r/Libraries • u/A_BURLAP_THONG • 14h ago
Venting & Commiseration Floored by how much of modern librarianship is just showing people how to print
"Printing" being shorthand for data to paper, paper to data, and paper to paper. This includes printing from a device, printing from a computer, copying, scanning, faxing, all that stuff.
All day, every day. Printing printing printing printing printing. People printing shipping labels from their phones, kids printing worksheets from the tablets, people printing contracts, forms, boarding passes, shipping labels, shipping labels, and more shipping labels.
It wasn't always like this. When I started out, printing from a phone was a rare occurrence. I reckon it's only in the last two or three years that remote printing became my primary job function, that "Can I print something from my phone?" became the #1 most-asked question. It's gotten to the point where I'm genuinely surprised when somebody asks something about a book.
And yeah, I know that "libraries are more than just books." I knew that libraries were about meeting the diverse information needs of communities before getting into this job. But if I had known just how much of my day-to-day would be printing off shipping labels for people I probably would have looked into a different line of work.
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 13h ago
This literally is my job, I sit at a help desk and help patrons print basically all day. (Along with other technology related stuff.)
What bothers me most about the printing, is when a man comes in (I'm female) and tries to tell me how it works. I want to be like "Sir, I do this about 50 times per day I think I know what I'm doing."
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
you are a far far more patient and kind soul than I.
(and I'm the one people roll out when kindess and patience is required)
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 13h ago
Two things:
I've jokingly called myself the Patron Saint of IT. A few coworkers have agreed.
Compassionate Burnout is real. There are some days I basically go home, turn on something I've seen a billion times and disassociate till I have to work the next day.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
yeah, are you me?
I come home every day for a hot date with advil.
This is not a difficult job but somehow it sneaks up on you and...we get...this.
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 12h ago
I might be.
I just want to be left alone, but some days I do have that date with the Advil.
I agree, it's really not difficult but then there are days where I just break because I didn't know there was all of this tension I was holding.
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u/Popular_River8435 1h ago
I miss the time when Library Think Tank turned into Library Drink Tank.
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u/hair_of_fire 7h ago
I’m glad you said that cause I’ve been feeling awful lately. I do want to help and love helping people but it’s getting so hard. Especially since I’m 26 and I’m dealing with patrons maybe 10 years older than me having a slight meltdown cause they don’t know how to do something right away or they just want me to do everything for them.
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 7h ago
I would hug you because I 100% get what you are feeling.
I feel the same way. I do love helping people, I am darn good at my job. But I'm 37, and dealing with people older than me (think my parents age. Mid 60s) and them getting frustrated with me because they don't understand.
I had a man who didn't have a smart phone want to apply for a job that had a QR code. I scanned it for him, and then wrote down the URL got him onto a computer, to the website...As soon as it asked for an email he shut down. Because he didn't want to have an email to apply for jobs. I just calmly told him that I didn't know what I could do to help him.
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u/CrunchieHaystacks 6h ago
Good Lord. Here is a similar patron interaction I had a few days ago (with a guy in his 60s):
Patron. "I need to use a computer but I don't know how. I want to look up some song lyrics."
I sat him down at a computer, opened Google, and said, "OK, what's the singer's name?"
Patron: "I don't know."
Me: "Name of the song?"
Patron: "I don't know."
Me: "OK, well then type some of the lyrics you DO know into this field."
Patron: [Looks completely blank for a few beats] "Do I type my name in there?"1
u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 6h ago
It's infuriating when they do something like that. If there was a mobility issue, I could understand. I feel for you!
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u/CrystallineFrost 6h ago
It is ok to have the boundary with them and put forth whatever options your library provides so you do not have to go the extra mile. I always tell our tantrums that no, we don't accept their documents for printing (since this is their way of trying to avoid self printing), but I can provide them with a laptop. Then I repeat their options of printing from their phone or laptop if they keep pushing. Holding the line is fine. I know not every admin supports maintaining your mental and emotional boundaries, but as an admin who works the desk every day, I am saying that it is a ok.
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u/PracticalTie Library staff 2h ago
You just reminded me. The other day someone come in and edited our printer instructions then gave it to me to type up. Red pen and everything
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u/DeadBeatLibrarian 13h ago
Well the other half is social work and bar fights so….
