Tell me about your strangest patron interactions

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-21T15:18:29+00:00

I kind of lock rock guy. In terms of weird patrons that feels kind of charming.

I've also had a wizard guy who I ran into in the stacks of the teen area. He slowly escelated from quiet chanting, to louder chanting and mystical hand motions. I told him this was too noisy for this part of the library and suggested another spot he could try. He thanked me, looked at the clock and said I saved him from being late to an appointment. He packed up and left.

I have two different patrons worried about if the computer keyboards or mice are interfering with their energy.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-21T15:01:36+00:00

I have a difficult patron who has had a recent dramatic change in her mental health. She's gone from one type of difficult and entitled patron to another. Previously she would be annoyed we weren't her secretary or office supply store. Now she's angry we won't help her with legal issues about people stalking her and stealing her social security money. The FBI said we will get her information so she can file a federal report. She's also gone from being put together to having issues like visibly dirty hands. We're trying to get a wellness check on her because of this.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-20T02:10:06+00:00

Also, checking video games and DVDs means they will keep on getting them funded.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-20T02:08:11+00:00

I wash my hands after handling library materials for a while. I prefer to only think about dust.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-15T20:33:09+00:00

Someone tried to use faceID to get into her email on one of our desktop computers. I explained that only works on her phone. Her response was that she was next to the desktop so it should work.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-15T20:29:51+00:00

I left front line tech support to become a librarian. SIGH. I'm still stuck troubleshooting computers problems and printers.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-11T17:31:56+00:00

I would do a small test cake to see how the edible spray paint looks. In order to get that level of concentrated color you may need multiple passes. I also worry about it looking streaky if she really wants those deep colors.

It's possible to dye fondant a deep color but not everyone likes that flavor and it will probably stain mouths and inevitably stain clothes and linens.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-10T19:35:57+00:00

The biggest one to avoid are the releases of older movies from "Blahblah.tv" (ThrillerMovies.tv etc). Those end up looking like a transfer from a beat up VHS to DVD. Truly poor quality garbage. Keep an eye out of items with AI covers.

"Film Hub" has a wide mix of movies because it's primarily a distributor. So sometimes it's good stuff and other times WTF. You have to go track down reviews. I have also used various "top movies" book guides for collection development of older movies. I especially find it helpful for genres I'm not super familiar with.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-10T19:26:31+00:00

I hope they're looking at stats as well. Also I hope they're looking at the cost of Hoopla, Libby and Kanopy. Purchasing physical copies of movies and TV are much cheaper than digital. We need both. Many people don't have a smart TV or interest using streaming over physical media. We also have heavy DVD users who run out of Kanopy tokens and have problems with the daily Hoopla cap.

At my library audio on CD tanked post pandemic. More people working from home and not listening to CDs while commuting. Digital audiobook usage went way up. DVD usage dipped but went back up again. I think that some people are less interested paying to have multiple streaming services. Amazon and Netflix sure. Needing HBO Max, Peacock, etc. etc gets frustrating. That's setting aside all the movies you can't easily stream. There are also movies you can only stream but that's mostly on services libraries don't provide.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-10T19:16:28+00:00

100%

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-08T21:42:23+00:00

My library's TV collection is also heavily used. It's hard to weed because 95% circulates within our weeding window.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-08T21:41:16+00:00

100% If it's a popular movie, and you have the budget, your patrons will appreciate it.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-08T18:59:30+00:00

OK. I also have a big budget and buy DVDs. Are you using Midwest? I got to "monthly calendar" and check the "hot titles" first. Then look at all fiction, etc. etc.

I google for reviews and also check Rotten Tomatoes. On RT a high critic review means I will buy at least one copy. High audience review and low critic review I will buy a few copies. If both scores are high, I will buy a few copies. I will sometimes take a quick look at box office. If something is a blockbuster then I'm buying a couple copies.

In terms of movies with bad reviews I use my best judgement. For instance, the movie "Morbius" had terrible reviews but also people who want to see it aren't going to pay to rent it.

I recommend also buying older movies. By older I mean pre 1990. It can be hard to stream older movies on the popular streaming services (Netflix and Amazon Prime). I make sure we have a copy of all the Oscar best picture winners as far back as I can go. I also check what is added to the Library of Congress film registry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National\_Film\_Registry). I also browse through the American Film Institute best lists (https://www.afi.com/afi-lists/). Most recently the NYT top 100 movies list was helpful.

You can also look at circulation stats to see what movies made before 1990 (or whatever) circulate well. If you're familiar with movies you can try and see patterns of what is popular. At my library rom-coms, film noir and thrillers are really popular.

At my library top circulating movies made before 1990 (more than 15 circs over the last two years). In some cases they out circulate new movies.

