Hey booklovers,
Libraries have been my special interest since I found out what a library was (say, 1969 in first grade if not sooner). Now I have my Master's degree (USA) in Library and Information Science, and let me tell you those were the happiest two and a half years of my life. Since then I've been working on a project investigating book shelving errors. Anyone else interested in this, or something similar??
Yup. I was a library monitor for four years. But now it makes me a little bit sad because I can't get work in a library and all the library courses are about commerce stuff. And working with books would not be boring.
And even my mum forgets that I have experience. I lent her a book one time and she was bending the spine backwards. I said, "don't do that to my books" and my grandma said, "I used to work at a library and we did that all the time." (stupid grandma) I said, "Yeah well so did I and that's not your book it's mine."
If people can't be careful with my things, I'm not going to lend them any more!!!
'Scuse mini rant -- you just reminded me about this story. Congrats on your master's degree, by the way.
Thanks for the congrats, but sadly that degree never led to anything. I kept working at the same job I had before, until my A.S. got me into trouble and I resigned. I tried to go back, but they wouldn't take me. Now it's many years later and I hope I can work there again, but I think I know how you feel about being shut out. I still GO to the library as often as I can, but it's not the same as working there. I want to be with the books, but librarians are supposed to work with people more. To heck with that! But I did meet the best people through working there.
When I graduated, the Internet was just starting up, and all that tech was just too sexy for the powerbrokers to ignore, so my interest in books was not well received. It was actually viewed as non-professional for a librarian to want to work in the stacks, with the books. Oh well, as most of us Aspies do, I'm just pursuing my interests with no support or interest from anyone else.
"We're here, we're weird, get used to it!"
Jewelie
Thanks for the welcome, and thank you all back for being here!
I think the library is just about the perfect environment for autistics: you're forbidden to speak, and the books are in a very specific order and have to stay that way!! It filters out people who can't deal with silence, and draws in people who love books.
I think volunteering is an excellent idea. I used to think it was sort of an unjust appropriation of labor, unpaid, unfair, and I wanted no part of it. Eventually, I realized that MANY people get good jobs through volunteer work, as well as low-paid internships. I was pretty P.O.ed when my husband landed a fabulous job right out of college, but the fact was he had put in years of volunteer work with the organization. I know, it's mean to be P.O.ed but I'm just being A.S. honest, and none of my three degrees landed me a job, period, not to mention a great one straight out of school. But you know what, I could shelve books for the rest of my life and be happy as a clam. I just can't live on the wages!
I don't think anyone has looked into this, but I suspect that Melvil Dewey and Charles Cutter both were either autistics, or cousins, so to speak.
Jewelie
i love books , but often forget to return them or take them out again if i need more time to fisish them.
I started a library course last year, but I didn't feel like I was smart enough so I dropped out. It sparked a fascination with libraries, though. Prior to that I always found them too confusing and scary to be in much (like a foreign planet with its own set of arbitrary rules and order).
I'm intrigued! Why did you sign up for the course? Was it grad school or undergrad? There's no way you're not smart enough, cuz it's not rocket science. Maybe like any other subject, you got a bad teacher who would obfuscate to pump up their own ego. I would be HAPPY to answer ANY questions you have about libraries, or I can refer you to some published library guides.
That's kind of funny what you wrote about the foreign planet, cuz that's MY planet! I know this is an Aspie thing, but I LOVE rules, and organization, and my favorite place on earth {sic} is the library, where rules and organization lead you to knowledge. Ahhhhh. I'm sorry if you've had some bad run-ins with library staff. For the most part, I think they're the best people on earth (the Aspies, at least). I've been out of school for fifteen years now (SOB) but back then I was very irritated by the NTs in charge of the library, not to mention that I just couldn't get past them in the interview process, such that I've always been a free-lance librarian.
Ah, libraries! I could live at the library!
"We're here, we're weird, get used to it!"
I love that! I must paint that on a sign, or possibly my bedroom wall.
<hugs>
Athie
Would you believe I have stayed in the same town for twenty years ONLY because of the top-notch research library we have here?
God, when I had an actual OFFICE at the library it was sheer heaven! I had over three hundred books checked out and in my office. It was always my refuge when Aspie husband was driving me nuts.
I'm glad you like the motto. I worry about it being offensive to some Aspies -- after all, we're only weird to the NTs, not to each other! But it's (obviously) directed at NTs. . .
Sorry I missed those last two posts.
I was just thinking today how disappointed I was in the less than enthusiastic response to this thread, as I'd have expected to find more Aspie bookworms.
As far as having to brainstorm on the spot to help people, you learn all that stuff in library school, where to look, which reference books, etc, and you get to do lots of homework so it sort of becomes automatic. God what fun I had! But you only have to do that if you're a reference librarian, and there are lots of other types. When I was just a lowly stacks worker I would always have people asking me for help, and it was usually fun to help, as they had easy questions, and they were grateful for help, and like I said before, anyone who comes into the library to learn has already passed some sort of filtering process with me, so I'm inclined to want to help them. It's probably similar to religious proselytizing (sp??), I want more library converts so I'll try hard to help them find what they need and have a good experience.
Man, I'm mentally drooling just thinking about this!