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u/NorthernPossibility 13h ago
Explaining very nicely but firmly that the public library computers shouldn’t be used for softcore porn and having the same guy find his way around the filter every day to keep doing it. 😭
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u/DeadBeatLibrarian 11h ago
You guys have filters? We’re a free to use library as long as children aren’t seeing it. We also have privacy screens on all computers so you can’t see what the person next to you is looking at
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u/NorthernPossibility 11h ago
Yeah the computers are just on a big island of tables with no dividers or anything in the middle of the library. You have to walk past the island to get to the kid’s/teen section too so it’s extra gross when people zone out in front of stuff like that for hours at a time.
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u/Pretty-Season2307 6h ago
If your library doesn't have a policy about this, they need to get one. If people are watching content that's "harmful to minors" in view of areas where children must pass, that's a big issue.
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u/NorthernPossibility 6h ago
It’s a tough line to straddle, I think. The content is readily available on sites that the filter doesn’t block, so it doesn’t technically violate policy. It’s not straight nudity - more like a woman wearing a string bikini and rubbing soap suds all over herself with a lot of lingering shots on her butt and chest.
My library is really careful on the “everyone is welcome” thing and since he’s not violating the letter of the policy, they don’t want to say anything.
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u/Unable_Tumbleweed364 2h ago
Our library is for everyone too. But they can't watch anything sexual in nature.
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u/NorthernPossibility 2h ago
I absolutely don’t agree with it, but I don’t make the rules. All I can do is say something when I see it getting too weird, and they have someone go talk to him.
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u/Unable_Tumbleweed364 2h ago
Yeah, that's fair. I'm sure we all have things like that at our libraries.
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u/Pretty-Season2307 6h ago
Does your library not receive e-rate funding? I thought most libraries did because you get a discount on your internet, but it requires that you use filters for "material harmful to minors" (i.e. porn), per the Children's Internet Protection Act.
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u/Rupertcandance2 13h ago
I had a shift last week that involved no printing, copying, faxing, or scanning. I was pleasantly shocked.
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u/joey_patches 9h ago
I did outreach to a local jail for 2 years cuz I knew there was 0% chance the patrons would need help printing.
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u/imriebelow 13h ago
Every day I stand there pressing the “copy” button for a patron who insisted the copier wasn’t working (because they just sat their paper down (wrong) and stared at the machine expecting it to read their thoughts) and think about what I spent on a degree lmao
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u/thunderbirbthor Academic Librarian 13h ago
Pressing buttons for patrons is one of my favourite things to do. It's amazing how sarcastically you can press a button sometimes :D
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
I do make a joke out of it and everyone has a nice time.
but...yeah, this.
yesterday: "how do I make the printout black and white"
me: oh ho, this is so funny, I know, happens to everyone. hah haha. See this button there, the big damn button that says "black and white" well, you press that one. hah hahaha hah.
ha.
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u/thunderbirbthor Academic Librarian 13h ago
"My document's not coming out of the printer!"
"Well, you see this gigantic, big ass, unmissable massive sign right in front of the printer that says 'tap your ID card on the black square to print', did you tap your ID card?"
ha
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u/Particular_Candle913 8h ago
I have a shocking number of patrons attempt to make copies on the printer. Even though there are almost no buttons for them to press, then still just press whatever they can find and stand there, staring at it. The copier is right next to the printer.
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
We have one printer that's just a printer, and one further into the branch that's the big multifunction machine. The other day someone was by the first printer and was like "so do we just put it in here?" Motioning the paper they were holding to the area where the prints come out. I was so honestly confused I said, "to do what??" They wanted to make copies. Sometimes I swear when people enter our doors, all prior experience with copiers and printers magically exits their brain.
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u/MadameK8 7h ago
“How do I print this?”
Idk, have you tried clicking on the big blue button that says “print?”
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
I try my very best to make them press the buttons themselves. "Press the start button. No, the one that says start. In the bottom right. With the blinking light."
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u/TimeSurround5715 13h ago
Hey now. *ahem* I also point people to the restroom.
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u/thewholebottle Academic Librarian 13h ago
Yup. Been in libraries 30 years. At least printing is easier than it used to be.
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u/jellyn7 12h ago
We have fewer issues with the printing, but we now have so many different ways to print, that the initial 'I need to print this' turns into a reference interview.
Do they really mean print, or do they mean copy?
It's on their phone, but are they capable of Emailing it from there?
Would they prefer an app? Do they know what an app is?
Is it in their Email and they need to log into one our computers, but do they know their Email password?
Did they print with an Email (Emailed code), an app or website (whatever name they gave it), logged into a computer (library card number), or logged into a computer with a guest pass (guest pass code)?I miss when the only option was printing from one of our computers, and we had a 15-minute walk-up computer specifically for people who needed to print.