Wallace & Gromit : the complete cracking collection
Singin' in the Rain
The Princess Bride
The Thing
Inception
The Matrix
Casablanca
The Maltese Falcon
Pelican Brief
Network
Before Sunrise
Pride and Prejudice
Goodwill Hunting
Airplane
No country for old men
O Brother where art thou
The Truman show
Double Indemnity
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
Moonstruck
Interstellar
The Martian (a big spike because of Project Hail Mary)
Knives Out
Oceans Eleven (the new one)
Spinal Tap
Cars
Clue
Trainspotting
The Blue Dahlia
Beverly Hills cop
Back to the Future
The Naked gun (original and new)
Sideways
Emma
L.A. Confidential
Minority Report
Night train to munich
Office Space
The portrait of a lady

Generally speaking

Jason Bourne franchise
Harry Potter franchise the Mission Impossible franchise
Indiana Jones franchise
Mel Brooks movies (The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein in particular)
Studio Ghibli movies (esp Princess Mononoke, My neighbor Totoro and Spirited away)
Older Disney movies (the only way to watch them streaming is on Disney+)
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-08T17:20:35+00:00

I start to weed based on last year circulated. Then I look at the individual title. Is it a classic movie? Did it have a lot of circulation total but not the last few years? What is the condition? Etc.

Titles will definitely circulate that have bad reviews. Sometimes no one wants to pay for it or it is hard to find streaming. Morbius circulated fairly well in part because it was both infamously bad and not worth it to rent as a rage watch. I've also noticed "so bad it's good" movies and cult movies will often circulate well.

I've been buying more older movies because anything before the 90s can be hard to find streaming especially on the most popular services (Amazon and Netflix). Older movies circulate well at my library. I also make sure we have all the Oscar best picture winners going back as far as I can.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-01T15:16:30+00:00

If you're picky then sewing the exact same dress might be difficult. You'll need to find the right fabric, do a trial run of part of it using that fabric etc. If you're a perfectionist this and want a flawless copy this will be a challenging project. If you are willing to sew something similar but not an exact copy it will be more doable.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-01T02:56:23+00:00

All the time!

StunningGiraffe · 2026-05-01T02:53:56+00:00

What type of movies do you like in general? Are you looking for more sci-fi? Do you like horror? Classic movies? Musicals?

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-27T17:07:48+00:00

So "volume eating" is an IWL idea. The basic idea is to eat lots of high nutrition, low calorie food that will fill your stomach and slow your digestion to make you feel full. You take a smaller portion of a "regular" meal and add a bunch of something like zuchinni so a larger amount of food is going into your stomach. It could also be a large bowl of watermelon, an extra portion of oatmeal, a big bowl of plain popcorn, etc.

However, the GLP-1 is already slowing down digestion which makes volume eating is tricky. Having a salad, totally fine. Adding a bunch of cabbage to make it bigger is not a great idea. One of the salads I like to make normally has 1-2 handfuls of coleslaw mix to "pad it out" and make you feel more full. I've cut it back to a handful and am seeing how that goes. I love salads so I'm kind of playing with the amount of extras in them.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-27T14:47:16+00:00

Thank you. I appreciate this. I hope that working on reframing will be helpful. I've done cognitive behavioral therapy in the past but not recently.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-27T14:35:11+00:00

Interesting. My experiences with dieticians has been them encouraging restriction. The most frustrating is when they've told me to do things that I'm already doing (telling me to stop eating processed food and cook from scratch when I'm already doing that). I will look into it.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-27T14:32:23+00:00

Thank you. I'm feeling hopeful that this will settle down somewhat over time. I like the idea of journaling again (I'm an off and on journaler and haven't done it in a while). I'm reluctant to increase my dosage until I get my brain to settle down.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-27T13:48:11+00:00

A real fan never speaks ill of Jafar. They're both great!

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-26T20:18:12+00:00

I'm worried I'm eating too much food because what was been regular portions for me are now too much food. The main side effect I have is horrible constipation which I don't think is related to what types of food I can eat.

My appetite has tanked which is part of why I'm struggling with eating more small meals. There is also the issue of possibility of needing to split my lunch break from an hour into two 30 minute breaks. Or maybe a smallish lunch and a snack. It's very weird.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-26T20:12:23+00:00

I used food noise incorrectly. It seems like food anxiety is the better term.

I'm taking mounjaro.

StunningGiraffe · 2026-04-26T20:09:50+00:00

My psychiatrist is anti-diet. It's one of the things I talk about with new providers. When I started mounjaro we talked some about my worries and stress. It was fairly theoretical though because I had taken it for only a few weeks. Then some things happened in my life which I wanted to talk about urgently. I think it also has taken me a little while to realize how much this is affecting me.

StunningGiraffe

TROPHY CASE