library news

It has been a slow time for library news. I know alot of you look at my blog just for those crazy stories...sorry to disappoint. Where are the crazies? I know our Brookln Park branch has been challenged with threats with AK-47's and patrons smearing blood on the doors-weird and scary, not so funny.

However, I did see this recent incident..

Two young men around the ages 13-14 came into the library with a whoopie cushion. They were upstairs first apparently sneaking up behind people and making loud noises with it. Jenny approached them and told them their behavior was inappropriate and needed to stop. They then left the upstairs area and came downstairs where they proceeded making excessive noises with it which were very disrupting to patrons. I too gave them a warning and told them if they didn't stop they would be asked to leave. They continued the behavior and I told them they were now out for the day. They acted surprised and back-talked a little (nothing too excessive) and then left. I did hear them say this was the 3rd place they'd been kicked out of today. Obviously this was not surprising.


And I did hear this story...which begs many questions:

Our maintenance department was called to our North County library recently because of clogged toilet. This is a fairly common occurance in many our libraries, since most folks can't seem to figure out what they should not flush down the toilet. After a fairly long time of using various plumbing tools, it was unclogged.

For 12 hours. Again, they are called after only being accessible to the public for 2 hours. This time they were not successful as the night before and had to call in reinforcements. County plumbers showed up on sight and brought cameras to put down the drain to see what the problem was. Imagine their surprize when they discovered it was a very large albino boa constrictor. Dead at this point.

So, any thought on how it got in the library drain pipe? And lets not even entertain the thought of using the bathroom knowing that was down there...

And finally, apparently only rich people like quiet....

Around 10:40 I heard loud music coming from the back of the the public area. Shortly after that, the patron at PC #27, Mr. Shaffer began to laugh uproariously. He continued laughing and the patrons all began staring at him. I went over and asked him to lower his voice and turn down his music. I informed him that we could hear his music across the room and that his laughing was disturbing other people. He reacted in a hostile manner, telling me that he was using a PC in the back so no one would be bothered and that he didn't have this trouble at the library in Glen Burnie.

I went back to the information desk and Mr. Shaffer logged off the computer and approached the desk to state again that he is allowed to be loud as he wanted in the Glen Burnie library and that he was on his way back there. He left the building then came back a few minutes later to lean on the counter agressively. He asked me defiantly "What is the difference between this library and the Glen Burnie library?" I said we are all part of the same library system. He explained his belief that we only ask people to be quiet in Annapolis because "rich people go to this library." I reiterated that if he wanted to use the library, he would have to be quiet. He said again that he was returning to Glen Burnie. Our guard was standing by during this confrontation and observed that after Mr. Shaffer left the building a second time he went to the bus stop and got on the bus.

Laura told me that a staff member had asked Mr. Shaffer to be quiet a few days ago and had also gotten a defiant response.

Mr. Shaffer is a tall middle aged white man with a large belly, and buzz cut hair.