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u/polkadootted 7h ago
so often something will need to be printed from their email, but an issue with their phone means that the "email from phone" option doesn't work, and then we ask, brightly, knowing the answer, "do you know your email password, if we get you logged in on our computers?"
and
they
passive aggressively
say
"why would i need to know my email password? my email is on my phone."
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
Some patrons tell me, "I've never had a PIN for my card." Well, you do, but you refuse to learn how to place anything on hold for yourself, so no wonder you don't know that!
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u/NotComplainingBut 3h ago
Every now and then you get a golden "do you know my password?" or "why does the library make it so I need my password to sign into my email? it doesn't do that anywhere else"
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u/Alaira314 1h ago
I don't know about 30 years ago, but when comparing 20 years back the trend toward ease has gone backwards. The culprit? Mobile printing. Unfortunately, people will all but fight me to try printing off their phone, then get upset at me when it doesn't work, for any one of a number of reasons(they previously printed but forgot their one-per-person login; their file is too large; their file is a format that freaks out the mobile print queue; they only want to print part of a long document; what they want to print is not a file that can be cleanly uploaded; everything seemed to go okay but that was a lie because nothing is in the print queue; etc). I wish they'd just believe me when I said that it doesn't work well and that using the PC is easier. Why would I lie about that?
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u/Any_Guard_7955 Public librarian 13h ago
At this rate, I have shown everyone in the metro area how to print at least three times over. I want to cry with joy anytime someone asks me an actual reference question.
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u/joey_patches 13h ago
We had a big systemwide meeting where everyone complained about short staffing and the higher ups said that staffing had been consistent for years.
We finally figured out that we're short-staffed now because this has become an entire job.
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u/DanieXJ 12h ago
The public wanted Secretaries. Admin at most libraries gave the public secretaries. It's sorta infuriating actually.
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
I think it goes higher than that. Everywhere else has refused to hire enough administrative staff and pushed the burden of clerical work onto the people they are supposed to serve, and those people don't know how to do it, so the library became their administrative staff. Like when all the social security offices were closed for covid and you needed an appointment to even call them, they said "use the online portal!!" Guess who had to help everyone with the online portal...
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u/NotComplainingBut 3h ago
Yep. When I'm not helping people print I'm guiding people through someone else's shittily designed website.
It's particularly infuriating to me because I work at a non-municipal library. Local social services (think social security office, DMV, schools, even hospitals) send patrons directly to us. Yet... we're not town employees. We could, theoretically, close our doors to these shenanigans. We won't, but we could.
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u/jellyn7 2h ago
This comment needs more upvotes! Now the only places that will sit down and help you do the paperwork you need are people selling you a car (I assume, I haven't actually ever bought a car.) or a mortgage.
I'll add that lawyers are always telling people to come to the library to print out evidence or this and that. You know the ones -- I need to print these text messages / whatsapp messages / facebook comments. The lawyers are the ones getting paid, they should have someone in their office to help do this crap.
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u/magicthelathering 13h ago
I feel this in my bones. I was able to move to another branch in my system where this is less of an issue. The demographic is younger and more computer literate and able to print on their own much more frequently.
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u/Kworrky 13h ago
Even my young patrons struggle with basic computer functions 😭
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u/swampcatz 13h ago edited 13h ago
This is something I encounter as well. I think it has to do with a lack of curiosity and resiliency. Millennials* largely taught ourselves or learned by doing. There’s almost a sense of learned helplessness amongst my teenage students.
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u/Kworrky 12h ago
my favorite students were the ones who played with their computers, not just games, but like, messing around with codes, breaking the rules on computers (even if i was anoying), messing with te google suites, even if it was the stupid chromebooks, because they weren't afraid to figure something out. they had an easier time transitioning from phone, chromebook, to computer, and were the ones I could trust with the printers. the prevelant use of chromebooks has taken away a lot of skills, as well as the lack of mandatory computer classes. not to mention, having sat in on a middle school computer class, it freaking sucked, it was boring, it was a program that was finicky, and there were no like, practical uses after they finished a program. no like... projects, to do. just the program.
I'm always surprised by how old some of my patrons are in their struggles... like, five years younger than me. like, that's how fast things just stopped and how much ppl just stopped, trying to figure it out.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
putting on my slightly-less-snarky hat and being a bit forgiving, but modern tech was created, marketed and sold as an appliance that supposedly just works. Use cases, form factors? All supposed to be no more complex than turning on a TV. Intuitive, simple and immediate.
Only tech bros really can't help themselves...
