LJ Talks to Don Borchert

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 11/1/2007

Don Borchert, a library assistant 1 and 12-year employee of the Torrance Public Library, CA, has written a memoir of his library life, Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, coming November 13 from Virgin Books. LJ’s Norman Oder asked how it came about.

DB: I’ve been writing since I was 16. I started out writing bad science fiction. I’ve written a couple of other books that didn’t get close to being published. [I thought] ‘I know the library.’ I’m not a professional, but I had all these anecdotes that I thought were kind of neat. Every night before I went to bed I’d sit and write a chapter. Some are anecdotes about people that come into the library, some are the events that occur, and other chapters are the bureaucratic goings on. I figured that wouldn’t see the light of day either but at least it was fun to write.

LJ: So how did you get published?

DB: I was about three-quarters of the way through and I started looking for an agent. You have to send in sample chapters and a book proposal—I should’ve gotten a master’s just for that. I sent it to hundreds. [Agent Randi Murray ultimately embraced it.]

LJ: How’d you come up with the title?

DB: I was originally was going to call it Ten Years, Good Behavior, because that’s how you get along in civil service. The publisher said that sounds like a minimum security prison. My daughter, who graduated from UCLA in library science, thought up, A Librarian Raises His Voice. The publisher recommended some ideas, but my daughter came up with the title, which has a double meaning.

LJ: In the UK, it’s called Library Confidential.

DB:  If you see the cover in the UK, it’s a cool noir-ish thing. I think both are great. I’m living out a fantasy I’ve had since I was 16.

LJ: Your title is Library Assistant 1. Is that how you describe yourself? 

DB: I just say, “I work in the library.” When they say, “Are you a librarian,” I say, “Not really.”

LJ: What do you do?

DB: My job has changed so much over the past dozen years. I’ve done all the jobs in the library, I’ve had temporary move-ups: I’ve reviewed books, processed books, mended books, worked at the circulation desk, done reference.

LJ: The next step up is Library Assistant 2. Have you tried for a promotion?

DB: I’ve taken several promotional exams. They’ll sometimes offer me a job and I’ll say no, and I’m off the list. Presently, I’m number one on the list, and I have declined all the positions I’ve been offered, because the library I’m at is where I started, and it’s like home. It’s the craziest because it’s down the street from a junior high and down the street from a high school. A lot of librarians in my branch and system don’t have kids, and I do. When the after-school rush comes in, we’ll have over a hundred kids, I never try to relate to them as peers.

LJ: You’re the authority figure.

DB: I’m not the senior [librarian], or below that person, but because I have kids, I don’t ask, “Please be quiet.” I say, “If you want to be crazy, take it outside.”

LJ: In April you wrote an op-ed for the New York Times about dealing with latchkey children, prompted by a crisis at the Maplewood Memorial Library in New Jersey.

DB: About six months ago, my agent got a call from the Times, wanting to know if I’d write an article. I said, “What makes you think I’m an expert?” They said, “You’re writing a book.”

LJ: What do your co-workers and bosses think of the book?

DB: Teresa, or Terri in the book, is one of my biggest supporters. The administration and my supervisors were at first a little on edge. They weren’t sure: How many ways can this turn out well? Three or four weeks ago, I gave out several copies of the galleys. They realize I haven’t burned down my career.

LJ: Have you read “Dispatches from a Public Librarian,” Scott Douglas’s pieces on McSweeneys that also will become a book?

DB: I’m not familiar with him. I’ve gone into several library blogs and they seem awfully dry. You will never convince someone to go to library school by reading these blogs.

LJ: But you say in the book you’re done with higher education and wouldn’t go to library school, even though your colleagues encouraged you.

DB: I went to Ohio State long ago. I started out as journalism major and, during the late 1960s, I was thrown out of the school of journalism for, I guess, revolution. I was a double English major. I just wanted to do something with writing and reading.
[Borchert worked in publications for a number of firms and also had a more knockaround career as short-order cook, door-to-door saleman and telemarketer.]

LJ: How come your daughter went to library school?

DB: I’d like to say it was because of me, but she hasn’t said that. She graduated from UC Irvine in Fine Arts. She just let us know she wanted to be a librarian. I’m flattered but I can’t imagine it was because of me.

LJ: Are you a member of the American Library Association?

DB: No.

LJ: So what’s your advice for prospective librarians and library workers?

DB: The library is not going to be the library it is five years ago. Young people with enthusiasm should be encouraged—they have more ideas, they’re more apt to try crazy things than older librarians. If you’re enthusiastic at all, it’s a wonderful thing to get into.