Getting back to a social media routine is a part of my preparation for the start of the school year. Even though this blog any my Twitter account are personal professional tools (as opposed to official library accounts), I feel that staying involved with and contributing to online communities of librarians will help me do my job. In other words, I felt justified taking a little time out of my day to follow the Library Day in the Life conversation happening on Twitter and to sign up as a contributor for this round.

What else did I spend my day doing? I didn’t watch the clock much, so I’m not going to note the time. (Will try to add that in tomorrow.) But here’s my day, more or less:

8:00 – In the door and on to handling ILL requests of various kinds. It’s my first-thing… thing. I’m still getting used to handling ILL (something I didn’t get much experience with at my internships) and sometimes I’m surprised by how much time it can take to dispatch the morning’s requests. For example, one of the copy requests we received seemed simple enough – until I sat down with the journal issue in question and realized that the requested article was nowhere to be found – and that it wasn’t in any of the other issues from that year, either. (I ended up emailing the borrowing institution to ask for clarification.) Right now I have the free time to spend trying to solve mysteries like that and contacting borrowing institutions to verify their requests, but I have a feeling that if this request had been sent during the school year, I wouldn’t have been able to spend nearly as much time with it.

- Met a member of the school’s IT staff who was stopping by to look at a photo in the archives. We spent some time talking about databases and the Millennium interface and what is visible on the library end of things in terms of student information. I know that building a solid relationship with IT will take time, but I really hope to develop a working relationship with that department.

- Social media time! Found out that Library Day in the Life is going on this week. Looked for examples of academic libraries’ blog and Facebook use. It’s a little shocking to me that the conversation even needs to take place, but as it turns out we’re going to have to do some convincing if we want to set up a blog and Facebook presence for the library. As an intern last year I was present during small academic library’s first semesters with Facebook, and I can imagine how easily it would fit into campus life at our school. But there are likely to be legitimate concerns on the part of administration that will need to be addressed before we go forward with any kind of Facebook presence, and I want – no, need – to be prepared to address these without taking a “how can you possibly not understand why we need to be on Facebook?” stance!

- Lunch with my coworker. Today was her first day back from a two-week vacation to Scandinavia and I really enjoyed hearing about her trip. (I seem to do a lot of living vicariously through other people’s travel experiences!)

- Talked with our Director about the librarians’ schedule for the Fall semester. There are three of us on staff, as well as a library assistant, and student workers. Some time ago, it was decided that the librarians’ schedules should be adjusted to allow for more hours during which a professional staff member would be available. With such a small staff, making this schedule happen requires some creativity, and flexibility. I spent a bit of time coming up with a few alternate scenarios, and we’re going to get together at some point soon to discuss our options.

- Did some more work on my information literacy presentation for this fall. I will (I hope!) eventually get over the feeling that I have to cover Everything There Is to Know about Using Our Library. I need to get over it, because I have far more presentation right now than I will ever have time to present.

- Checked in our daily batch of periodicals. Not a part of my regular job description – it’s something that our library assistant will resume handling when she returns after her summer break.

That was more or less it! 4:30 = time to head for home.

(And for the record, I looked like this today.)

The title of this post, of course, refers to the name of Nicole C. Engard’s fantastic blog. Engard is Director of Open Source Education at ByWater Solutions and the editor of Library Mashups, and when I found out that she would be speaking at the KLA/KSMA conference I was thrilled, because as a reader of her blog I have to say I’m in awe of both her knowledge and her attitude toward technology. Her talk, titled “Why Should I Care? New Technologies for Libraries & Librarians,” was a highlight of my day.

Just a few minutes ago, I saw a tweet from another one of today’s presenters, Cindi Trainor, sharing Engard’s statement that “open source means ‘freedom from the culture of learned helplessness.’” This is something that’s in my notes from today’s talk as well. For me, it was impossible not to get caught up in Engard’s enthusiasm for experimentation and the willingness to explore new technologies. She conveyed the sense that librarians really can become empowered if we are willing to remain open to trying new things.

Although Engard shared information on a lot of tools, some of which I already use, and others that I can’t wait to try out, her overall message – “always try as much as you can” – was by far the most valuable resource she shared with us today.

I preach my own gospel of calculated technological risk-taking to anyone who’ll listen, so it was great to hear from someone who has a whole lot of experience in this area and is so very positive and enthusiastic about what technology – particularly open-source technology – has to offer for those who are willing to experiment with it. (Side note: it was also great to hear Engard give a shout out to Ohio University business librarian Chad Boeninger for his work creating videos of answers to reference questions! Since leaving OU, I’ve continued to keep up with Chad’s blog – it seems he’s always bringing some kind of innovation or experimentation to his work in reference.)

“Students Are Students”

Another session I really enjoyed was titled “Students Are Students: Equivalence and Distance Education Services.” Cindi Trainor, Brad Marcum, and Todd King of Eastern Kentucky University discussed their efforts to improve services for distance students, and, as they put it, “to make technology be the equalizer” between library services for on-campus and off-site students.