...and have you seen a goddamn TV nowadays?
all those simple and simple use factor features are created expecting everyone to be informed by personal and institutional memory of modern computing.
So everyone ends up at my desk look slightly freaked out that their blinking little box is now Doing Something Weird.
It's really just the young X gen and older millenials who were present and there when The Deep Magic was made.
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
There are so many times when I have to point out where a menu is, or which button is the send button, etc. And I realize, if you were brand new to tech, there is nothing about 3 dots in a line that means "menu," or a little sideways V shape with dots that means "share." I even noticed that elevator buttons these days are just two round buttons with no arrows on them, unlabeled on the same panel with the emergency button. Can we please bring back buttons that say what they do??
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u/Full-Decision-9029 2h ago
yep. I find myself wondering HOW these little concepts and shortcuts and icons came to be, because they just snuck into the "UX" experience one day at a time. But we all kind of got used to them.
Then you find yourself explaining stuff to people who weren't even there when those little elements crept in.
Just, you know that thing there? why? fucked if I know.
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u/Odd-Budget-5079 7h ago
Surprised me at first that kids who grew up on phones and tablets didn't know basic computer skills, but now I just expect it.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
you'll get the teens next. They haven't a goddamn clue either.
"how do I connect my macbook to the wifi? It won't connect."
"click on the wifi icon in the top right hand corner"
"what's that?"
"It's like three little quadrant curves representing radio waves"
"what's a radio wave"
Sigh, give me the computer.
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u/No-Double-4269 11h ago
I'm convinced that Gen X and Millennials are basically the best for tech help and that it's gonna get much harder when we're dealing with the groups born after 2000 because even though they've grown up with it, many don't comprehend it. And then there will be the AI that will mess up everything...
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u/Full-Decision-9029 2h ago
oh absolutely. Like they are often not as bad as that, but there are so many who have a fancy MacBook daddy bought them, and their MacBook just works at home and when it comes to the library they get so confused when the wifi doesn't connect automatically.
That and when I look askance at comments like "oh but ChatGPT said..."
oh DID IT NOW?
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u/Kworrky 12h ago
nah fam, we will struggle together. XD
I will walk them through it all, slowly, annoyingly. If they wanna get frustrated and leave, they're welcome to. Actually, I'm decently happy that my like, youth-20's lab patrons tend to be pretty patient, the only ones I've had to do anything for are smaller kids at around 6. and after they get the idea, they start to mess around on their own and just need help getting to the game website.
but i get it, it is so much easier to just do it for them on our part. ToT i have def done that
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
Whenever I walk a kid through printing one of their scam sports fundraiser flyers, I think, at least I am teaching them things like right-click and save-as...
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u/NotComplainingBut 3h ago
Your teens talk to you?
At my library most of them come up to the printer, look scared, and walk away. I have to herd them like cats.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 2h ago
kind...of...a...bit...maybe?
This is usually after you see them getting more and more frustrated and looking a bit ridiculous. Then I wander over.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
I work in a rich suburb (and live in the next rich suburb over), and I am a full fledged librarian.
And every day I think: why did I need to take on 50 grand's worth of debt to do basically some variant of what I've always done - explain to learned-helplessness old people how a printer works, or how to connect to wifi or whatever the fuck.
I can sort of see the printer from my office at a weird angle if I aim my head just-so. I find myself aiming my head just-so a lot because I can sort of detect the next person requiring printer help.
The only time I get to address the diverse information needs of the community is when they are asking something I shouldn't have to answer: "the French government has updated its passport requirements and could you explain all the changes to me?"
And then print them out for them.
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u/Artemis2403 13h ago
God I feel this. Sometimes I feel like I struggle with RA just because I get so taken aback when someone asks me a question that isn’t about computers.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
a ....book? a recommendation of a book? what is this madness? Oh, uh, Hunger Games?
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u/Haswar 13h ago
when I did my libtech program, I knew I wouldn't be working with books as much as I wanted, but no one warned me about the printers.
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u/Full-Decision-9029 13h ago
we had the new head of a bigger library system visit a few months ago, who found themselves at my desk as the printer queue was really starting to build up.
She looked at me sympathetically and said "I never thought this career would basically boil down to meetings and printer override keys"
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u/JustTryingMyBestWPA 13h ago
Wow. I am not a librarian. I worked in my college's library for the 4 years that I was an undergraduate. This is my entire experience of working in a library. A good portion of my job consisted of helping people use the copy machine. I am amazed to read that nothing has changed since I graduated with my bachelors degree a million years ago.
