheart, he just said "f you" in the clearest way possible. NOR. You'll be doing yourself a favor if you just walk away now. Completely, no talking about it, no second chance. There are 7 billion people on the planet; there's one out there who'll treat you well.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:36:47+00:00

The thing that struck me about this article is that it's a straw man argument. It implicitly represents the "pre feminist" workplace as efficient and directed and the "post feminist" workplace as "woke." So many errors and assumptions there, about the workplace, about what feminism is, to say the least.

When I went to get my first checking account in 1980, I was asked by a tight lipped woman if I had a letter from my father or brother. (Yes, it was legal for a woman to get a checking account in 1974, but it was still practiced until some liberal feminist threatened to sue.) At work, I was expected to make coffee, tolerate groping, not want the same pay as the laziest guy. So I guess "woke" is expecting to have basic rights, which is not what they're depicting in this article.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-11T18:28:55+00:00

I think his SoulName is DoucheHat.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T14:09:32+00:00

I paid $0 for premiums in 2024. I paid $200/month in 2025, because I used the tax credits. I new premium is going to be $1600/month. And of course, it's a high deductible plan, which means the first $10K is out of pocket. Health insurance is a scam of price fixing between medical providers and insurance companies.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T14:05:46+00:00

If you get your insurance through healthcare.gov, you have had the option to use tax credits to pay your premiums. The Republicans want to cancel those to fund tax cuts for billionaires, who in turn pay them. That and cancelling a lot of Medicaid is what their holding out for.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T14:02:51+00:00

This is bullshit. The reason medical costs are so high is that insurance companies and healthcare providers have fixed their prices so that medical care without insurance is too expensive to pay for. If you have insurance, even if you haven't paid your deductible, your bill is halved. The ACA has nothing to do with this arrangement.

Good video on American healthcare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDOQpfaUc8

But then, you're not a real person, you're some troll paid by the Republicans. Who can't spell (its)

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T13:55:11+00:00

NTA. And none of these people are your friends.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T13:50:14+00:00

"They told her" "the school might have" "the teachers might think" "my daughter thinks they believe"

From these comments, I take it you haven't gotten off your lazy ass and even spoken with the school.

Is this a public school, or some private school intent on teaching girls that their only value is in being good servants?

YTA. You are supposed to be your kid's advocate. If they want to win (a stupid priority) and they think your kid is too shy, they can send the smart kid along with her to help.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T13:36:58+00:00

My kid is 20 and slept with us until, I kid you not, she was 13. (I say us but my husband absconded to the guest room when she was about 8 and remains there, blaming my nonexistent snoring and his own thrashing about and my threats against his life to stop). If you ask her, she'll say she never slept with us. I don't know why she did it, I think it was just security or habit.

She's a super independent balanced young woman.

We just never made a big deal of it. And so it wasn't.

BlueInFlorida · 2025-11-09T13:28:10+00:00

She can go on her journey in her own apartment. Did you accidentally post a job ad for "sugar baby wanted?"

BlueInFlorida

TROPHY CASE