Hi, Friends!

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. I almost posted this during the weekend, but I worried that people would think it was an April Fool’s joke.

So where has the Brash Librarian been? Well, there’s a lot of time to cover so I’ll keep it brief:

I became a library director.

I know, right?? I became the director of a fantastic library in Kentucky. It’s a great place with great staff and a supportive community. I became a director in summer of 2021 when everyone was still knee-deep in COVID-19 scares. It was a crazy time to become a director, but it’s certainly better than becoming a director in March of 2020. At least by the time I came in, some procedures had been established. It’s a wonderful library, and I’m very proud to a part of their team.

Am I more a Captain Crunch, or Captain Picard? I can never tell.

I’ve had life changes.

I’ve added new people to my life that I’m honored to call my family, but I’ve also lost and mourned family members. Since 2020, most of us have lost someone. Whether it’s someone no longer in your life because of irreconcilable moral/political/etc. differences or something more permanent, chances are strong that the people who were in your life 3 years ago and the people in your life now may be different. Ever since I started this site, I’ve been very open and full-disclosures about my adventures and day-to-day life with the public. In this past year or two as I’ve focused on my family, my career, and my community, I’ve come to appreciate having a bit of a private life. I will still continue to post library content on here and my social media, but some my day-to-day “look at me!” content may take a back seat to some professional postings. It’s the Brash Librarian, not the Brash Guy who posts his personal life and what he had for lunch (Unless it’s like, a really awesome lunch.)

That French Toast was really memorable, though.

Basically, The Brash Librarian has been busy. My new staff needed me. My family needed me. I needed me.

When I started this adventure over a decade ago, I was an actor-turned library school student wanting to document my journey through library school. I wanted to break librarian stereotypes and spread my “libraries are more than just books” elevator speech to people across social media – and it’s been amazing. I’ve helped friends enter library school, find jobs that suited their passions, and opened up the eyes of many people who thought libraries were just a pile of books with a roof on it. Who would think a library student would travel across different states, finish an MBA program, then become a director? If you told me 9 or 10 years ago that I would do these things and live in those places, I’d have thought you were crazy. Becoming a leader was always a distant goal – “someday, I could be a director” was in 2011. “I want to be a director some day” came when I started my MBA in 2016. It’s unreal when “someday” became “today”. (Or in this case, over a year ago.)

Where does that leave us?

This isn’t the first time we’ve undergone change around here. I first started with adventures in library school when I was an MLIS student and talked about cool/weird/unusual classes library programs offer. When I worked at the University of Florida archives, I talked about academic libraries and the books contained within. If you’ve never browsed my Instagram, I found alot of crazy books.

Who can forget gems like this? Copyright 1953, I believe.

When I joined public libraries, we covered everything from displays to events, programs to technology. When my posts and videos on RFID rolling out in my previous library went viral, they became the most-watched library-related RFID videos on Youtube. I had library students using my posts as citations for academic papers, and I got recognized at a library convention. I never considered that I’d be a citation in somebody’s paper some day, let alone have a fan excited shout from across a crowded room, “I know you – you’re the Brash Librarian!”

As BL evolves, the content may evolve as well. All new adventures! All discoveries! New topics! I wrote about adventures in library school for aspiring library students, and so I may write about director adventures for aspiring directors. I look forward to hearing from you all what you’d like to see next in the future!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends!

I hope everyone had an excellent Easter. This week, I wanted to touch on some of the programs my library system has been to help the community.

Virtual Programming

Our library has really gone elbows-deep into putting programs on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Some of our weekly/bi-weekly programs include:

• Craft videos – cool stuff you can make with everyday household items. Separate videos for kids, teens and adults, some of which are hosted by yours truly!
• Story Time videos – available in English story time, baby story time, and bilingual English/Spanish story time.
• Puppet Show videos – watch as we adapt books into puppet shows that are sure to entertain.
• Random videos – sometimes, we just do things to make people laugh or celebrate a holiday. Sometimes, we just film the unboxing of new books and set it to music. One we started trying was “Celebrity Story Time”, where I read books while doing celebrity/character impressions.

