Today in my teenage angst, I'm astounded by the nature of biographical publishing. At the library we all have our sections to read. This means we have to go through the shelves and make sure those books are all in order. My section is the biographies. I stand there and I do the alphabet and yes, they are all in order. But then I get distracted. Jennifer Aniston? How and why do you have a biography? George Clooney? Celine Dion? You have three!!! Oh Johnny Depp, here's a good one. You're noted as a modern rebel. Legit. That's the tag line. Johnny Depp: a modern rebel.
I fail to understand why famous people who have been around for less than the length of my life warrant a biography. Do people care that much? Do people really want to know what Jennifer Aniston's childhood was like, enough to buy a twenty-seven dollar hard cover book? I just really can't imagine it.
I saw this clip a few months ago and it really explains the follies of bibliographic publishing to its very core. Enjoy.
Today in my teenage angst, I learned that life is all about circulatory patterns. In a library, the point of having books is so that people will check them out . . . obviously. As I mentioned yesterday, graphic novels are one of the most frequently circulated items; from children to adults, these go out, come in and go out. If a book doesn't get checked out, there's no reason for it to be on the shelf. What has astounded me, in my hours of shelving, is the kinds of books that have a high circulation.
I shelve a lot of paper backs. These are the bane of my existence at the library. The racks squeal at me, there are too many books for the number of shelves and they're not in enough of an order for me to accurately gage where they are supposed to go. I consequently end up placing them way out of order for the sake of my sanity. I was reprimanded for that today. Oops.
Romance novels circulate like there is never going to be real sex again. It disgusts me and I judge everyone I see looking at those racks and curse them for taking them out, causing me to re-shelve them. Christian fiction is another frequently circulated item. I hate Christian fiction. I read a lot of it in my youth and by the time I was nineteen became exceedingly frustrated at the system of it all. I wish I could contact all those who are checking these items out and give them some real literature.
The last thing I'll mention, for all of you Hills fans is L.A. Candy. This is a work of fiction by star of the Hills Lauren Conrad about a girl who moves to the city and has a reality TV show made about her life. I guess all fiction stems from somewhere. I was beyond delighted to pull it out of the book drop. Of course the library has it, I thought to myself, I just didn't realize that anyone was interested enough in Lauren Conrad anymore to check out and read her 'fiction.'
Today in my teenage angst, I decided that the library is a perfectly perfect thing to blog about. A week ago I was given a job as a library page. After having to give up on my last pressure and emotional filled - yet dream oriented - job after only two days, I hoped this would be a lot more my speed. That speed being extraordinarily slow and non-committal. I have worked seven shifts (each averaging around three hours) and I love it. I was informed early on that my mp3 player and cell phone were not to be present during my work time which freaked me out a bit, but no matter, one shift without and I didn't even miss them.
As you might guess, you can learn a lot the library. My job doesn't really permit me to look beyond the spines of books, so I've thus far been limited in any in-depth research oriented learning. I have however learned that the world of graphic novels - of which my entire experience rests in the OC and Atomic County - is vast and seem to be the most popular thing currently in the literary world. We have graphic novels for children, youth and adults; all equally popular. We have Disney graphic novels, Manga graphic novels, CSI graphic novels. Do you have an interest? It's been put into a graphic novel. These are particularly tedious to shelve, which is the basis of my job; this tedium makes me not their biggest fan but I can't deny their popularity and subsequent awesomeness.
Here, for your viewing pleasure is a 3 min short of Atomic County. If you're a fan of the OC, this should make you pretty happy. If you're not, watch it anyway and know that I'm probably shelving a hundred of these in book form.
