Amanda Oliver

"Overdue" confronts the fact that when we idealize libraries we are often unable to address the issues that arise in the reality of libraries. Even though I work at a library in a small city and incidents at our branch are less frequent than what the author was dealing with, I recognized that what Oliver is describing is relevant to all public libraries. The library often becomes the place where people go when every other public system has failed them, and yet it doesn’t have the resources or the training to pick up the slack. As a way of bringing awareness to what librarians frequently handle, Owens did a fine job. Perhaps the book would have been better if it was marketed differently. It is marketed specifically with public libraries in mind, but the author only worked at a public library for nine months, the majority of her experience is in school libraries. Perhaps if the marketing had been less focused or if the book had been more focused then I would have enjoyed it more.

There are sections that focus on history and societal critique which are written formally and almost academically. In addition is the author’s memoir about growing up in poverty, her work as a school librarian, and her short time working at a public library in D.C. The two focuses of the book were written in radically different tones which didn’t fit as a whole. "Overdue" is great at starting the conversation around public libraries and I’ll be interested to see how the conversation progresses.… (mehr)

A somewhat uneven description of her experiences working in a DC public library, and the stresses that came from having to deal with a difficult patron clientele. She does an excellent job of describing how it came to be that libraries have become a refuge for the homeless, and the stresses that accrue from having to attempt to provide adequate services without proper training or support. The perspective is given early on, when she tells of the first use of the panic button on her first day. The problem for me with her analysis is that she is far more concerned with the situation of the violent patron than of the other users who cower in the stacks to avoid being attacked, injured or even killed. Arguably, the library has a higher duty to this latter group than to the first, but the author's attention is only on the latter. A light dawned when she admits that she never wanted to be a librarian anyway, which is why she left it so readily. I hope committed librarians realize that they have a higher duty to the purpose of the library itself (which she doesn't seem to understand, or at least discuss). While any reasonable person will want to help people in pain who present themselves, this must never be at the cost of the primary mission of the library.

She finally sums up the account by asking the key question: whether libraries and librarians *should* continue to carry so much of the weight of emergencies and crises (p. 148). The answer, of course, is no. But she never really says that, nor does she provide insights into what should be done to help those persons that present themselves to the library.

At the end, this isn't a book about libraries at all. Rather, she uses her experiences at one library as a prism through which she examines broader social ills. This would have been more effective had the method been more deliberate. As it stands, other than heartfelt description, she has no answers to suggest. This is about *her* changes, not about libraries or even about social problems. File under biography.… (mehr)

DNF--this was reviewed by BookPage and sounded interesting, but in the end, it wasn't really what I thought it was going to be. I expected it to be more about interactions between librarians and patrons--perhaps with some stories about overdue media (such as those we see in the news occasionally where a book checked out 75 years ago gets returned etc.). Instead it's more of a history of the library (which is interesting) and how certain populations use the library (which in some cases is less interesting to me).… (mehr)