To-go Crafts

Our prepackaged bags of craft supplies, or “crafts 2GO”, are great little packages you can pick up in-store or via curbside for kids. Open it up, following the instructions, and you have (whatever the craft of the month is)!

Special Events

• We’re working to get more Author Q & A sessions and author talks at our book clubs, where we talk with authors about writing and cool stuff.
• Contests that help bring some normalcy. For example, our annual comic book convention was canceled due to COVID-19, but the largest event of the day – the costume contest – was held online this year to the spirit of the event alive.
• Partnerships with other departments like Parks and Recreation and the Traffic Department

Drive-In Movies

Some time last year, our teen librarians had discussed the idea of drive-in movies. It was poked with holes – what about the licensing cost? What about the logistics of getting the equipment? Will we have the numbers to justify it? It fell into file 13 and was never heard from again…until the pandemic. When they brought it back up over the summer, it became more appealing. When we learned our Parks and Rec department had a giant inflatable screen and licensing costs had dropped, it became more appealing.

We use an inflatable screen we’ve borrowed from our Parks and Rec Department. It’s about 20 feet tall.

What’s the deal with licensing, you ask? For those who aren’t familiar, libraries pay licensing fees in order to show movies at the library. Normally, a yearly license will cover most movies inside the property, but it doesn’t cover outdoor events (like drive-in movies) or electronic distribution (like streaming events or watch parties). To have an outdoor event, you’d need to pay an additional fee. HOWEVER, some companies understand the importance of community activities while staying safe and have temporarily waived the fees for outdoor events! Ours was originally meant to expire on January 1st, but was extended to June…and extended again to the rest of the year. That means we can host drive-in movies with spending any extra money!

Of course, our drive-in events are socially distanced and pandemic-friendly. We host it in our parking lot and space cars out every other space.

Everybody is at least one spot away. 34 spaces total!

We use an FM transmitter so people can listen to the movie through their car’s radio, just like an old-timey drive in movie! We have a range of about 100 feet, with minimum interference. We’re watching you, Tejano radio station that tries to crackle in.

Our setup is pretty impressive, if I don’t say so myself. We use a rear-facing projector that lights up the movie from behind so all of our movie gear isn’t in the way. Along with a blu-ray player and a laptop, we use an audio splitter to send the audio to the FM transmitter, which we put on top of a ladder for maximum signal.

How it looks from the back when working the movie.

Traffic cones? We borrow them from the roads department.

Door prizes at the end of the movie? Often donated by local businesses.

Attendees? We’ve been hosting these for about 6 months and had over 500 people attend.

In a time when most other programs and activities have been impossible to do safely, it’s nice to know we can do this for communities.

Biggest challenge

If I had to sum up what makes me the most frustrated about doing these movies…it’s the darn weather. About half our movies have been postponed at least once or twice because the weather was 50% chance of rain. Our last movie, it was sunny right up to 5pm, then rained at 5:03pm. SO glad I postponed that one.

What have YOU been doing at your library? Tell me!

Want to know more about hosting a drive-in event at your library? Ask me!

Coming up: TLA is online this year. What will happen? Stay tuned.

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends!

Well, this year has certainly taken an interesting turn. COVID-19 has been changing the face of shopping, entertainment, social interaction, school, and of course libraries…Or at least it should be changing how schooling is done.

Murder hornets! Lightning storms! Hurricane Laura! Hurricane…that other guy! I feel like we’re running out of hurricane names. Oh, joy.

With schools and libraries working the front lines in terms of help and access to information, we’re trying to help people as much as possible without putting ourselves at risk. And I’ll admit, it’s been exhausting but rewarding.

This one’s for all the teachers trying to educate during this difficult time.

I haven’t written as much for Brash Librarian as we’ve gotten further into the pandemic for that simple reason – I’m just tired, and busy. We’re all tired, and busy with something. The constant mask wearing, hand washing, socially distancing, sanitizing everything…it feels like a post-apocalyptic movie that never stops. If you’ve been laid off, you’ve probably been busy filing for unemployment, rent assistance, and applying for any and every job just to keep a stable cash flow. To those people: I see you and care for you, and we’ll do everything we can to help you at the library.

