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Not to discredit this but I feel like maybe there should be a directory about all topics with shelf numbers and not just about hard to talk about topics?
As a library, you should give me a directory where I can find anything I want. And these topics could be included in that one directory and not singled out in the middle where anyone looking at it can be targeted by some fucking bigot.It's just the Dewey Decimal System, so you could look up whatever topic you like to find what it would be classified under. There's thousands of topics that are covered here - there's a reason it's used for every non-fiction clarification in a library - that would be far too numerous to list on a single shelf listing. This library has chosen to prioritize the awkward questions as a way to help someone who otherwise may not know how to get help.
Alternatively, most libraries have a catalogue you can search by keyword and it will give you book results which will let you know where they are on the shelves. But again, that requires you to know that the catalogue exists and how to use it. It's always going to be easier to ask a librarian, who can make sure you find something to help.
If someone is going to single you out for looking at list that includes "cancer", "divorce" and "loss of a parent" they didn't need a reason to target you in the first place.
Have you... never been to a library?
And there generally is, most libraries have a catalogue or at least a directory explaining the numbering system at a topic level. Thing is, this sign doesn't just help people come to the library wanting help with these things. It helps people in the library who are experiencing this and didn't know they could find a book to help them.
Hell some people don't even know they need help with these things until someone offers.
Yes, but any librarian you might ask for the directory, is going to ask you what you are looking for.
Not if im crippled with social phobias, or dont want to bother a busy person at their desk. Also, the librarian at our school 30 years ago was an evil bitch which made me swear off reading books altogether.
You're probably not telling the total truth, but maybe consider that one person being unpleasant 30 years ago isn't a good reason to abandon an entire form of media for your entire life. Let it go. The librarian is probably dead by now, and they don't have to matter to you anymore.
The librarian at your school 30 years ago probably also taught you about the card catalogue and the Dewey Decimal System.
Wait ... You don't read books?
Sounds like a cartoon villain origin story. The Bibliophobe!
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