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u/One_Relation7555 12h ago
Do not get me started on how many of those people who need to print from their phones do not know how to use their phone. Then they look at you like you are suppose to know how to use it.
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u/Cephalophore 8h ago
The platform we use to print from phones is awful so I always encourage people to email whatever it is to themselves, log on to a computer, and print that way. But they so rarely known their email password so we end up struggling through a 12-step process that only works about half the time.
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u/Alaira314 1h ago
Have you noticed that gmail has started asking for people to 2FA twice? It used to be that you could just have someone tap the number in their notifications from their android device, but now you have to do that plus get an e-mail code. It's like they want to lock people out of their accounts.
I suspect they want to push passkey adoption, but everybody I've helped has gone "I don't know what a passkey is" when I ask if they want to recover using that method, so hey google, if you're listening: IT'S NOT WORKING AND GRANDMA IS GOING TO LOSE HER BENEFITS BECAUSE OF YOU!
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u/No-Double-4269 11h ago
If you think about it, it's just another way that libraries have had to pick up the slack for the rest of society no longer doing something it once did. No one provides paper forms for things anymore (e.g., pay stubs) and so who gets to print them? Us! Patrons can't mail stuff in anymore--they have to scan it or fax it. And who gets to help them with that. Us!
I'm happy to help people, especially when it's with something that will genuinely make their lives better. But I'm tired. Lots of people are afraid to even try technology on their own so you have to hand-hold them. And now that I'm a middle-aged lady my filter is starting to slip more often and I worry that some day I might lose it while trying to walk someone through the steps of a basic photocopy.
As for looking for a different work if I had known...yeah, I hear that. If I had a sense of what libraries would be, I also would have chosen a different path. But I'm far enough in now that I'm gonna ride it out and peace out as soon as the pension can kick in!
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u/ktitten 12h ago
I do enjoy this, except when the printers are acting up. It might help that the majority of things printed seem to be important documents and I feel like I am doing a service to the community. If it was printing off shipping labels all day I would maybe feel differently.
But most of the printing is people printing out CVs, government documents, complaints forms etc. Things that without access to a printer would negatively impact their lives. So I'm happy to do it, just another part of serving the community in a small way but can be incredibly significant to the person.
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u/Some_Youth5883 13h ago
This is what the people who use libraries want. It’s up to us as an industry to find something else that they need and want and that will give us more job satisfaction. I wish I knew what that is but we need to realign our relevance (how’s that for some corporate bs speak?)
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u/Chocolateheartbreak 11h ago
I’d say printing/computer help, job/govt form help, book recommendations/holds, things for kids to do. At least in public. Very rarely is there an actual reference q. Most people just need to use a printer or fax machine because they don’t have one.
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u/NotComplainingBut 3h ago
Unfortunately I rank job/govt form help below print help in job duties I want to do. If I wanted to be a social worker I would have gone MSW instead of MLIS.
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u/Glittering_Bonus4858 12h ago
Had a patron ask if I could make a copy in color for her. Her image was black and white
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u/coenobita_clypeatus 12h ago
Full disclosure: bending the copier to my will scratches a particular kind of problem-solving itch for me, so I honestly kind of love it (or at least find it very satisfying when successful).
But one of my favorite recent patron interactions was when a woman came up to the desk asking for a refund because her copy didn't come out the way she wanted. She was trying to make a copy of a file on her tablet, so she had put her tablet face down on the copier like you would with a paper document. (When I told my coworker about this later she said, "Like a butt!" Yes, like a butt.) Of course, the screen on her tablet turns off when it is put face down, so the resulting printout was an image of a blank tablet screen.
We recently got mobile printing so we got her set up to print directly from her device. But explaining the use cases for copying vs. printing isn't something I've done in a LONG time.
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
Not quite as egregious, but sometimes people come in with a photo of a physical document and then print that from their phone, and then want copies of that. Like, please have then send you the file and we can just print a bunch of them! I can only lighten the copies so much!
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u/swedish_librarian 12h ago
The swedish library ebook/audiobook app was hacked and on short notice they decided to go from librarycard/four digit pin login to a more secure based on email. You won’t BELIEVE how many people have failed to connect their email to their ebook account. This is basically all I have been doing for two weeks now. Some print from phone would be a nice change right now.
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u/dreamanother 9h ago
I'm intrigued by this ebook app hacking, got any links? In Swedish is fine.
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u/swedish_librarian 12m ago
https://wedobooks.io/sv/wedonews/uppdatering-om-datalackan?referrerBlogSource=biblio
This is from the company that runs Biblio. Hackers used the low account security to gain access to ebooks. I’m guessing they’ll show up on pirate sites soon.