Prior to all this, I used to check social media several times a day: in the morning, at lunch, in the afternoon, after dinner, before bed…the usual for most people. Now, I check once or twice a day. The newest COVID fatality numbers, the latest shooting, breaking news about another peaceful protest gone violent, it’s enough to drain the life out of anyone. I’ve mourned for family and friends who lost their lives the past few months, but I know plenty of people who have lost much more than me. For them, we must keep pushing.

What are libraries doing to help?

Right now, we’re seeing unemployment skyrocket into the tens of millions of people – people who need to pay their rent, feed their kids, go to school, and are now unable to. If they can’t pay for their internet anymore, guess where they’re going to fill out job applications, unemployment benefits, and print out their resumes or other paperwork? The library. After a disaster like a giant wildfire, super double hurricane, earthquake, etc, people will often need to fill out, email, or print stuff. Guess where that’s also done?

What’s made this pandemic more difficult is how the responses vary from state to state. Some states stuck with “better safe than sorry”, and some states are aggressively still pushing for “grandma can die for the economy”, unfortunately.  What does this mean for libraries? Well, it means a whole dang lot. While I can’t go into detail for every single library and state, we’ll use my library as a baseline.

Based in Houston, we were fairly lucky to have some local officials really push to keep people safe.

In our library, all non-essential employees got sent home twice:
-Once from March 24th – May 11th
-Again from June 29 – August 10th
Doing the math, that’s 13 weeks. That’s literally a quarter of the year. Aside from a few Zoom meetings and a few hours a week for essential duties (payroll, emptying the book drops, etc), we were completely shut down.  Only electronic checkouts were possible during the stay at home orders. Some people think “free vacation!”, and that’s true for about three days…before it becomes “I’ve gained 15 lbs, watched everything Netflix has to offer, and forgot what sunlight feels like.”

It starts to take a toll.

During the closure, our library director developed a plan to safely re-open the library, based on state guidelines, consulting fellow library directors, and visiting four libraries that opened before us. The plan had five phases, reviewed and approved by our City Health Department, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Mayor’s office, went as follows:

Phase One
We return to work (still closed to the public) and offer phone reference and virtual programming.

Phase Two
We added curbside pickup. (May 26th)

Phase Three
We received PPE (face shields, plexiglass windows in children, teen and adult areas) and  opened back up to the public with reduced hours and restrictions. (June 14th)
All branches opened back up to the public. (August 17th)

Phase Four
We add hours and days to the schedule. (This is where we’re currently at.)

Phase Five
We return to pre-COVID-19 procedures, which probably won’t happen until a vaccine is available.

Of course, these phases aren’t in stone and can change at any time, adapting to new circumstances and rules as needed. Other things that have changed:
-Masks were encouraged at first, but are now mandatory.
-Every other public computer is shut down for social distancing. Computers in use are allowed limited time (1 hour sessions). Liners are put over the mouse and keyboard, and changed between each patron.
-No money handling.
-No book sales or large events.
-No study rooms or meeting rooms.
-No book donations accepted.
-Returned items are quarantined for four days.
-No food or drinks except water.
-No book sales.
-No furniture besides the chairs for computers.
-No interactive programming, per the state of Texas.
-All expired library cards were renewed from October 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020.
-All fines and fees have been waived until December 31st.

Is it all bad?

While this might all sound bad and scary, there were a few silver linings to these clouds. During the second stay at home order, our Central Library began renovations on July 27th while staff were still at home. Our mission: to get new carpet, and to re-arrange most of our collection in the adult area. Our carpet was old, worn, stained, and our shelf layout was inefficient. The library director and select managers (including myself) worked short split shifts to open for the contractors and then close at night. The carpet is fresh and modern, the shelves run parallel to our ceiling lights for brighter aisles, and genres are now grouped into “neighborhoods” with space for tables and chairs (but no tables and chairs during COVID).

