Rage Against the Machine

Peters Township Library is consistently ranked among the best libraries in Pennsylvania, yet not only do I get the urge to poop every time I enter the place (seriously), I consistently leave there feeling unsatisfied. And the lack of satisfaction isn't due to the fact that I never actually poop while I'm there, but mainly it's related to my beef with the library's DVD section. I went there today to get Borat, which the card catalog told me was available, but I left empty-handed (well, aside from the book I had on hold). You might be saying, "Your library has Borat? You should be happy they even stock current releases." Nay, my friend. Going to the library to get a current release that is supposedly there, then being told it would be impossible to find is even worse. Here's the deal -- I go directly to the DVD section and look through shelves of poorly alphabetized cases, all the way from A to Z, only to realize Borat is missing from the collection. I do another search of the card catalog to make sure it hasn't been checked out since I last searched around 1:30 at work. It says there should be one copy available. I ask the woman at the desk if it might be in the back somewhere because the card catalog says it's in, but it's not on the shelf. The other woman standing there pulls out a bin beneath the desk and says, "It's not in the bin, and if it's in the back, they're double-stacked." The original woman then says to me, "Yeah, there's no way we can find it." Okay, last time I checked, libraries did not superglue their recently returned DVDs to the carts they store them on. Double-stacked my ass! Take a minute and go look through the pile to see if the movie I want is in. Could it really be that difficult? I think the problem is the women at the front desk are elitists who are either bitter they were never able to get their master's degrees and become real librarians or just bitter because they're old, and they refuse to have anything to do with the lowly duties of redistributing library materials to their proper housing places. Finally, I was told that the girl who shelves DVDs will be in over the weekend, and it should be available by then. So now I either have to return to the library in hopes that Borat will be shelved and not snapped up by another library patron or shell out the 3 bucks to rent it. I'm guessing I'll do the latter. The point is, I don't know what criteria Peters Township Library's high status is based upon, but it probably isn't "ability to induce spontaneous bowel movements." So, why all the praise? I see nothing more than a pretty building with a decent selection of materials, grumpy staff, and poor service.