Quiet Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas is a memoir about Douglas' experience working in public libraries in southern California. I would recommend it to librarians, but I doubt its appeal reaches beyond the library community. While I found the narrator unlikable and, at times, distasteful, he did make some good points and was somewhat relatable.I had very high hopes for this book. It did live up to some of them. Douglas' chapter about library school was absolutely relatable and spot-on. Some of his observations about libraries - for example, that the community determines what kind of library it wants - were in the spirit of librarianship. However, his attitude just stinks. I understand the desire to complain about annoying coworkers, but it's a bit like talking about your family - you just don't talk about it to strangers. And Douglas' work ethic is not exactly inspiring, to say the least.Nevertheless, Quiet Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian is a fast, fairly fun and somewhat entertaining read. I would recommend it to public librarians, but with the caveat that it doesn't live up to his promise. And frankly, I doubt I'll bother reading anything else by this author.Read this review and more on The Library Lass Book Talk Blog.
