Nudist Proclivities of Germans on their Lunch Hour and Other Topics of Conversation Available at Your Public Library

The public library is an interesting melting pot of people. Even prior to becoming a librarian, as a book fiend, I frequented whatever public libraries were in my vicinity. Public libraries vary quite widely by level of funding available as well as setting: urban, rural, suburban. The libraries in Syracuse and Silver Spring, Maryland are both of the urban type. Urban libraries tend to have a large number of branches that are small in terms of size and funding and are specialized to the local clientèle. In particular, they often provide much needed services for job seekers and non-English speakers since these populations tend to be higher in cities.

According to my experience, all libraries tend to attract people from six groups: families with young children, elderly/retired individuals, library devotees, immigrants, homeless people, and finally, crazy people. Now these categories are not mutually exclusive, any one person can easily belong to several of these groups. Crazy people in public libraries run the gamut from the completely harmless but abnormal to creepy stalker types who sometimes have to be removed by law enforcement. Libraries in urban environments tend to lean heavily towards the last three groups of people in terms of overall percentages.

Having worked in a public library, you learn to quickly identify the crazy people in advance in order to brace yourself for any incidents. Not to be overly broad in categorization, but this is easiest to do with crazy people who happen to be white Americans. I'm not sure why this is but they tend to have strikingly similar characteristics of physical appearance and demeanor. However, advanced warning of impending craziness can be much more difficult with other categories of crazy people, which led to my surprise in the strange turn that took place in what at first appeared to a seemingly innocuous request for information. It is rapidly growing late here, so if anyone who reads this blog was intrigued by the title of this post, I am afraid you will have to wait until tomorrow for the full story of the conversation behind the name.