Sunday Librarian 2, Week 1

This is being written two weeks after I worked for the first time, so there will be more general impressions than specific details.

After three months of post-interview waiting, things with the library system moved very quickly once they made the offer – a week later I was in a branch. My training consisted of one hour of informal conversation/time on the desk with the branch manager earlier in the week and then Sunday I was on! Luckily the branch manager had arranged for another adult librarian to work with me my first two Sundays and show me the ropes. Like my colleague, my first day started with a tutorial in opening the building – doors, lights, security alarm… The circulation staff was late (and we weren’t allowed to open without them) and so we opened a few minutes late, much to the consternation of several patrons. There were probably about 15 people waiting when we opened, most of whom headed straight for the computer sign-up station.

For the first half of the shift, the other, experienced librarian worked the desk with me and handled shelf checks and patron interactions. She showed me the basics of SIRSI and how to give someone a guest card to use the internet. Then for the second half of the shift, I was on my own.

Through the haze of two busy weeks, my interactions were such:

• A middle-aged white man came in looking for books on Maryland or Baltimore history. I was able to direct him to the appropriate portion of the non-fiction section and also let him know that we could place a hold for him on any books that he might be interested in from other branches.


• A twenty-something white woman was looking for travel guides to Kyrgyzstan or (if that was too obscure) Central Asia. My branch didn’t have anything, but there were guides available at the central library and I offered to place a hold and have them delivered. Since that library was near her work, she decided she would just go over on her lunch break one day.


• A middle-aged African-American man was looking for books and, later in a separate interaction, videos on Germany. After a reference interview, I determined that he was looking for travel guides or similar general information and not information about World War II or specific historical events. I directed him to the appropriate portion of the non-fiction section. Unfortunately, our video and dvd selection is somewhat limited, but I found some materials in the central library that might be of interest and let him know about those.


• A thirty-something white woman was looking for a specific book in the YA section (title and author now escape me). We were able to find it on the shelf together. Success!


• A twenty-something white man was looking for audio books. I led him to that section and pointed out that we had books on tape, cd, and individual mp3 players (one of which I will have to check out next time, just to see how they work). I also let him know about the downloadable audio books.


• A thirty-something African-American woman was looking for books on science fair projects for 2-5 year olds. I wasn’t able to limit by age (although maybe there is a way to do this in SIRSI), but I took her to the appropriate section of the children’s non-fiction area and she was able to find a few books. She later came up looking for read-aloud books that dealt with play (I got the impression that this was for a class assignment). This was incredibly hard to look for (lots and lots of children’s books have play as a subject, I still couldn’t figure out how to limit by age and so I was getting not just picture books, but board books and easy readers, picture books are vaguely organized by author’s last name, so there wasn’t a section we could just browse in). I’m not sure that I satisfied her information need at all. (The fact that she asked 15 minutes before we closed didn’t give me much time to figure out the best way to look for these sorts of books either). I think this is the kind of question that the children’s librarian in the branch would have been able to answer fairly easily – being much more familiar with the literature in general and also with the branch’s particular collection. Next time, I will be sure to suggest calling or coming back by at a time when she is working.


• A thirty-something white man came in looking for two specific books on mortgages. One was available in the system and I placed a hold for him. The other was not, but I let him know that we could do any interlibrary loan and also that another local library system had the book and that he would be eligible to get a library card in that system too, if he wanted to travel out that branch.

Other interactions:


• Directed 3-5 local college students looking to get library cards to the circulation desk.


• Set a young woman up with a guest card, so that she could use the internet. At that point in the day (an hour until closing), all the computer time for the next hour was booked, but I was able to get her onto the 15-minute machine, so at least she got a little internet access.


• Called an elderly male patron’s wife to come pick him up since the library was closing. I’m still not sure what I think about this interaction, but at least he got home.

Shockingly (to me), no one asked me where the restrooms were! Also, I was surprised that over the 4 hours in the library, there were only ever two children. I'm not sure if that is a reflection on the neighborhood or Sundays or just the fact that it was the last weekend before school started.

There was probably other stuff too that I have since forgotten, but overall it was a good introduction to public librarianship and I think I survived okay. One more day with training wheels this Sunday and then it’s sink or swim for me.

I am going to stay out of the “do librarians need master’s degrees debate” (although in brief, I say yes, just not necessarily for what happens most of the time on the reference desk at a public library), so no tracking of interactions for me!