Additionally, this “new normal” has given us time and effort to explore new opportunities we’ve never tried. All of our programming has moved online – puppet shows and story times to teach and educate, crafting videos for kids and adults using every household items – everything we did before, just now on camera. Since I love being out in the public and there’s currently no public to be out in, I’ve really enjoyed working with our team to make fun, creative videos that entertain the community and keep their spirits up. For example, we shot a Blair Witch-style parody during October to promote our horror collection.

Imagine my surprise to roll over the next morning and learn that our video was 80% more popular than all of our recent posts. It tells me there’s a need for short, funny videos. And we plan to MEET that need! Another popular segment on our programming is “Celebrity Story Time”, where I do story time doing impressions of different celebrities and characters. Every 60 seconds, I switch to a new character until the whole book is finished. They’ve been highly popular, and it also gives me a chance to stretch my voice acting legs.

Another great idea that’s been working well are drive-in movie events – more on that in my next post.

One more silver lining, I am pleased to announce that I have officially graduated from my MBA program! WOOT WOOT!

It’s been a long, arduous journey. I laughed. I cried. I gained 10 lbs trying to survive Finance 101 and 102. But here I am, alive and well. Mostly well. And I hope you are, too!

Let me hear from you guys – how are you handling the pandemic? What has your library done that you’ve liked or disliked? What else would you like to share? Let me know in comments below!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi, Friends!

Today, my post comes out of necessity. I was taking my time to roll out my Brash Jobs series, but that was before COVID-19 became a world-wide crisis. With friends and fellow library peeps in the field being off without pay or worse, I realized these people will need the tools of the trade much faster than anticipated. Without further ado, let’s start started. Today, I go over the much-debated art of the resume.

When you’re needed, you’re needed.

My general disclaimer before we begin: These are tools and techniques that have worked for me and others. They are a push-off point to get you started, and you are welcome to alter them as needed.

The Format

This is often the hardest part of putting the actual resume together. Microsoft Word and Google have thousands of resume templates and designs with cute photos, swoopy letters and things you probably don’t want. Today, for the first time ever, I am releasing my personal template. I’ve shared this with friends, family and colleagues before, but never to the public. Click here to get the template, download it and start polishing.

This is a customized version of a template I acquired from a business school that might rhyme with Shmarvard. Now let’s explain the tips/rationale behind it and how to make it work for you.

Keep it to one page.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked 2 jobs or 200, it needs to stick to one page. Having been on both sides of the hiring table, I promise it matters. Those looking to hire will be going through dozens (if not hundreds) of applicants. During this stage, management will look for anything to make that list smaller; the easiest way is removing anyone with more than one page. Don’t give them the chance to toss you into the trash bin!  I recently discussed resumes with one of my friends who is hiring for her company, a rather large and famous one in Orlando. To paraphrase her, “if you’re not organized enough to stay on one page, you’re not organized enough to work here”.

Skype ID

Skype says “I’m moderately tech-savvy and can do video chat interviews” but also implies that you’re comfortable with relocating for a position if selected.

LinkedIn

I have mixed thoughts about LinkedIn. Some people swear by it and use the paid version  to get business contacts and grow their global influence. Some people use it simply because it’s a shiny object and feel like they “should” have one. I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle as a good networking tool that help you research organizations and connect with people in your field. Either way, you should have one. You don’t have to be Richard Branson posting throughout the day, but you should at least have an account. If I look up a candidate and see they’re not on LinkedIn, I see that as a red flag. Put it on your resume tells them “you don’t have to check if I have one, it’s right here!”

USE YOUR ACTIVE VERBS

By this, I mean make your sentences active. Make yourself the subject of the sentence, not something else. For example

Active: The boy kicked the ball.
Passive: The ball was kicked by the boy.

