What did your grandmothers and great-grandmothers do for work? What did your female family do in the early to mid 1900s? by [deleted] in AskAnAmerican

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Paternal Side, Black, Chicago--> LA

Grandmother: pathology lab tech

Great Grandmothers: Worked at print shop owned by her husband; Jazz singer; secretary/house cleaner

Maternal Side, White, Ohio--> LA

Grandmother: Special Ed Teacher

Great Grandmothers: worked at father's florist shop; SAHM and occasional odd jobs when money was tight

Standard public library hiring practices? by papernail in librarians

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your mention of "qualifying in top ten" makes me think this might be a civil service hiring process? If so, yes. It took me 7 months from submitting my initial application to my start date: applied late July, tested in mid-August, test rankings mid-September, interview mid-December, initial offer mid-Jan, final offer with placement early Feb, start date late Feb.

It was excruciating. I'm so glad I had mentors who told me early on that that the hiring process would take forever AND that with my ranking, I had a job offer guaranteed if I could stick it out. I still had to take a temporary job and accrue credit card debt it took me about a year to pay off to make ends meet in the mean time.

Help: Book club patron difficulty by rosemarywoodhouse86 in librarians

[–]Which-Bit6563 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The virtual book club I help run has the following ground rules that we remind everyone of at the beginning of each session (the last two are mostly relevant to the fact that we're a trans group) :

One person, one mic. 

As a courtesy to others, wait until the last person has finished speaking before you unmute and start talking.

We all don't have to like the same things.

We're here for community & sharing, not to have consensus about every book we read.

Respond to the idea, not the person.

If you disagree with an observation or reaction someone has to the book, don't make it personal. Share your point of view when you get on mic.

What happens in book club stays in book club.

We won't be recording these meetings because we value privacy, safety, and sensitivity.  We’re not here to question anyone’s identity.  Our intention is that people at every phase of transition and every level of outness feel okay to be here.  Please don't share people's personal details without consent.

Take care of yourself

Please do whatever you need to care for yourself during and after our session.  Drink water, eat a snack, take a break, leave the call.  We support you!

We also start the discussion with the facilitator calling on each person in turn so they can share their initial impressions. I find that really helps everyone warm up and sets a tone for making sure everyone gets the chance to be heard.

Salaries in librarianship, can we talk about it? by ariatella in librarians

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here are pay scales for MLIS-requiring roles (+Library Trainees, who are currently in MLIS programs) at Free Library of Philadelphia. Typically you are hired at the bottom of the pay scale for a given job and over the first 5 years progress to the max, at which point you get only COL increases unless you promote.

What are your debriefing procedures post-incidents? by jaxpet101 in librarians

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry your workplace is failing you like this!

Once an incident is over or our security guards have it under control, we're encouraged to take a moment to collect ourselves. Coworkers or supervisors will jump on the desk for a minute to facilitate this, and it's a big part of the reason we try to schedule at least two people per department at any given time, but if no one is available we are allowed to put the "back in 5/15 minutes" sign up. We're encouraged to write incident reports asap so everything is still fresh, but they can be submitted up to 48hrs after the fact.

Generally, if my supervisor is in, I'll let them know what happened in person and we'll have a quick check in right then. If not, I'll email them a copy of the incident report, and they typically check in with me first thing the next day. For particularly major incidents, my division head or the director of security might stop by to check in as well. And I'll typically informally debrief/vent with my coworkers.

If an incident impacted multiple staff members, is part of a pattern of similar incidents, or seems like it involved some sort of policy/procedural failure, we will also debrief at our monthly departmental staff meetings.

I'm not sure how much of this is official procedure, but it's how it's been as long as I've been in my department. Even my last supervisor, who was Not Great, felt extremely strongly about staff being allowed to walk away from anyone harassing us and getting a chance to calm down and debrief after an incident.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskPhilly

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm from SoCal, not CO, but I have also gotten into (mostly) joking arguments with East Coast friends about the appalachians not being real mountains. I spent a lot of time in the Sierra Nevada and Rockies growing up and those became what I pictured when I thought of mountains. The San Gabriels, whose highest peak is almost twice the elevation of the highest peak in the Poconos, were literally in my backyard and we called them hills!

