It's True: You Are Better off Playing Solitaire.

The folks at Librarian's Guide to Etiquette bring it up in this post in the context of "don't waste time doing that newsletter: no one will read it."

I've often thought the same thing in a different context. You are better off playing solitaire because if you sit here at the reference desk doing any of the following, some wit will come up and say, "Ha, I wish I could get paid to sit around and read." This implication that you are goofing off will be thrown at you even if you are:

• keeping up on professional trends with Library Journal
• reading the NY Times Book Review
• plowing through this month's book discussion group (for which you must formulate inviting, stimulating, but not overly-intimidating questions)
• cruising through the latest YA novel so you can truly know "what's in there" when some outraged parent asks
• or keeping in tune with community needs and trends by pursing the local paper
  

So you have a couple of choices: read the local paper, NYTBR, and LJ online -- or play solitaire, or read library blogs. Because people think key-tapping and screen-gazing equal work. No one ever comes up and says, "I wish I could get paid to do unseen things at a computer screen all day."

Capital City weather: rainy and 60s
Reading: Carl Hiaasen's Flush