See how much weaker that passive sentence was? Passive verbs waste space and lack action – two things you can’t afford to do on a resume. Passive verbs include:

• is
• am
• are
• was
• were
• be
• been
• being

You want managers to read about your actions, not actions you were a part of. Do you want to tell them “I was part of the committee that helped revise our circulation policy”, or do you want to tell them “I assisted in re-writing our circulation policies and procedures”? The active verbs give more information with less words and make you an active A-squad instead of a sideline B-squad in your resume.

Don’t be afraid to highlight one or two really impressive achievements

If you’ve done something impressive, put it in bold to catch their eye. When I was the Technical Services Manager at my previous library, all of our packaging (spine label, barcode, security tag, mylar book jackets) was done in-house. Depending on how many books were coming in, we might have a backlog ranging from hours or even a day before it was shelf-ready. When I signed us up for pre-packaging through our vendors, books came in ready to go and could be on the shelf within minutes. When I crunched the numbers, this turned out to be 28 times faster. Did I highlight that I streamlined our process to be 2800% faster? Yup, I sure did.

Special Skills

I cannot overstate how important this can be. In the grand scheme of resumes and job hunting, it gets boring. HR people and library managers alike tend to zone out when looking at hundreds of applicants. If you’re evenly matched with another candidate, a special skill just may be the feather that tips the scales. You’d be amazed how many interviews I’ve gotten simply because “you’re a SCUBA diver and magician?”

“Additional Information Upon Request”

This one is up to you. I’ve met some people who pretentiously say, “I can’t believe some people still put ‘additional information’ at the bottom of their resume”; I’ve also met some people who enjoy the principal of it. In short, put it if you want and have room, leave it if you don’t want it or don’t have room.

Other Thoughts

• No crazy fonts: It makes you look crazy, nobody wants to hire the Comic Sans/Joker person.
• No crazy format: If it jumps everywhere and looks like a kidnapper letter from the movies, it’ll go in the trash before they have a stroke trying to read it.
• No photo or swoopy letters: You’ll think “it looks nice”, they’ll think “that’s a waste of space”.
• Sizing and proportion: If you don’t have enough to fit the page, increase the font. If it doesn’t all fit, decrease the font. Make it fit and fill the page!
• Don’t overlap job duties: If you had two jobs that included XYZ, put it XYZ in only one of them so you have enough room to talk about ABC.

Comments? Questions? Send me a message and I’ll be happy to help.

Next week

I plan to post about cover letters, I plan to post once a week during this quarantine to help those who might need it now. Stay safe and don’t give up out there. We’re all rooting for you!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends.

It’s been awhile. It’s felt like only a week or two ago since I last posted, though it’s been much longer than that. It makes me wonder if time travel if possible (or if it may have just happened).

It could be.

Many things have happened, some that were under wraps and I couldn’t really talk about until recently. Roll a few other events of this scrambled sushi, and you’ve got a party. So, let’s get started.

I got a new job.

I’m still at the same place, I just have a new position! I’m no longer the Circulation Manager, but the Programming Manager for the Library. In a nutshell, I’m responsible for planning out (and assisting or running) adult programming for the whole library system. This also includes our annual events like our comic book convention and carnival, along with outreach and going to events like school career days, Chamber of Commerce events, official City committees, and taking a much more visible role in the community. Basically, I am now Tony Stark for the library.

Please please, it’s not about me. I’m here for the people.

This has been coming for a long time, but I wasn’t able to share it with anyone until it was officially announced. Thankfully, the person replacing me was the person I was replacing. Just a good ‘ole switcharoo! This made the transition SO much easier, because we both had a thousand questions for each other.

I feel like this role really caters to the entertainer/networker in me. In years past, I’ve volunteered (or volun-told, as they say) for all manner of Library representation: going on the radio to promote events, doing TV interviews to showcase new services or programs, attending functions on the Library’s behalf, assisting in the writing/creation of material for our social media, career days – you name it, I’ve done it. With this new position, however, I’m no longer there by accident or because I was available…I now do it because IT’S MY LEGIT JOB.

Need somebody to represent us

We had our Book Sale and Comic-Con.