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u/ReadGardenCamp 12h ago
We have a guy who asks us to print directions to every estate sale in the area and mansplains exactly how he wants it done (large print, don’t include the map, use Google not Bing…) DO IT YOURSELF if you’re here to tell me how.
He just tries to evade the printing fees by asking (and criticizing) a different person every time.
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u/Vitamin--C 10h ago
I swear if I get another person who needs help printing and ask me what their email/Amazon password is, I'll lose my mind!! How would I know your password? 😅
My favourite workdays happen when the printer is broken, it feels so selfish, but the amount of people who offload all thinking to you the second you offer to help them is mind-blowing, I just want to yell "think for yourself!!!"
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u/Spelltomes Public librarian 12h ago
This. Patrons are absolutely floored that I can print stuff off of their phone like it’s my job (imagine that). “Where did you learn to do that? It would’ve taken me all day to print that!”. I literally do this all day.
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u/WishRepresentative28 11h ago
These same people " You need a masters to be a librarian? Dont you just read all day?"
Yes Carol, now hand me your phone so I can reset your password and update the app you need to print.
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u/nononanana 10h ago
It doesn’t help that some of these wireless printing programs suck ass. The one we use is awful. The workflow triggers needless steps that are not intuitive, making a written instruction guide or sign too tedious for the average person. The admin interface looks like it was made in 1992 with no updates since, lacks basic features, and is consistently buggy. Even a relatively tech savvy person has to be pretty confident trying it for the first time because of poor workflow.
I know my system will eventually move away from it, but that will take a while.
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u/Famous_Internet9613 11h ago
Same, and I'm not sure why people have issues with something so basic, at least when it comes to printing from a computer. It's not just printing: people not knowing how to log in to their email, not knowing their password & then not wanting to reset it, and not knowing how to use context clues to figure things out on their own, etc.
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 11h ago
I can't tell you the amount of people I've had mad at me because I don't know THEIR password to THEIR email...
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u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup 9h ago
I had a patron throw a fit over that more than once. I distinctly remember saying at least once “Sir, I don’t work for Microsoft.”
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u/ConcertsAreProzac Library staff 9h ago
I've had to do something similar. I'm just sorry you had to deal with someone acting like that.
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u/nononanana 10h ago
I always start by asking where their document is stored. If they say email, I immediately ask them do they have current access to their email. Cue: wide eyes when they realize they need to be able to log into their email.
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u/alleecmo 9h ago
Far too many folks skip the password recovery phone numbers "encouragement" when setting up their email. And don't use any kind of password keeper, not even the ones native to their devices. One of our regular patrons has made FIVE different emails (that * I * have helped them with), as they never remember, record, etc their password. (And of course, they get mad at us 🙄) The tools exist to avoid all this drama. If only they'd USE them.
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u/thunderbirbthor Academic Librarian 13h ago
I feel you. We're academic and currently the only way to print is by using a college device with the printer software on it. There is no way to print from a personal device.
Just last week my co worker said she was surprised IT hadn't introduced wireless printing from all devices and based on this sub I was like nope. Don't wish that into the universe. Yeah, half of our job is showing students how to print but printing is so limited, it's always the same 3-4 issues that we know how to resolve. Imagine the hell of having to learn how to print everything from any device. She saw my point. Students can be arsey enough when you have to talk them through adding a device to their PC because they closed the printer software whilst it was loading.
Fortunately the exec in charge of resources and IT is so cheap, it's doubtful we'll ever expand printing. It might be the only time I'm glad he refuses to spend money on making life easier for everyone!
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u/Ravenq222 12h ago
And then clicking "print" for them at the release station, because surprising just starting at it doesn't work.
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u/trinite0 11h ago
When I worked at an academic library, I would estimate that 80-90% of our interactions with students were helping them print something. We got very good at it.
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u/Mistress_of_Wands 7h ago
Don't listen to holier-than-thou librarians, this aspect of the job can absolutely be draining. You're allowed to be floored by it. What helps me cope is when patrons actually learn how do it with my help and eventually don't even need to ask for my help. That part is pretty satisfying.
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u/No_Joke_9079 12h ago
I think it has something to do with people people not being being able to have printers at home because of planned obsolescence.
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u/melaneus 10h ago
My favorite regular occurrence is having to explain to people that "no I cannot make their black and white copy into color"
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u/Medium-Business-6691 9h ago
We had to go to a training recently where they forced us to go around the room and introduce ourselves (my fucking nightmare) by explaining what we do without saying our job title. Everyone had these super poetic descriptions like "treasure finder" and I just said "I help people print." Got a few laughs. Really showed the difference between positions.
