Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library By Don Borchert
 
What do you think goes on in a library every day? If you don't work there, you may think library staff members read most of the day and talk about all the wonderful books they get to work with. You may think that it's always quiet in the library and that all patrons are charming and agreeable. If you work there, you know this is a fantasy.

Don Borchert has opened the doors of the library to let us see what working in a library is really like. While most library patrons are really very nice people who are easy to chat with and pleasant in their library transactions, there are some that make the day more challenging. Borchert tells of the drug pushers who briefly used the public library as their headquarters and only quit when the library made the public phone outgoing calls only. He tells of the occasional patron who becomes irate over a $.25 fine and the others who cheerfully pay whatever they owe. With compassion and regret, he tells of the young patrons the librarians try to help but who have such terrible home lives that they cannot overcome them. Librarians themselves can't hide from Borchert, either. He sees their struggles to be all things to all people and the lack of time and funding that frustrate them.

Business as usual in a public library includes some pretty unusual people and activities. As a librarian myself, I could hardly put this book down. There are never any dull days in a public library. There is language in the book that some will find offensive, but every librarian or future librarian will want to read this book. It should be required reading for city and county officials who make decisions about the library. It's an accurate and colorful account of working in a public library.


HITS (High Interest Title Selections) is my monthly compilation of predicted bestsellers. Most Decembers are pretty quiet in terms of hot new books, but there are several you will definitely find of interest.
 
The highly-anticipated third collaboration between bestselling and award-winning author Anne McCaffrey and her son, Todd, continues the enormously popular tale of the Dragonriders of Pern.
 
After two years of bitter conflict with the hordes of invading Canim, Tavi of Calderon realizes that a peril far greater than the Canim exists--the terrifying Vord. Now, Tavi must find a way to overcome the centuries-old animosities between Aleran and Cane if an alliance is to be forged against their mutual enemy.
 
The next Sue Grafton title is always an event. She's up to the letter T now.

Readers of thrillers may enjoy a timely new political novel by Steve Alten. More than a thriller, "The Shell Game" is a cautionary tale that exposes the next 9/11 event--an attack that will lead to a retaliatory chemical weapons strike on Iran and the terrorist elements the regime supports.

Steve Berry's features the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Alexandria Link" offers a gripping international thriller that sends Cotton Malone on a perilous quest for the truth about the mysterious death of Alexander the Great.

J. A. Jance offers another suspenseful Ali Reynolds tale. A deserted stretch of road is the perfect place to drive a man to his grave--literally. The "New York Times" bestselling author of "Web of Evil" returns with a chilling new novel of spine-tingling suspense.>

Walter Mosley's gripping new noir novel will please his many fans. >
"Diablerie"has the same erotic force as "Killing Johnny Fry," but grounded in a far darker vision of human nature. "Diablerie" is a  transfixing new novel from a powerful writer.

There you have it----be sure and ask for suggestions on your next trip to Columbus Public Library.