public library

'Don't be THAT person!': 15+ public library stories where entitled Karens, parents, and kids ruined everyone else's experience

Going to one's local public library should be a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, as is the case with any public setting, one's experience can be profoundly affected by the actions and behavior of random strangers. You could be in a movie theater, a coffee shop, or the post office and find similar entitled behavior from Karens, parents, and kids that has the potential to ruin your day. Let's take a moment to assess the myriad of ways in which the same phenomenon can occur in public libraries.

First, there's the strange people who sit next to you despite there being plenty of space for them to sit elsewhere. Then, there's the mess a group of kids may leave at a communal table. And, of course, there is the junk food that fully grown adults refuse to clean up after they are finished. This is the kind of entitlement that makes picking up a book feel like a Sisyphean endeavor. 

Keep scrolling below for this collection of mildly infuriating library moments. For more content like this, check out these frustrating movie theater fails.






public library

Catawba County Library system wins two awards from the North Carolina Public Library Directors� Association.

The Catawba County Library System has received two awards from the North Carolina Public Library Directors� Association. Library Director Karen Foss was on hand to accept honors for the new Conover Branch facility and Battle of the Books programming presented at the NCPLDA annual awards banquet December 6 in Winston-Salem.




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Benicia Public Library

Intern (Youth Services) (Benicia--onsite)




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I assure you, we're open: A.C. Hunter Public Library welcomes guests despite closure of main entrance

People using the library in the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John's are being forced to use alternate entrances due to an unsafe staircase in front of the building.



  • News/Canada/Nfld. & Labrador

public library

Dover’s business history on display at the Dover Public Library through spring

Visit the Dover Public Library to check out some Dover-centric business artifacts temporarily on display through Spring 2025.




public library

Delaware Children Wish Smokey Bear Happy 80th Birthday at Dover Public Library

More than 100 Delawareans, from newborns to seniors, attended story time at the Dover Public Library to wish Smokey Bear a happy 80th birthday on August 9, which marks Smokey’s official birthday.




public library

How the NY Public Library acquired a ‘treasure trove’ of Jewish and Yiddish music


Netsky said he thinks the Yiddish theater music in the archive files is particularly valuable because it was maligned by the classical composers as shund (trash) and neglected.




public library

Homewood Public Library Awarded 2020 Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has awarded the 2020 ALSC/Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant to Homewood Public Library in Homewood, Alabama.




public library

The Roxbury Public Library receives the Gale Cengage Financial Development Award

CHICAGO — The Roxbury Public Library, Succasunna, New Jersey, is the recipient of the 2020 American Library Association Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award.

The annual award is presented to a library organization that exhibited meritorious achievement in carrying out a library financial development project to secure new funding resources for a public or academic library. The award includes a check for $2500 and a framed citation.  The award will be presented Jan. 24, at the Midwinter Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana,  preceding the ALA Presidents Program. 




public library

Rockford Public Library Offers Curbside Pick-Up

Attention bibliophiles! If you like e-books, but have missed holding and reading real books, the Rockford Public Library is providing curbside pick-up by appointment at all of their branches. Bridget Finn is the marketing director for RPL and she says customers can reserve items through the website or by phone. "After that," Finn said, "the staff will pull the items -- if they're available -- sanitize them, call the customer, set an appointment for them to come pick up the items, and get them ready for retrieval." Customers will get called up to the door and asked to show their library card or State ID through the window. Once the staff verifies the customer's identity and items, they will ask that person to step back six feet. The staff member will then place the items on a cart and roll it outside. When the staff member is back inside the building, the customer may retrieve the items. Customers may also reserve DVDs and CDs. To reserve items from the library and learn more about




public library

2019 public library training wrap-up

It's been another busy year of training, with nearly 30 training sessions delivered to over 300 public library staf




public library

State Treasurer to Celebrate National Library Week at Frankford Public Library

State Treasurer Colleen C. Davis will join the Frankford Public Library for their Community Connect Night on Monday, April 8 to celebrate National Library Week. National Library Week is an annual celebration that began in 1958 to highlight the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and communities. “Libraries in Delaware […]




public library

Justice Department Signs Agreement with Des Moines, Iowa, and Des Moines Public Library to Ensure Civic Access for People with Disabilities

An agreement has been reached with the city of Des Moines, Iowa, and the Des Moines Public Library, to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.



  • OPA Press Releases

public library

Justice Department Settles with Sacramento, Calif., Public Library Authority Over Inaccessible “E-Reader” Devices

The Justice Department announced today that it and the National Federation of the Blind have reached a settlement with the Sacramento Public Library Authority in Sacramento, Calif., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves allegations that the library violated the ADA by using inaccessible Barnes & Noble NOOK electronic reader devices in a patron lending program.



  • OPA Press Releases

public library

Ex libris: The New York Public Library

Hayden Library - Z733.N6 E95 2017




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Clay County Public Library System




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Dunedin Public Library




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Winter Haven Public Library




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Gulf Beaches Public Library




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Lakeland Public Library




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New Port Richey Public Library




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Orange County Public Library (OCPL)




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North Miami Public Library




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Winter Park Public Library




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Zephyrhills Public Library




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Miami-Dade Public Library System




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Lynn Haven Public Library




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Oldsmar Public Library




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Lake Alfred Public Library, part of the Polk County Library Consortium




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Tarpon Springs Public Library




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St. Johns County Public Library System




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Fort Myers Beach Public Library




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Mary Esther Public Library




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New River Public Library Cooperative




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Palm Springs Public Library




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Seminole County Public Library System




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St. Pete Beach Public Library




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Union County Public Library




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Pinellas Park Public Library




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Manatee County Public Library System




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Pinellas Public Library Cooperative




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Wakulla County Public Library




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Emily Taber Public Library, a member of the New River Public Library Cooperative




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Fort Meade Public Library, part of the Polk County Library Cooperative




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Volusia County Public Library




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Panhandle Public Library Cooperative System (PPLCS)




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Maitland Public Library




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Collier County Public Library