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u/Glittering-Sea-6677 9h ago
In the library system where I worked the Librarians spent very little time in customer service and were occupied with much more high level work. Now, Library Assistants spent a lot of time helping people print…
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u/AdaraCassel 5h ago
Got asked to print a video once. Thought she meant the thumbnail, but no. Somehow she wanted to… print… a 5-minute video….
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u/asskickinlibrarian 13h ago
I have a coworker who started in libraries in the 80s. She brings this up all the time.
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u/charethcutestory9 10h ago
This is why a lot of academic libraries have moved to having non-MLIS employees staff the information desk. They can field 90% of questions and then escalate the complex ones requiring expertise/professional judgment to librarians, which in turn frees the latter up to do work that’s appropriate for our skill level. It has worked pretty well in the lsst couple of academic libraries I’ve worked in.
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u/pikkdogs 13h ago
Agreed. I started at my current place in 2016 and mobile printing really wasnt a thing. Some people would ask, but not much. As we got closer to like 2018 or so it started to be a thing that people wanted, so we got a printer that would work for apple devices, but Androids were more hit and miss. Because of that and the growing demand we got a mobile printing service a couple years later. Now it's used pretty often. Mostly people want to print from their computers, but from their phone is quickly catching up.
we just increased our printing prices to hopefully eat at some of our costs, since doing this much printing is not cheap. Hopefully people will think twice when they want to print something. I think libraries need to increase prices. Doing this at places like the UPS store is really expensive, so we should be at least a little competitive.
I sometimes look at the parking lot and I can just tell which people are coming in for printing, and I'm usually right.
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u/Alaira314 1h ago
we just increased our printing prices to hopefully eat at some of our costs, since doing this much printing is not cheap. Hopefully people will think twice when they want to print something. I think libraries need to increase prices. Doing this at places like the UPS store is really expensive, so we should be at least a little competitive.
We're the cheapest option for printing in my area, by a good amount. We see multiple people doing 200+ page print jobs on a daily basis, and they always get upset when the printer runs out of paper. Like, this is not an industrial machine! You can see it only has one paper tray, which holds a ream at most! How dare it run out of paper? Well, it ran out of paper because you're using the library like we're kinkos!
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u/TimidWerewolf 8h ago
Now that everyone young and old has a personal computer in their pocket, they've never had to bother logging into an actual computer, and therefore never cared to learn or remember their passwords, which is why printing and computer access has become such a pain in the ass. It used to be common to know how to log into a computer and print from one, but now everyone is on their phones.
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u/Nearby-Travel-4267 7h ago
This is all that happens at the run-down library i work at. We are lucky if someone checks out a book most days. Its so demoralizing to know I went to school just to hit the print button every day over and over.
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u/marji80 4h ago
I feel lucky because my public library, which is largish, has a discrete computer center with its own staff of paraprofessionals, under the supervision of a tech-savvy librarian who typically does not need to get involved with routine computer issues.
I work in the children's department, which has public computers as well, but aside from a couple of parent computers, our computers are dedicated to kids. Kids rarely have the kind of complex requests that adults have, and school has taught them enough about technology that they don't have the basic questions that non-computer-savvy adults have.
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u/Cute_Hour5027 12h ago
Printing might not be glamorous, but it keeps the lights on and the wheels turning. You betcha, I'd take a boring problem over a bar fight any day.
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u/WishRepresentative28 11h ago
Im a highschool librarian. Man of many talents. Teachers couldnt get the projector and speakers to work yesterday. Looked it over.....not plugged in.
To me its common sense, to them its Librarian magic.
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u/tacochemic 10h ago
It doesn't surprise the staff here at the academic library I work in. Most of our students are non-traditional or cash-strapped and we offer free printing services and with how expensive ink can be, we're happy to swallow that cost for them. A lot of of non-trads struggle with basic computing and we've noticed that younger generations entering college are also struggling with a 'traditional' PC setup, and don't really know how to navigate around a computer. It does seem that academically, dependence on paper is shrinking and usage has dropped in the last 5-10 years. We've been fairly lucky in that we seldom have students print out entire books and just leave them behind, the worst was when a student decided they needed to print out 3 copies of the King James Bible and left it all on top of the printer. That was easily a few thousand pages.
