library suck: please don't touch our old books :(
First time poster, etc.
I work in the Archives & Special Collections part of my university library, which is a pretty badass job most of the time. (I mean, come on! Getting paid to look at old books and stuff?)
Usually most of my work is in the back, filing stuff and filling out charge slips, etc. But every once in a while we have class visits, where classes will request materials brought up from the basement that are relevant to the course. (Example: I pulled a leaf of the Gutenberg bible for a Western Civ course the other day). And most of the time, these classes are well-behaved and awesome.
...But then you get some who just. Aren't.
Dear girl over there, drinking from your water bottle despite our large signs requesting that all food and drink be left outside:
There are white cotton gloves in front of this book, and yes, the pages are taped open with clear plastic to keep the book open to one specific page. We do this for a reason. Most people seem to understand that gloves = wear them, clear plastic = don't try to turn pages.
I don't mind having to remind you gently not to touch the pages, and I don't mind explaining why the book is bound open the way it is. What I do mind is you rolling your eyes and, as soon as I walk away, complaining to your friend that there's no point in coming to a library if you can't even look at the books. And then proceeding to touch all over the page anyway, without putting on the gloves.
At least she didn't try to flip the pages or anything.
Uh, sorry we don't want your fingers all over a 1481 copy of Dante's Commedia divina? Let's just say I wasn't sorry when my supervisor noticed her.
TL;DR: Girl gets an attitude about having our Please Wear Gloves When Touching Old Books Policy™ pointed out to her, then proceeds to put her ungloved fingers all over the oldest book in our entire library anyway.
I work in the Archives & Special Collections part of my university library, which is a pretty badass job most of the time. (I mean, come on! Getting paid to look at old books and stuff?)
Usually most of my work is in the back, filing stuff and filling out charge slips, etc. But every once in a while we have class visits, where classes will request materials brought up from the basement that are relevant to the course. (Example: I pulled a leaf of the Gutenberg bible for a Western Civ course the other day). And most of the time, these classes are well-behaved and awesome.
...But then you get some who just. Aren't.
Dear girl over there, drinking from your water bottle despite our large signs requesting that all food and drink be left outside:
There are white cotton gloves in front of this book, and yes, the pages are taped open with clear plastic to keep the book open to one specific page. We do this for a reason. Most people seem to understand that gloves = wear them, clear plastic = don't try to turn pages.
I don't mind having to remind you gently not to touch the pages, and I don't mind explaining why the book is bound open the way it is. What I do mind is you rolling your eyes and, as soon as I walk away, complaining to your friend that there's no point in coming to a library if you can't even look at the books. And then proceeding to touch all over the page anyway, without putting on the gloves.
At least she didn't try to flip the pages or anything.
Uh, sorry we don't want your fingers all over a 1481 copy of Dante's Commedia divina? Let's just say I wasn't sorry when my supervisor noticed her.
TL;DR: Girl gets an attitude about having our Please Wear Gloves When Touching Old Books Policy™ pointed out to her, then proceeds to put her ungloved fingers all over the oldest book in our entire library anyway.