Free for All
Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
15
Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
The author recounts his experiences working as an assistant librarian in a public library in suburban Los Angeles, as he encounters patrons who range from bored latchkey kids left there for the afternoon, to rowdy teenagers, to Internet-obsessed adults, to drug-dealers.
Reviews with the most likes.
Like Quiet, Please:Dispatches from a Public Librarian, Free For All is a memoir from a public librarian. It was interesting, but I didn't find it as engaging as Quiet, Please. So if you're only going to read one, I'd recommend Quiet. If you've got time, though, this was an interesting second view on public libraries. It felt a little more detached than Quiet did; and there was a lot less biting sarcasm. I find it interesting that both books are written by male librarians, in what has been a female-dominated field for some time. I'll have to go looking for a woman's memoir about being a librarian, and see how it differs!
Free For All goes a little bit more in depth on the hiring process, and talks more about library pages, both topics I found interesting. To be honest, though, I found the entire book just kind of...blah. It's not a bad book, and it's a quick read at just over two hundred pages, but it's just...blah.