About 5 years ago when I first came to this library, we decided to try hosting our own Comic-Con where people could dress up, share their fandoms, and join in on all sorts of programs while winning fabulous prizes. It was a smashing success, and we’ve been doing it ever since. This time however, I was the man with the clipboard running the show. It’s been awhile since I’ve run anything of this magnitude, but I feel I got back into the saddle without too many struggles. And of course, I still got to dress up as Park and Recreation’s favorite FBI agent, Burt Macklin.

School is back in session.

School WAS back in session, and is over again. I’ve been working on this article little by little. So much so, I started it back in summer and have finally slowed down enough to post. I feel like I had to post something before people started sending out search parties.

I did really well in this class – all that’s left is accounting and my capstone. By the time summer finishes, I should be 100% done with my MBA.

We lost a friend.

It is with great sorrow that during all the craziness, we lost a fellow coworker. I’ve had coworkers and direct reports who have lost friends and family, but I’ve never lost a coworker specifically. This one holds a special place in my heart, as she was the one who trained me to take over the Circulation department I’ve been running the last 3 years. We had our disagreements like any other coworker, but we still respected each other. May you rest in peace, Danuta.

Holidays in general. Because.

While I’ve officially been in the new job since about August/September, we snowball into this finals/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years cycle that just never finishes. Work/life balance hasn’t been kind, but I can finally take a breath.

Resolutions?

I ain’t picky this year. I would say “write more posts”, but that seems to translate into “write long posts that never get finished”. I wouldn’t say I’m going to shift from quality to quantity, but I’m working to accept that not every post needs to be a 12-page masterpiece. I think I’m going to work more on my Brash Jobs series and create short posts that are more meaningful and answer more fan mail. Other than that…

• Finish my MBA program.
• Lose a few pounds.
• Get through my book/movie/video game backlog? Nah, too lofty. I feel like The Witcher is on the verge making that even worse.
• Do more consulting. I’ve been consulted on a few topics by various libraries including bridging the divide between millennial and baby boomer staff, developing community libraries, marketing, networking, and in-house performing.
• Once I’m done with my school, I’m considering taking acting up more seriously. Still thinking about it, but we’ll see.

Time to get back into it, then! Happy New Years, y’all.

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends!

It’s that time of year when summer reading is in full swing. Kids are everywhere, programs are non-stop, and everyone wishes it wasn’t 104 degrees outside.

Bring winter with you, I’m melting.

It’s also that time of year when people are applying for those summer jobs. In our case, we’ve seen many library jobs open up around these parts. I’ve had many people ask for basic tips about jobs and interviews lately. While I refer them to our job section and to online resources at work, I can use my own little box here to talk about my experiences hiring people and some of the things I’ve encountered over the years.

DO: Ask what times you’d be scheduled for.

DON’T: Immediately tell us all the times you’re not available.

Sure, everyone wants to know when they’ll be expected to work. However, if you come in with a list of demands – I can’t work Wednesday or Thursday nights, Monday or Tuesday mornings, Saturday afternoons or every other Friday – it’ll leave us thinking A) you’re not flexible and B) wonder what else you’ll demand later. To quote a friend, “you’re here for the job – the job ain’t here for you.”

This shouldn’t be me trying to figure out your work schedule.

DO: Dress professionally, no matter what the position.

DON’T: Wear a cartoon or band t-shirt with cargo pants.

You might want to wear that if you’re auditioning for a rock band, but not for any kind of position in the library. A suit and tie isn’t necessary, but you can’t come from your band audition, either. While we’re on this topic…

DO: Try to dress for the position you’re interested in.

DON’T: Wear something that you’d never wear on the job.

I remember hiring for a children’s librarian position many years ago, and one candidate came in with a plaid shirt, jean miniskirt and 6-inch spike heels. Again, please change after your rock band audition, because miniskirts and heels don’t scream “toddler story time” or “lots of walking/shelving”.

If you show up for a Teen Librarian job as a Transformer, you’re totally hired.

DO: Bring a copy of your resume.

DON’T: Assume we know everything about you.