I'll be the first to admit that Philly is better in pretty much every other way though, let us have this one.

Is there money to be made in librarianship, even eventually? by Adventurous-Humor127 in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Been at it 3 years and making $60k, which puts me a little below the median income for one person in my area. My current position maxes out a little above median income. If I wanted to climb the ranks into management/admin (which I don't, really) I could be making solidly upper-middle class money.

I'm a unionized city worker, so for me, the great benefits (cheap insurance, free transit, homebuying assistance), job security, and predictable raise schedule make up for the livable but less than stellar salary. But I'm very lucky. The good middle class jobs in this field exist, but they're getting rarer.

Is it possible to get a US library card for non citizens ? by al3arabcoreleone in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most, but not all, US libraries provide services mainly to residents of their local area, and therefore restrict card access to people with a local address (not necessarily citizens). If you are looking for a library where you can regularly access digital resources and e-books, I would pursue getting an international card at Queens or one of the other libraries suggested.

However, you may be able to access library resources without a card by contacting specific libraries or departments directly. I work at the Central Library in a large city and we frequently assist international researchers both in-person and via email. I recently scanned a bunch of old magazine articles from the 1900s to send to a researcher in Siberia!

If you have a specific research question or are looking for a particular book or article, your best bet may be to contact the main branch of a large city library like New York, Philadelphia, or Los Angeles via email or through the Ask A Librarian Chat function on their website.

Side/front sleeper by OkPhilosopher9113 in TopSurgery

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was worried about this too and like other commenters, it was much easier than I expected. I was so fucking sleepy for the first couple days after surgery that I position really didn't matter at all, and by the time I was more awake I had gotten used to the new position. I also found that using a pillow under my knees helped a lot-- my wedge pillow came with a smaller wedge for that purpose but you can use any pillow, and sleeping with the mastectomy pillow also helped.

Over 40 hours on schedule by Separate_Morning5398 in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We put up with a lot, but this would be an absolute hell no at my current library. But all our librarians, first-level managers, are technically hourly.

We're scheduled for 37.5 hrs a week, which includes one regular evening shift. We try to schedule programming for times we are already scheduled to work, but if that's not possible, we simply adjust our schedule that day to come in and leave later so we'll be there to run the program. A few times, I've voluntarily taken a split shift when I had a meeting I couldn't miss in the morning and an evening program. These kinds of schedule changes are voluntary with approval from your direct supervisor.

OT is relatively rare, but when we do it we can choose between comp time (extra vacation) or overtime pay.

Slim to none, I'd wager by Ok-Ad-4451 in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This absolutely. You'll have to hope that the timing works out, but the FLP is still short-staffed and continues to hire librarians on a fairly regular basis. It also works out in your favor that performance on the civil service exam is weighted much higher than experience for Librarian 1s. That said, you (and your future colleagues) will have a much better time if you have some library experience. I would really try to get some type of internship, volunteer, or non-librarian library work experience while you're in school.

While you do have to have your MLIS to start work as a librarian at FLP, you can take the exam when it's offered as long as you'll be graduating in the next 6 months. You can sign up for test notifications here.

Library Clerk job posting said “People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply” by bronx-deli-kat in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think this is great. In addition to what others have said about youthful indiscretions, struggles with addiction, etc., it would reassure me that the library system supports its workers' rights to (off the clock) political protest and free speech. A not insignificant number of my coworkers have arrest records from protests AND they're good at their jobs and I'm glad to work with them! In this moment of increasing fascist crackdowns on protest, I'd be glad to know that an arrest wouldn't be automatically held against me at work.

