Ledding Library — Attraction in Milwaukie

DON'T VOLUNTEER HERE!!! The staff judge you by appearance. If you're relatively young looking staff will instantly assume you're there on court ordered community service without getting to know you. They never gave me an opportunity to get to know them and vice versa. Staff made it evidently clear they want nothing to do with me or other young-ish volunteers. They're even weird with a few senior volunteers but they at least converse with them. On my first day not one staff member came up to me to introduce themselves. The exception was two staff members, only out of necessity, to give me the lay-of-the-land in the shelving area. I tried light conversation as a warm-up, I got silence instead. This is where I met the second staff member who was just as unfriendly and ice cold as the first. I got no "hi" or "hello", no "what's your name, I'm __,". Nothing friendly like, "we're glad to have you, so what brings you here to volunteer for us?" I was immediately asked, "are you familiar with shelving?". I said, oh yes, I've helped out several other libraries in the past. She said, "good than get started" Whipped around and walked away". I thought OMG, maybe they need to warm up to me.

I'm friendly so I like to greet people. I like to say a simple hello and how are you when I see others. Eventually, I did end up mentioning to a few staff in a casual way, as not to be obvious I'm pandering for acknowledgement. I'm here because I want to be, that I'm not on court ordered community service. They either didn't believe me or didn't care. The staff were dismissive every time I spoke, treated me with contempt, disdain, and at times I was totally disrespected.

Upon reading over their volunteer application, I liked that there was many tasks a volunteer could help with. That was a total lie! Volunteers are only allowed to shelve books. I don't mind shelving books, but I also like helping the public too! I'd also love to help the staff if they'd allow it. I have tons of experience helping people with friendly care and courtesy. I'm in the hospitality industry and I make really good money only because I am good with people. It's allowed me to have extra time to do things I like, such as helping out a my neighborhood library and the community. I've seen staff at this library handle certain situations with people that made me cringe, and handled very badly. I've seen staff just straight up be rude and grumpy with patrons having an aire of "you're bothering me" attitude rather than being eager to help. It was shocking at times.

Very soon I came to find out I wasn't allowed to help people find books or help with the online search engine. Another day I was angrily scalded for helping someone with the internet at the computers which I'm comfortable with- basic stuff here if you are. The last straw and when I finally told them to kick rocks, was when I answered the telephone. I thought they'd appreciate it- I'm also trying to show them I'm capable of doing more. I should have known better,... they freaked! In my defense, I said, "I know how to answer the telephone and I know what to say, I've heard you all plenty of times. I ran a PBX switchboard at a hotel- I know telephone etiquette and I'm familiar with your particular phone system." They totally did not care! I was seriously bitched out by several staff members and some sort of manager lady. After being reprimanded in a disrespectful and humiliating way, I was sternly ordered to go back and shelve. Right there I finally told them how I felt, as mentioned above. I know shelving helps in a small way but that's just it, its in a small way. That's NOT why I want to be there, not doing a menial task the staff hate doing because its beneath them. I feel as if I'm serving the staff more directly, and not the community. What's the point of volunteering if you can't put your skills and experience to good use. I'm giving up my time without compensation so I can more directly help benefit the community, not the...

They held an event that went on nearly until closing time, so I asked them five minutes before close if their bathrooms were still open because I just needed to pee and was told yes. But then as soon as I got in there and closed the stall one of the staff was very loudly pounding on the door and extremely rudely yelling that they were nearly closed. And this happened multiple times so I wasn't even able to actually pee because they kept pounding on the door and shouting. So I asked where the nearest open public restroom was and was told "oh, downtown Milwaukie doesn't have anything" before they just locked the door on me. So now I get to sit on the bus holding my piss for over an hour to go all the way back to Portland. I was really excited to come to this event for pride but now I don't think I'll come back to this library if this is how they want to treat people.

Either close your bathrooms ten minutes before closing like all the other libraries do, or let disabled people use your restrooms without interruption, especially since you apparently know there's no other restrooms around.

And at the beginning of the event the organizer was jerking himself off over what a "welcoming", "inclusive" place Milwaukie is. ...

Really lovely library, especially after the remodel. I appreciate that the kids section is a separate space to keep it quiet for other patrons, and it's the first library I've seen with lights on the shelves, which was a nice touch. But the parking is pretty unfortunate- one way in to a long row of spots until you get to the end and find there aren't any open, then you have to K-turn around (I have a smaller car and was worried the whole time about hitting someone, I can't imagine how a larger/longer vehicle would manage). I realize they did what they could with the space they had, but it just doesn't seem very well thought out in a scenario where all of the spots are filled. Street parking is definitely recommended if you visit...