I’ve interviewed people in the past who have brought their own resumes to the interview to pass around, and I really like that for several reasons:

• It refreshes my memory of who you are
• It’s a quick reference guide and allows me to ask questions
• It also gives me an idea of your skill with Microsoft word. Even if it’s a total formatting disaster, you still brought something in and it shows me you’re trying.

On the flip side of this, I’ve interviewed people who walk in believing we know their life story. When we ask you to tell us about yourself, answering with “well, you have my application, you know all about me. Do you have any questions for me?”

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there were 400 other applicants and you’re one of the lucky 5 or so that we picked. We’re flattered you think we’ve been watching you for months and building a CIA dossier on you, but you’re a person who filled out a job application on the internet and we really just want to hire somebody.

DO: Tell us your strengths.

DON’T: Contradict your strengths.

If you tell us that you’re a people person who really believes in listening to others but then interrupt us every chance you get, it kind of makes us wonder if we’re all operating on the same scales. I once had a person years ago tell me they were “very into eye contact” and making the patron feel comfortable, yet they never looked me in the eyes.

“I’m a people person!” – Person who isn’t

DO: Tell us how you think libraries make a difference or how they’ve impacted your life.

DON’T: Tell us how much you love to read books and would love to have a job where you get to read. You’re not here to read, you’re here to work.

Why do you want to work here? If the answer is “I’ve always wanted to read more and be in a library”, then we pretty much tune out and wait for the interview to be done. If anything, I feel like library work has made me read less. Back in the olden days when I was a bartender, I drank less because drinking reminded me of work. I still read, but it sometimes feels like I’m taking work home with me.

What experiences have YOU had with interviews? Tell us about it on on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for a chance to be featured! Stay cool out there this summer!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends!

This past week/month has been very busy but very productive! If you’ve been following BL lately, you’ll have heard that my library has a new director. It’s been about a month in, and spoilers: he’s pretty awesome. Not to be confused with spoilers for the new Avengers movie. I’ve been avoiding spoilers like the PLAGUE. I’m watching it on Sunday, don’t nobody ruin it for me!

Surely, you don’t take it that seriously, Justin!

I have been off Facebook for NINE days. I’m in social media withdrawal, but it’s worth not knowing.

Game of Thrones, ruin away. Avengers, leave me be.

I was fortunate enough to attend the annual Texas Library Association (TLA) conference. It usually jumps around the state each year; this year, it was in Austin! WHOO, fun times!

I attended several sessions, but here are some of my favorites:

• Embrace your Inner Superhero: Self Compassion and Self Care
• Managing Harassment in the Library Environment
• Podcasting for N00bs
• Blind Spots and Brain Tricks
• Library Support Staff
• Fight the Good Fight Against Fake News in a Post-Truth Society
• Succeeding in Crucial Conversations
• Get to Yes: Branding Public Library Customer Service

I could keep going, but I’ll stop there. The self care session was probably one of my favorites. So often, we and our staff don’t take time to appreciate ourselves or one another. Whether it’s a kind word, or even something tangible like a Thank You card, we all need to stop and take a moment. So, yes – I will take an hour long shower! Yes, I will drink my ice-cold boujee raspberry water in the shower!

Just kidding, it was water with some Mio in it. (But it felt boujee in the shower, what can I say?)

This year, TLA hosted what they called “After Hours”. Normally, most conferences end around 5 or 6 pm. Not in Austin, baby! After Hours started at 7 and ran to 11, featuring “Book Buzzed” with free drinks and free books, “Author Lip Sync Battle” where authors lip synced like their life depended on it, and much more.

I got to see some old friends, both librarians and vendors. My friend Yaika over at Glasses Attached was in attendance, as were some of my favorite peeps from Envisionware and make some new ones, both librarians and vendors alike. I’m looking at you, Danna!

As always, I’m happy to answer any questions non-library people have about TLA. There’s so much to talk about, it’s sometimes hard to figure out where to start and what people want to know. Feel free to ask below or reach me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for the newest stuff. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian

Hi Friends!