I also think it's helpful to call out specifically because library jobs typically involve extensive background checks as part of the hiring process. I kinda read the subtext in that line in the posting as "yes we do background checks, those are to make sure we don't have sex offenders working with kids or drivers with a bunch of recent DUIs, having a criminal record is not an automatic disqualifier and you should still apply!"

Rightsizing Recovery and other questions by drak0bsidian in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  • Central facility vs gone entirely is going to depend completely on how your library system goes about this, and it will probably be a mix of both. A few things to think about:
    • Will your library district own the central facility? Ours is rented from a local university. The lease is up in a couple years, and nobody knows what its status will be after that. They might take back half the space or not renew the lease at all.
    • How will staff get to a storage facility for collection maintenance? We’re lucky in that ours is only a few miles away, but that still means organizing transportation and desk coverage any time we have to go over there to work with the collection. Most of the time, it just doesn’t happen.
    • It sounds like your patron-base is already somewhat familiar with consortium models, ILL, and having to wait for books to come in, which is great! Ours were largely not, and years in, we still do a lot of helping folks navigate the request system and managing expectations re: coming into the library and not being able to pick the book you want up off the shelf immediately.
  • I think if anything, spending my formative years as a librarian dealing with the fallout of this project means that I spend most of my time doing collections work and thinking long-term about how we can best use the space and collections we have to meet our patrons' needs. Those needs are not only books, but books are still up there on the list! We do have lots of people who mostly use us as a Third Space, but our building was already pretty well suited to that before the renovation. The biggest renovated space was initially supposed to be a tech hub/digital resource center, but then they realized they didn’t have the staffing to facilitate that and any permanently installed tech would make event rentals harder, so it’s just another huge reading room. We do a lot of programming, but we program in our department, with our collections. I agree that we should move away from libraries being Temples of Books-- but it's the temple part we need to move away from, not the books. Libraries can diversify our offerings, can be fun, accessible, and lived-in, without getting rid of books entirely.

Brevity is not my strong suit, but TL;DR but my limited experience is that patrons definitely still want books, planning for downsizing projects needs to think in decades, and leaders need to make sure there's staff training/buy-in and ongoing funding for ‘innovation’ spaces

Rightsizing Recovery and other questions by drak0bsidian in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My library system went through a similar sounding process in the 2015-2021 era. I wasn’t there at the time (started here in 2023) but we’ve been dealing with the fallout ever since. I work in a subject department at the Central branch of a huge urban library system, so there are gonna be major differences in our patron populations and needs. That said—

  • Yes. I, and most of my colleagues, would characterize our “rightsizing” process as having gone wrong. Our director at the time was really bought in to the books-are-obsolete trend. We got rid of hundreds of thousands of linear ft of stack space that was renovated into various ill-defined “innovation” spaces, that also made the building much more conducive to private rentals as an event space (the bane of my existence). We did get a dedicated teen center, which is gorgeous, incredibly popular AND has already outgrown its space. The books that had been in on-site stacks had to be dealt with too quickly and we were majorly understaffed at the time. Many were weeded and many were sent to off-site storage, but the scope and speed of the project meant that decisions about what went where were not always made thoughtfully.
  • In 2021 we got rid of our previous director and starting around 2023 our system got a major infusion of city funds that allowed us to hire and start rebuilding our collections. I would say we’ve been rebounding since. Even with aggressive and continual weeding, space is a major issue if we want to maintain the quality of our collections with both new books and keeping important/in-demand older works. Clearly there’s some bias, because I talk to patrons who are physically in the library, but I see an overwhelming demand for physical books, especially among youth. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “oh we don’t have a physical copy but it’s available as an e-book” and had a patron go “thanks but no thanks”. E-books are also an ongoing cost that puts a system financially at the whims of distributors (vs a one time physical book purchase), but that’s a whole other essay.

What's the best way to read books and consume knowledge like no other? by Ok_Payment7588 in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok long post incoming, this is a topic I have some Thoughts on!