Nuts, tolerant, kind, and funny. Yep. It was about a hundred times easier for me to make friends in library school than in undergrad, with notable exceptions.
Maybe you (shadow-dreamer) will go back to school someday??
As for being kept out of jobs, there are so many jobs in libraries that don't require the degree, and relatively few that do. For Aspies like me, the degree can be a hindrance, in that now it's harder to get a regular library job which I am "over-qualified" for, but which I could otherwise get without the degree. And the jobs that require the degree are, for me, unattainable. Damned catch-22 thing.
I guess the advice is to LIE and say I don't have the degree, but I can't lie worth a darn. Which is why interviewing is impossible! I tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth. No pretense, no false confidence, no exaggeration, no spin. Arghhh.
I was just thinking today how disappointed I was in the less than enthusiastic response to this thread, as I'd have expected to find more Aspie bookworms.
I'm a bookworm. This thread started before I was on this forum.
On average I buy more than 1 book per week. I try to read 1 or 2 books per week, but it slowed down since I joined this forum. My house is filled with books. I spent a lot of time haunting bookshops, also for rare used books, and I visit the library at least once a week.
I also love reading, but most libraries I've been to don't have good selections of the books I like to read: field guides, books on animal behavior, books on freshwater fish, etc. Most of them just have large fiction sections, but I don't like reading fiction. Also, the fact that many people lick their fingers when turning pages disgusts me. I think the libraries should have rules against that.
I just prefer to buy my own books and build up a collection rather than going to the library every week.
I don't know if you're in the USA or not, but if so, it sounds like you're talking about public libraries, which do commonly have tons of fiction, because that's what most people want, the few who bother to go to libraries anymore. If there's a decent sized college where you live you'd probably have better luck finding what you like there at the college library. If there's a university, even better. That's why I'm trapped here where I am, since the university library is so awesome. I even pay higher rent just to live withing walking distance (for me, three miles one way).
On the other hand, I should take this opportunity to write about Inter-Library Loan, a program that started in the 1960s I think, where any library can loan books to any other library, for free. So even if your library doesn't have what you want, you can get them to find another library that does have it, and borrow it for you. It's slow of course, but if you can't afford to buy the book, this is a good way to go.
Libraries have all sorts of rules, but enforcing them is not too common, unfortunately. I never really thought about the wet page turners, but I agree it's gross. I think I just assume the books are less than clean to begin with, and having worked in libraries for, what, oh, fifteen years or so, I guess I got used to it.
I just prefer to buy my own books and build up a collection rather than going to the library every week.
I'm the same way. And for me it's necessary to buy my own because when I read (constantly) I underline and write in the margins. That horrifies some book lovers, but it's my way of having a conversation with the book and imprinting what I read on my mind.
When I was a kid I practically lived at the library. Now I get all my books online -- buying two or three a week. (Okay, sometimes four or five.) Being ADHD, I see a book and impulsively buy it ("Oooh! THAT looks good!) Sometimes it's months before I get around to reading them.
Exactly like me! I feel a bit guilty about writing in my books, but that's just carryover from being horrified at people who write in library books, as if they own them. I like the way you phrased that, "my way of having a conversation with the book and imprinting what I read", because that's how I feel too. And I want to be able to go back to the book to refresh my memory, but not reread the whole thing. Of course that makes it impossible to sell the book later, but I almost never do that anyway. It also rules out lending the book to a friend, unless it's a very close and tolerant friend!
My parents were very poor, so there was barely enough money for food, and definitely no money for books, but they made it a priority to take us to the library every two weeks to check out the maximum number of books allowed. Thank god for that! Now I'm in debt up to my eyeballs thanks to AMAZON.com. Yeah, even my university's Asperger collection is not quite up to par, but mine is vast! (my new special interest) I don't have ADHD, but I'm just as impulsive when it comes to seeing a new book on Amazon, I gottahaveit!
Sorry for the whining about low interest in this topic.
And thanks everybody for your comments!
I underline and write in the margins. That horrifies some book lovers,
Yes, that's horrible 
.
In fact the past 5 months I bought 46 books. I am a book collector. From my contacts, as a customer, with a publishing company, last year I have developed an unpaid job, voluntarily, to edit books. The books come from the translators to me by Email (translation from english to my language) and I compare it with the original english texts and add commas etc. The publisher himself has only to proofread. I get offered a chance to buy rare books before they go to internet auctions. I have to solve the problem that the time on this forum prevents me from editing.
Libraries are in my top 3 of favorite places in the world.
. . .
Does anyone else remember when it was sort of an expectation that you had to keep the noise level down if you were in a library?
. . .
Do you mind saying what the other two favorites are? (just curious)
Man, do I remember. The change came after I quit working in the library in 1996. I blame the NTs (unfairly, I'm sure?!?) Something about demand, you know, the social people want to talk no matter where they are. At least at "my" research library there are designated areas for "collaborative" study, i.e. talking, and other areas still reserved for quiet study. Luckily, all of the books I'm interested in are on the quiet floor!
Very cool. I grew up on the coast, and always could find peace at the beach. And I'm fond of using a fan for white noise too!
{insert music from Twilight Zone here}
Nice to meet you!
Not newly reproduced images, hardly any color... no happiness.