Mastodawn

Drop-in time at the library has been so hectic in 2026 that I haven't really had time for summaries. I work from 2-4:30 every Thursday, first come, first served. There have been six people per week except for today when I had only five. I try to loosely keep track of my W-L record and today I went 4 for 5 which is the best I've done so far in 2026 so here's the recap.

1. "My phone stopped ringing"
"Flip this switch, fixed!"
"Really?!"
"Sure, let me call you"
* phone rings *
"Oh, wow, that was stupidly easy"
"Second time I've shown people how to do that this year; people don't know what they don't know"
"I also wanted to thank you for all those wonderful books you've written
"I have some bad news about the other Jessamyn West"
"I thought you looked a little young"
"Bless you, sir"

2. Woman trying to return sneakers bought online. She was in last week b/c she paid JustAnswers.com $5 and was worried she'd been scammed. She hadn't.
"This email says to return them?"
* reads email to myself * "Seems legit"
"How do I return them?"
"See that email they sent you? Do what it says"
"Just reply to this email?"
* reads email out loud * "Would you like help"
"Nope, I think I've got it"
"Great, let me know if you have questions"
"I may be back next week"
"I'm here every week"

3. "I am trying to return this kid's costume I bought online and Amazon sucks and I can't return it and Central Supply [UPS Drop Off place] says they can't read a QR code!!"
"Well, let's look through the app, I think you may need to return it using a different method, the one you used is for a UPS Store and we have a UPS Drop-Off place"
* cancel return *
"Amazon now says item can't be returned because the return window has closed!"

I am confused by this. Amazon might change everything overnight but I bet they didn't.

We try to fake-return another item just to see if we get another option but can't make it work (can't return food, can't get all the way through the process).

Woman is also mad because the post office is handling a lot of Amazon deliveries and she apparently dislikes the folks at the post office. They are some of my favorite people so...

4. Man comes in with two iPhones. "I need to get my wife's phone on our Family Plan so I can use FindMy iPhone." "Looks like your son set this up, you'll have to get ahold of him. Are you in touch?" "Sure am" (I breathe a secret sigh of relief, so often techie children set their older family members up w/ complex solutions but are not great at supporting them) "Anything else?" "Can I make a custom text tone for my wife" "Sure can" We practice texting back and forth between the phones. Great fun.

5. "My phone is nearly out of space, how do I get stuff off of it? My daughter says I need a new phone but I like this one" (broken screen held together with sticky tape)
"We can probably extend the life of this one, let's see what's taking up all the space" (videos, facebook)
"Do you use facebook much?"
"Mostly on my laptop"
"Oh, you have a laptop? We can move the videos off of this phone to there, then delete them"
"That would be great!"
"Come back next week. You don't need a new phone"

It was the middle part of a long day that also involved working with the newspaper (hi Tim!) to set up hosting a Selectboard Candidate Forum, get a slide scanner set up for our Library of Things, do my laundry at the laundromat where I run into the guy who might take my book scanner and put it somewhere available to the public, and then home to notarize some documents for a friend before dinner.

There are a lot of little jobs that need doing in this town, it's good to have some little jobs. EOM

john lehet Feb 6

@jessamyn You are a superhero.

@johnlehet I am lucky to have found a thing that is a good match for my skill set and temperament.

@jessamyn You know that proverb "It takes a village to raise a child"?

Well, I keep getting the feeling that you represent a similar (just coined) proverb: "It takes a librarian to raise a village."

#librarians [edit to fix dumb typo]

Ewout ter Haar Feb 6

@jessamyn "You sure look nice for a 128-year-old"

@ewout The guy had a good sense of humor when we looked her up on Wikipedia to find she'd been born in 1902. 😂

Dorothea Salo Feb 6

@jessamyn I still use your name when I teach authority control.

@dsalo There's another JW who is alive and lives on the West Coast!!! To the best of my knowledge she has not written a book (and if she's smart, she'll use a middle initial)

Dan Patch Feb 6

@jessamyn you don't need me to tell you this, but you're a saint. thank you for helping people like this.

I'm curious, what do you call the drop-in time? how did you word the event title so people know they can come and ask for help?

@datn I literally call it "Tech Drop-In Time" and I've been doing it in various parts of the community (first through an adult ed program for a while, then on my own funded with grants, and now at the library since 2020) for maybe 20 years. We put it in the calendar in the newspaper and I post to a local mailing list to let people know about it but it's primarily word of mouth by this point. Been the same day and time for five years which helps.

@datn The big deal too is that it's first come first served and it's in a big room with a table so people in the library can hear me in there and sort of eavesdrop on what I do and also they can wait while I'm helping other people which is also good for that. I know a lot of places like to have appointments but I think that creates a level of formality which, while I'm sure it works for some, I think discourages "Oh I just had a simple question..." kinds of questions.

Dan Patch Feb 6

@jessamyn when I read "a lot of places" I realized I assumed you were nearly alone in doing this kind of work. but once again I managed to forget that, in truth, most people are nice. (and among them some are saints.) thanks for lifting my spirits.

Gemma Seymour Feb 6

@jessamyn We've just started a new monthly meeting at the Brooks Memorial Library, called "Talking About Tech". The first session was last month, and the next one will be on Sat 28 Feb, 1030-1200 EST.

https://brookslibraryvt.org/event/talking-about-tech-2-2/

Talking About Tech – Brooks Memorial Library – Brattleboro VT

Illustration AI-generated with Google Gemini. Can you spot the signs? Bring your tech questions and answers to a new monthly series for technology help. Fourth Saturdays from 10:30 to noon […...

@gcvrsa That looks like a really great program. I love the idea of a quick talk on a loose topic and then people can talk about what they're curious about.

Gemma Seymour Feb 6

@jessamyn I'm having a great time showing up to share my knowledge as much as I can.

Kelsey Rinella Feb 7

@jessamyn Thank you for writing these (and for the service you provide, of course). I love them as little nudges toward empathy.