Last week while looking at Oscar nominees, I learned that the Houston Public Library had extended us five tickets to an exclusive premiere of The Public. The film doesn’t actually hit theaters until April, so why did we get invited? We took a look at the trailer for the film:

It’s suddenly more clear why we were invited to the premiere.

Written, directed, starring and produced by Emilio Estevez? “That’s a modern day Madea”, as my coworker said. The theater was packed with librarians from all over the area – city libraries, county libraries, everywhere.

Synopsis

Starring Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Taylor Schilling, Alec Baldwin, Gabrielle Union, Jena Malone and Jeffrey Wright, the film follows Cincinnati Public Library’s librarians and the patrons they care for. During the coldest part of the year, several homeless people freeze to death because the local shelters are at capacity or an hour walk in zero degree weather. Middle manager Stuart Goodson (Estevez) is just trying to get by and survive his workplace: an overzealous staff member, an apathetic director, homeless patrons fighting in the bathroom, people trying to sue the Library, and of course…silly questions like “Do you have a life-sized globe?”. Regardless of what comes his way, Stuart always tries to do the right thing to help people in need.

On a particularly cold night, the local homeless community comes over and asks to stay the night. When the library director (Wright) denies this request, the homeless patrons respond by barricading themselves in part of the library which snowballs into a stand-off with the police. At the helm of the police are negotiator Bill Ramstead (Baldwin) and the “just trying to do my job but totally the bad guy” district attorney, Josh Davis (Slater), who just wants to tear gas the room and arrest everyone. In the mix are Stuart’s neighbor (Schilling), a sleazy reporter who keeps trying to make things look like a hostage situation for ratings (Union), and Stuart’s underling (Malone) who keeps complaining about how she has to get home to her mom, but never leaves when she gets the chance.

While I won’t give away the ending, I can say that does a great job of addressing homelessness, mental health, and where librarians stand in the battle to help everyone. To read more about the film itself, have a look here on IMBD.

To make the night even better, we had a Q&A session with the man himself, Emilio Estevez to discuss his film. While we were all the way in the back, I was still able to film some of his discussion!

(If you have trouble seeing it here, trying watching it directly from my Facebook Page)

Also in attendance was Ryan Dowd, author of The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness. Previous to this screening, I had made his interactive website required reading for my staff because of how important understanding homelessness and mental health is in a library setting (and in general).

Thoughts

I really liked how accurately Estevez portrayed not only the public, but the librarians as well. The film opens Estevez’s character (Stuart) being put in the hot seat because a patron sued the library; the patron was kicked out for smelling bad enough to cause others to complain, and he felt he was being discriminated against. Despite doing everything correctly, documenting the complaints and handling it professionally, Stuart was still in trouble. Many librarians face these kinds of challenges every day where someone is put in trouble for enacting library policies and following the rules. Every day, we walk a fine line and have to make judgment calls; Estevez makes a great reference to the Connecticut Four as an example of protecting patrons. It was easy to see myself in his shoes: middle management, trying to help people, making the most of outlandish situations. Every time somebody tells me “it must be so nice to just read all day”, I think back to the patron who pulled a knife on me over $8 in fines. Stuart and I even wear lanyards!

Don’t pretend, it took you a second to figure out who’s who.

However, Stuart’s judgment calls seem to become exceedingly erratic as the film moves forward. I won’t go into details or spoilers, but I can’t say for certain that I would have made the same choices as Stuart. At some moments, I feel like the movie doesn’t go far enough and kind of painted itself into a corner at the end with no solid resolution. However, Estevez states in his Q&A that the film was only meant to start a conversation about homelessness and mental health, not present the answer. To that end, I will say the ending was fantastic.

Will it start a discussion and really get Americans to review public libraries, mental illness, veterans, joblessness and homelessness? I certainly hope so. We’ll find out April 5th when it hits theaters.

Also, I hereby ask that The Joker On The Sofa review this movie. If you don’t read his stuff, you should be!

Got any thoughts or feelings on the film? Seen the film already? Let’s talk about it! Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and we’ll talk. Have a great week, everyone!

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian