Library Briefs

                   
Stapler Blues

We go through a lot of staplers at the reference desk.  We've always made one available for the public on a table by our two photocopiers, along with a tape dispenser, a 3-hole punch and an electric pencil sharpener.  If a stapler is not stolen, it will be used and abused until it does not work .  We had two staplers  most recently, secured by light chains.  One was stolen anyway, and the other now jams so often that it is a nuisance.

SE, shopping around for a sturdy, securable stapler, reported:

Hi All
In attempts to find a theft- proof stapler, I found out that everyone else is trying to find one, too. Not very surprisingly, most comments are from librarians.  Here are some suggestions I've read by said librarians:
 
Count the number of times people ask where the stapler is and put that in the Ref statistics.
 
Apply for a stapler grant every year.
 
Below is my favorite--

Meet Alice, the library's newest stapler
September 21, 2010
By Matt Bailey and Ann Zawistoski
Alice is our newest stapler. She is the latest in a long line of previously-unnamed compatriots who valiantly gave their lives in the noble service of holding your papers together. They endured-until they could endure no more-horrific slamming, pounding, whomping, and jamming, multiple painful staple extractions, and the unrealistic expectations of those who thought a mere office desk stapler could bite through a fifty-page stack of reserve readings.
But now things will be a little different. Alice (who claims she is guaranteed jam-free, but we'll see about that) will help us keep track of how many staplers we go through in a year. Like a tropical storm or hurricane, Alice's name indicates that she is the first of her kind for the year. If-saints preserve us-she falls in the line of duty, she will be replaced by Bert. If Bert falls, then Claudia. And so forth.  We hope Claudia will get to stay in her snug, warm closet until well into 2011. But if spring rolls around and we're already up to Xavier, Yolanda, or Zigmund, you'll know that this academic year has been...STAPLERGEDDON!!!

Bin of Forgotten Lives

I saw this assortment of discarded biographies in a recycling bin on entering the library this morning.  Evidently, the Friends of the Library volunteers had decided they would not sell in the Friends Shop.

Lonesome Highway

I love the dust jacket on this mystery novel set in Arizona.  Every bookmobile librarian will know the feeling.  Unfortunately, the one in this story is murdered.  Every bookmobiler also knows what it is like to be on his own and far from help should danger arise.