reading that email, I see this: Look busy so the patrons think the money is going to good use. I can understand not using the system email to send out personal mail, but for a staff member like me who didn't get a work address, it's a pain to NOT use my professional gmail name for business purposes.
A lot of the decisions made for our system are made by people who have not set a foot in a branch for many, many years. Likewise, the policies they make are not practical for anything except causing many trees to die as the memos get sent along.
In my case, a lot of my info on DL comes from this site. I'm able to pass it along to patrons and (just recently) my boss who needed vacation planning info. So, really.....LoT is loosely work related.
I agree, there is a tendency to be slow at the branch. For me, I just look busy (reading the boards) and typing (just as I am now responding to the post)... but that's not to say that I don't see other staff members looking at things that interest them when there are no patrons to assist. I find that by looking at Internet Movie Database, I hone my skill as the "Movie Girl" or by looking at Disney things, I also expand my knowledge as the "Disney Expert (heh)" in the system.
If using the internet interferes with the job, then the Branch Head (or manager) would have to deal with the unproductive person/s.
As for the storyteller, if you are on friendly terms with the person, I would talk to them about storytelling away from the patrons, like maybe before or after work. If the story has to be told, again, ask them to be more discreet.