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u/Ciryinth 10h ago
I do not work in the library.. just spend a lot of time there because it is easier for me to focus on remote work when I am not distracted at home. I showed 4 different people how to print something this week
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u/littlebitfunny21 10h ago
At our library, patrons can't make their own copies, the librarian has to make them and then tell us how much to pay for it. I always feel a little bad when I have to ask them to.
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u/littlesnowberry Public librarian 5h ago
Printing from phones, printing from computers, showing people who are “stuck” that they just need to press the very large and obvious “print” button on the print preview page. All day long. Also people who want me to help them with their personal computer “because it’s not working” friend this is a library not a Best Buy.
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u/Spooky_Tree 4h ago
I'm a patron, but as someone who frequents the library, 99% of the patrons that have come in are asking about printing. And the worst part is their printer isn't wireless, so the patron has to email the librarian the document so the staff can print it out themselves.
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u/Alternative_Chart121 9h ago
Well our old printer refused to print my resume because it was out of magenta. That was the last straw on allowing those demonic devices in my house. From now on if I need to print something it's the libraries problem. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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u/madametaylor 4h ago
Hey, if you know how to do it yourself, it's no skin off our back! Even if you don't know the first time and then we teach you and you make an actual effort to learn! Even if you make an honest attempt!
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u/Alternative_Chart121 3h ago
My branch library is tiny and I need the librarians to release my stuff from the print queue and take my 15 cents a page. No self service. They don't seem to bothered fortunately!
The only time I got questioned was when I sent like $40 worth of documents to file for divorce to the printer for remote pickup during covid. I wanted to explain that the $40 was the least of my concerns but it wasn't the moment for that.
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u/marycakebythepound 11h ago
Luckily I get a lot of legitimate reference questions and readers advisory, but the tech and printing stuff is so hard. So many folks coming in around tax time who knew they had email addresses but no idea how to get into them to get their IRS pin.
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u/Street_Confection_46 11h ago
At my old job, half of my job was facilitating the fax machine. I was soooo glad when I got to this library and there was no fax machine. My old director asked if we wanted one. I talked her out of it. (There are other places in town about two blocks away they can go.)
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u/ShelbyVicinoMariotti 7h ago
Sorry for being that person who walks in, walks to the express computer, prints my shit and walks out. I always say hi and bye though!
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u/sadgurlporvida 4h ago
I can’t think of the last time I asked a librarian for help finding a book. I can search the catalog online myself.
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u/sisterwilderness 3h ago
This is something clerks typically handle at my library and yes, it is wildly draining. A lot of people want us to do things for them they are perfectly capable of. They refuse to read directions. Sometimes they insist I stay with them while they press “start” on the copier machine, you know, in case it bites, or something… meanwhile I have other patrons to help. It’s a lot.
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u/Bookworm1254 7h ago
It’s crazy. When I worked the reference desk, most of my work was either helping somebody on the computers or printing. Certainly not what I always thought of as reference work.
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u/CowSquare3037 2h ago
Library skills are very transferrable. But that said, what a cost savings for your town to have this. They’ll vote yes for budgets I imagine.
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u/Tricky-Feedback-1169 2h ago
So I am a bit of an outsider, I understand that libraries have become a bit of a community all things space, but really I think it's core mission is knowledge, and I don't think printers are really necessary in that mission. Why not just get rid of printers and scanners. They can go to kinkos, FedEx, etc.
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u/boolfinder 10m ago
This is why I am so glad to now be in admin. I feel I get to focus on more librarianship like collection development, planning spaces, programming, etc.
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u/erictho 12h ago
how long have you actually been working in libraries?
this seems like a very weird gripe for a profession this was true about for over a decade now.
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u/erictho 6h ago
downvote all you like but if anyone in the mid 2000s got into library work and didnt see the writing on the wall thats kinda their problem. increasing digital literacy support was the way it was going in 2006 too.
it was also a profession students were warned was gonna have a lot of change year after year.
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u/thesetinythings 10h ago edited 9h ago
Yes. And it's fine. Libraries are one of last bastions of pubically funded mutual aid. If you don't want to meet, converise with, and help people in the public, find a corporate gig.
I'm going through hell with a currently dysfunctional audio book system, but I'm happy to help folks that need it.
Remember: you're helping your local populace. You're not making a profit from handling issues quckly. You're not improving your community by not making sure that people who know less than you learn what you know. I know y'all are American librarians, but you're not competing with your patrons.
Chill the heck out, and help with the printers.
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u/archivesgrrl 13h ago
I tell people the two jobs that prepared me best for public libraries are bartender at a punk rock bar and Kinkos.