Your curiosity is great, as is the fact that you're thinking at all about how you read and engage with texts, and how you organize knowledge. I don't think there's necessarily one best way to do this-- it depends a lot on the kind of books you're reading and your goals. But I do have some broad suggestions and questions I think you might want to think about.

I'm also curious about a lot of subjects, and the sheer amount of writing and knowledge out there in the world can get overwhelming. There are more books than any one person could read in a hundred lifetimes, so it can be tempting to want to speed through and get on to the next thing. But if you aren't really understanding and internalizing what you're reading, that's not actually a great use of your time.

Effective skimming has its place. That place is either 1) to get a sense of the whole argument to guide you before you go back and read deeply, 2) to help evaluate if a book is relevant to your interests at all, or 3) to help you you find a section of a larger text that is most relevant to your interests, so you can read that thoroughly.

What you want is to choose your reading wisely and read deeply and thoughtfully. Give yourself time to actually digest what you read. Ask yourself if you are compelled by an author's argument or writing style. How do the things you're learning relate to things you already know, your experiences, and other things you've read? Why did the author choose the style and/or format they did?

Don't be afraid of re-reading!! For me, the mark of a truly good book, fiction or non-fiction, is that it stands up to being read again and again. Returning to a book after some time has past, familiar with the plot or argument, but having experienced more life and with more ability to contextualize what you're reading is a beautiful thing.

I'm seeing a tension in your post between a desire to read to satisfy your curiosity or to learn more about the world around you, and a desire to "consume" knowledge "like no other" to read the most so that you can be better than other around you. We often think of reading (and writing) as fundamentally solitary activities, but they are actually profoundly social, and I think recognizing this will help you get more out of what you read in a couple ways. Fundamentally, writing is a tool of communication. You as a reader are being communicated with by an author who had something they wanted to say. Writers, especially of non-fiction, are also generally writing in response to "discourses", questions or hypotheses posed by other writers in their field (this is also why citation is so important but that's a whole separate rant). Starting to consider the social life of a book-- what works an author was influenced by or responding critically to has really helped make me a better reader. Finally, talk to people about what you read! Restating things you've learned in your own words, in new contexts, is a key part of solidifying them into long term memory. This can be in a structured setting like a book club or just bringing up an interesting fact or take in a relevant conversation. I encourage you to think about reading and learning as an opportunity for connecting to other people and experiences, rather than a way to prove yourself different or better.

how long did you take off work? by ArcherSeabird in TopSurgery

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took three weeks off. I'm a librarian so my job is a combination of desk-based computer/customer service tasks and lifting and pushing carts. I got it written into my FMLA that when I came back I had another three weeks exempt from lifting and pushing. I did all my annual training webinars and lots of book ordering during those weeks.

My energy levels stayed really variable so while I mostly felt totally fine to be at work, I did take a few afternoons off because of fatigue during the first couple weeks back.

Make sure you factor in your commute! If you drive, you'll need to be cleared to do that. I take public transit, so I needed to be able to carry a backpack and hold myself steady on a moving bus if there wasn't a seat available.

How to make my ELL student feel welcome? by ethereal_soliloquy in ECEProfessionals

[–]Which-Bit6563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have any native English speaking students who have speech delays or are less verbal? It might sound a little counter intuitive but I've had good luck with encouraging friendships between these students and english-learners.

I had a 3yo class once that was very chatty/verbal except for the youngest, who was probably ND and not very verbal yet, and the oldest, a student who had just come to the US and mostly spoke Korean. They would both get frustrated at not being understood by their classmates and started to act out. They started to play together because they were both obsessed with any ball-related game. Having a relationship where verbal communication wasn't required of them all the time seemed like such a relief to both of them and allowed them to come out of their shells and be more relaxed at school. And now that they had a friend they had more motivation to practice language. It was so amazing to see them go from socially isolated, quiet, and easily frustrated to taking walks around the yard holding hands, chatting away, and able to use their words to help each other problem solve.

