office Archives - Awful Library Books

Behaving at the Office

January 20, 2022 Mary Kelly Working 9-5 11 comments

Uncivil Wars
Men, Women, and Office Etiquette in the 90s
Patrick
1994

This is another of the million books published about how to get along at the office and succeed. As women entered the workforce, issues of “new” office etiquette were being discussed. Discussions targeted at both men and women centered on catering to their supposed needs. For example, women being coached to get along with the boys world of work, how to dress, and level up in management. Men were told to not “make a pass” and be polite to the ladies.

Workout at the Office

Quick Workouts: Fitness Anytime, Anywhere
Time-Life Books
1987

Submitter: This book is currently on the shelves at a local public library. Who knew people in the 1980’s were so busy that they had to fit in exercise while waiting for the commuter train or even an elevator? I guess I just assumed that they stayed fit & trim by lifting over-sized mobile phones. While a book on this topic could be useful to our modern day inactive office workers, it would really need updated pictures… it’s hard to take a good stretching technique seriously when the demonstrator is wearing giant should pads or a sleeveless sweater.

Put that in writing

August 16, 2016 Holly Working 9-5 9 comments

Would You Put That in Writing? How to Write Your Way to Success in Business Booher 1983 Submitter: I just withdrew this from our community college library collection. The typewriter on the cover alone qualifies it for awfulness, but wait!

The Principal’s Gals

January 17, 2012 Holly Making a Living 14 comments

Elementary School Principals: The Women in the Principal’s Office
Casasova
1991

Submitter: I came across this book in our collection. It is from 1991 and has never been checked out. There is so much wrong with this title. It sort of implies or assumes that principals are male and secretaries are female. Period. The subtitle even sounds kind of bad. There is no mention of technology in the book and one section is called “Jane of all trades.” So much has changed regarding student issues and laws over the last 20 years that this book is sorely outdated.

Holly: At first, I thought it was implying that all elementary school principals are female. Then I realized it isn’t a book about principals at all! There’s no reason for a school library to hang on to this one.

Motion to make bar service mandatory at meetings

October 11, 2011 Mary Kelly For the Kids, Making a Living, Working 9-5 13 comments

The First Book of
How to Run a Meeting
Powers
1967

I am not kidding. Oh, where do I start with this one? Physically, the book is in perfect shape. That’s probably because no one ever checked it out. (There’s a big surprise.) The illustrations are just awful and so dated. I am quite certain the information is probably okay (has the world of Robert’s Rules changed very much?), but the text is pretty dense and I can’t remember ever attending a meeting (especially as a kid) that embraced committees, sub-committees, by-laws, etc as in-depth as this book suggests. In fact if any club in my school had operated as fanatically as this book , I would have immediately dropped the club and moved on to something else.

Dictate this!

November 14, 2009 Holly Working 9-5

Applied Secretarial Practice
Gregg
1968

Typewriters? Dictation? “The Scrubbed and Shining Look”? I can see certain university libraries hanging on to a copy of this for historical purposes. Gregg is, after all, the guru of all things secretarial. I can see in WorldCat that several public libraries also own this book. Why on earth would your basic, community library need this book? I guess it does have some pretty groovy pictures, so there is that…