Notes from a Librarian, Part 1.
So, after a long (and somewhat exciting) day at work, I wound up going to my county library tonight to browse the stacks and get some other reading materials. I was excited to go; I spent the majority of my Friday evenings at the library during my late elementary/middle school years [yup, I was a nerd!], and I hadn't been there yet since I've moved home. Unfortunately, the experience tonight left my librarian senses tingling and a somewhat uneasy feeling in my stomach. It had changed so much from even a year ago, and although I am fine with [some] changes (I am Lutheran after all :P), these really seemed to be leading away from reading and books. Which made me Very. Sad.
First, they rearranged everything, so for people like me who locate books based upon location, not call number (well, at least until I am forced to tolerate Dewey as if my grade depended upon it), I had to re-learn where all my favorite sections were. However, this also provided some quality wandering around/browsing the collection time. Unfortunately, that leads me to item number.....
Two. They really weeded out their collection and pared it down. I didn't go through the fiction books (just the "recent best seller/recommendations" shelves), but the non-fiction shelves must have all been about half empty. This was really sad. Books I thought for sure would be there weren't. The selection on any given topic was rather shallow and slim. Of course, some of these books could be checked out to other knitters/history devotees like myself. But....... then I learned their policy is to only retain items in the collection for two years. WHAT?!?! I'm not so sure I like that..... what if I really want to read a book, but it's had a shelf life of two years and now they don't have it any more? How sad..... and that seems to be somewhat counterproductive to so many public libraries' open access/free speech agendas today. Of course, *everything's online* now...... [banishes bad academia memories]
Thirdly, [yes, I realize my sequence isn't grammatically sequential] I think I just have too much academic librarian in me. I've been toying with the idea lately of public librarianship. I've never had any experience in a public library aside from being a patron. But I thought, hey, it could be fun. Yeah, well, maybe not so much. There are too many things I'm not used to at this moment, too many ways they are run differently from my dear old stomping grounds of academia. I'm not saying I couldn't learn..... I'm saying I'm not so sure I want to get into that full-fledged. The mentality is completely different....... and I'm not sure that's my mentality. I also realize that in my perfect little daydreams, I'm a public librarian in a small-town library, where there are only a few of us, and I pretty much run the show. Yup. Band mom 2.0 at it's best. =]
Other observations: more public access terminals, and still only about 3 catalog terminals. A print station [I am not opposed. They had one at RFPL, and I actually kind of liked it.... once I figured out how to work it.]. Fewer books in the collection. More open space/toys in the early reader/children's book section. More space for book sale items [which is also pleasant. That old bin was just too small to hold everything.]. New books shelves are now differentiated from the Best Seller shelves. And finally..... the holds shelves are now in the open, where patrons are supposed to pick up their own holds and then take them to the circulation desk to have them checked out. Guess it gives them more room for all the holds. Especially since I anticipate people will request more items in the future given their smaller collection. Good thing it's a system library....
*sigh* Where's my old library with the librarians I knew and the reading/research- oriented mindset?
****** Humorous library moment of the night: I was browsing the knitting books, and a male patron came up to me and started chatting. Just small talk/I attempted to be interested for the most part, but I kept browsing, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't up for much conversation. Then he proceeded to ask me for help in locating a particular author he was interested in reading. I couldn't help but laugh when I informed him I didn't work there, so I couldn't really answer his question, but if he looked in the catalog, he'd probably find what he was looking for. I could tell I had embarrassed him, because he kept apologizing and whatnot, but I told him I was actually in school to be a librarian, so I took it as a compliment. [Then he couldn't believe people actually went to school to be librarians...... and we chatted about that for a bit.]
First, they rearranged everything, so for people like me who locate books based upon location, not call number (well, at least until I am forced to tolerate Dewey as if my grade depended upon it), I had to re-learn where all my favorite sections were. However, this also provided some quality wandering around/browsing the collection time. Unfortunately, that leads me to item number.....
Two. They really weeded out their collection and pared it down. I didn't go through the fiction books (just the "recent best seller/recommendations" shelves), but the non-fiction shelves must have all been about half empty. This was really sad. Books I thought for sure would be there weren't. The selection on any given topic was rather shallow and slim. Of course, some of these books could be checked out to other knitters/history devotees like myself. But....... then I learned their policy is to only retain items in the collection for two years. WHAT?!?! I'm not so sure I like that..... what if I really want to read a book, but it's had a shelf life of two years and now they don't have it any more? How sad..... and that seems to be somewhat counterproductive to so many public libraries' open access/free speech agendas today. Of course, *everything's online* now...... [banishes bad academia memories]
Thirdly, [yes, I realize my sequence isn't grammatically sequential] I think I just have too much academic librarian in me. I've been toying with the idea lately of public librarianship. I've never had any experience in a public library aside from being a patron. But I thought, hey, it could be fun. Yeah, well, maybe not so much. There are too many things I'm not used to at this moment, too many ways they are run differently from my dear old stomping grounds of academia. I'm not saying I couldn't learn..... I'm saying I'm not so sure I want to get into that full-fledged. The mentality is completely different....... and I'm not sure that's my mentality. I also realize that in my perfect little daydreams, I'm a public librarian in a small-town library, where there are only a few of us, and I pretty much run the show. Yup. Band mom 2.0 at it's best. =]
Other observations: more public access terminals, and still only about 3 catalog terminals. A print station [I am not opposed. They had one at RFPL, and I actually kind of liked it.... once I figured out how to work it.]. Fewer books in the collection. More open space/toys in the early reader/children's book section. More space for book sale items [which is also pleasant. That old bin was just too small to hold everything.]. New books shelves are now differentiated from the Best Seller shelves. And finally..... the holds shelves are now in the open, where patrons are supposed to pick up their own holds and then take them to the circulation desk to have them checked out. Guess it gives them more room for all the holds. Especially since I anticipate people will request more items in the future given their smaller collection. Good thing it's a system library....
*sigh* Where's my old library with the librarians I knew and the reading/research- oriented mindset?
****** Humorous library moment of the night: I was browsing the knitting books, and a male patron came up to me and started chatting. Just small talk/I attempted to be interested for the most part, but I kept browsing, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't up for much conversation. Then he proceeded to ask me for help in locating a particular author he was interested in reading. I couldn't help but laugh when I informed him I didn't work there, so I couldn't really answer his question, but if he looked in the catalog, he'd probably find what he was looking for. I could tell I had embarrassed him, because he kept apologizing and whatnot, but I told him I was actually in school to be a librarian, so I took it as a compliment. [Then he couldn't believe people actually went to school to be librarians...... and we chatted about that for a bit.]