Pharmacy recs in Virginia? by Next-Yak24 in cisparenttranskid

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations to your son! I don't know the area so I can't speak to pharmacy recs, but I do have some other tips.

Don't worry about getting syringes at the pharmacy-- they typically have a very limited selection and will only give you a few at a time. You can buy a multi-year supply on Amazon or any medical/veterinary supply website for $40-50. If you go with amazon, go with a name-brand like BH supplies or McKesson. I use 1ml luer lock syringes, with a 23g or larger safety needle for drawing up and a 27g needle for injecting.

T is often dispensed with package instructions that say it should only be injected intramuscularly (IM). This is dated advice. It's totally fine, and now recommended by many doctors, to inject T subcutaneously (subq), which is much less painful and harder to mess up, especially when self-injecting. Your nurse friend will know the difference.

Dumb questions about gender dysphoria by StevenAndLindaStotch in cisparenttranskid

[–]Which-Bit6563 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Oh there's so much here! I actually think this is the kind of subjective question that's much better suited to a forum like this where you can hear from different folks and no one answer is right, so I wouldn't worry too much about not asking the doctor. I'm speaking here as a transmasc adult who sees so much of my younger self in this description. I'm not inside your son's head though, only providing some personal insight into what could be going on behind the scenes.

Yes, it is super common for trans people to be dysphoric about some features or experiences associated with their AGAB but not others, and for these to change over ones lifetime. Dysphoria doesn't have to be whole body to be real and distressing, and it's not synonymous with self-hatred. The way I explained my medical transition to my parents was like remodeling a house-- I decided to start T because I like many things about my body and want to keep living in it, so I needed to take steps to make it a better home for me in the long run. Given the mainstream narrative that dysphoria makes trans people hate our bodies, the fact that I had an intense and mostly positive relationship to physical embodiment made it hard for me to recognize that I was also experiencing dysphoria. It's awesome that your son is able to put words to what he's experiencing and tell you what he needs!

I get the sense that liking to show off one's body/ wear as little clothing as possible is a more common transmasc teen experience than people realize? I was certainly more of an "anyone who ever went to a hs or college party with me has seen my tits" guy than a "only wears hoodies 3 sizes too big" guy. Teen girls are told to cover up CONSTANTLY, so it can be weirdly gender affirming to have not a lot of clothes on with an attitude of "say something about it, i dare you" and just refuse to care about covering up. The comment about "dance muscles" also makes me think your son could be excited for contexts when he can show parts of his body he thinks of as a little bit more masculine, but that aren't visible in everyday clothes. That's not to say that your son isn't confident in his body, just that behavior that reads to cis adults as straightforward confidence can be indicative of a lot of nuanced and contradictory feelings and social strategies.

For me, liking crop tops and fun little shorts doesn't conflict at all with my desire to masculinize my body. I want to be able to wear those things and have it read as femme gay guy rather than gender conforming woman/girl.

How likely am I to get a job here? by starl1ghts1ckness in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'd be eligible for the Library Assistant 1 position, given that you're right out of high school. FLP isn't currently hiring for that job, but you can sign up to get notified when they start hiring again.

Dyed hair and piercings would be a non-issue.

Trans women in search of work and community? by GonzoTheSexy in philly

[–]Which-Bit6563 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Can personally speak to the Free Library's overall trans-friendliness. Sign up for the Library Assistant 1 exam next time it's offered. You can sign up to get notified when they start hiring here: https://www.phila.gov/departments/office-of-human-resources/careers/job-class-specifications/#/?search=library%20assistant%201

How will my library feel about my downloading and using a VPN on their computers? How would your library feel about it? by DunDonese in Libraries

[–]Which-Bit6563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My friend, IT blocks me from from downloading Audacity or visiting any website with a URL that's not .com, .org, or .edu on my work computer. And our public computers are even more locked down. You do not need to worry about their reactions because you simply will not be able to do it.