I can’t remember which presenter made this comment, but at one point someone noted that “it’s just a little extra on our part to make it easier [for students].” Clearly, that “little extra,” whether it’s a matter of outreach, research, training, or experimentation with new technologies – or a combination of all of the above – can make a huge difference for users. And listening to Trainor, Marcum, and King talk about the process through which they’ve been working to make things easier for their users was informative.

The phrase “better leveraging of technology” was used, and later as I thought about the day it occurred to me that this session fit wonderfully with Engard’s talk. At the heart of each session was the idea that, if we continue to search for new and better ways to use it, technology really can allow us to become much better at what we do. And as with Engard’s talk, I think that it’s the underlying willingness to experiment that made the “Students Are Students” session an inspiring look at a very challenging issue.

I was so glad that I found out about this conference in time to attend, because as a new MLIS grad who hasn’t yet found a library “home,” I’m interested in anything that allows me to keep up on current issues in librarianship, learn more about topics that were touched on in my coursework, and meet some of the interesting and inspiring professionals in my field.

This morning I had the chance to attend the General Session and hear Barbara Jones give a talk titled “Intellectual Freedom: It’s Global, It’s Local.” As the Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, Jones has traveled the world and met with library administrators and staff everywhere from Belgium to the Philippines to Kenya.

Jones’ reflections on intellectual freedom based on the observations she has made in libraries and communities around the world served as a powerful reminder not to take intellectual freedom in this country for granted. Jones did acknowledge the problems that librarians face in the United States, such as challenged material and difficulties with both individuals and community groups. Still, she conveyed what I feel was an inspiring message about the potential for finding common ground, and for promoting intellectual freedom by grounding what we do in the established laws and policies that exist to protect IF.

The talk touched on the tendency for librarians in regions that lack basic library resources such as electricity and internet connections to put aside discussions of IF until those needs are met, and the problems with maintaining IF in areas where corruption and bribery are a way of life. Despite these types of challenges, Jones noted, librarians in many areas of the world are working hard to promote intellectual freedom. But they often lack cultural or legislative support and the kind of library infrastructure necessary to ensure intellectual freedom.

Being reminded of these challenges makes me want to work more consciously to support intellectual freedom, and to look for opportunities to promote and protect IF. “In bad times,” Jones noted toward the end of her talk, “everybody’s risk-averse.” An audience member mentioned that at her library, challenged materials have been taken off the shelves to await a decision and have remained out of circulation for months because of the board’s reluctance to pronounce a decision.

While we have the First Amendment and other legislation on our side, librarians are also up against a great deal. Jones left me thinking that proactive, constant attention to IF is absolutely necessary in order to preserve and promote access to information and freedom of expression. A strong policy is a start, but IF is one of those issues that merits revisiting on a constant basis. I think it’s something that we should train ourselves to be aware of, and to consider as we make decisions in all areas of library services.

While I know that this is already the case for many librarians, it’s something that I have to admit I am used to thinking about somewhat abstractly. So I’ll close with one thing Jones mentioned that helped to make the issues around IF more concrete: the Merritt Fund. While the Merritt fund is designed to help those who have been denied employment or discriminated against based on “gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, age, disability, or place of national origin,” it also addresses another issue: those who have been denied employment “because of defense of intellectual freedom.”

I am both glad and dismayed that this fund exists. Glad, of course, because I absolutely believe that as a community of professionals we have a responsibility to support and protect those who have suffered as the result of discrimination. And dismayed, because I wish that there were no need for such a fund. I want to believe that since its establishment in 1970, the need for the Merritt Fund has declined drastically. But I know that there are all too many librarians in this country alone who are forced to make difficult decisions every day about whether to stand up for intellectual freedom or acquiesce to pressure from individuals, groups, or boards opposed to certain materials, programming, services out of the fear of losing their livelihoods, funding, or support.

But Jones stressed that even in the most difficult IF-related circumstances, there are resources, and there are abundant opportunities to find allies in the community and educate others about intellectual freedom, and opportunities to confront fear with facts. This talk was a great start to the conference, and I’m looking forward to attending more sessions today, tomorrow and Saturday and to reflecting on the experience here!

A few weeks ago I completed my MLIS coursework. The summer semester was easily one of the busiest times of my life to date. Completing my two internships and my final projects for the degree involved almost non-stop work and homework, and left me with very little time for anything else. (Though to be honest, I didn’t even mind all that much, because I kept thinking that it was almost certainly the last time I’ll ever be a full-time student… nerd that I am, that was something to savor.)

After turning in the last of my final projects, I squeezed in a week-long trip to NJ to visit my family and my old college haunts (for which I am ridiculously nostalgic). And then it was time to come home and pack. And move.

Oh, moving. I had tried to prepare in advance by boxing up non-necessities, but I could only get so much of that done while handling the aforementioned school/work load. So my last few days in Pittsburgh were a crazy blur (punctuated by restaurant trips to the places I know I’ll miss if I end up living in a small town somewhere!).

I’m pretty proud of the fact that I drove our moving truck, which was also towing my car. It was one of those things I just had to try, and I’m so glad I did. I haven’t been able to help feeling that finishing this degree marks the start of a new stage of my life, and I wanted to start that stage by doing something adventurous – even if it was only the pretty tame, short-lived adventure of driving a giant truck for a day.

And I want to follow that up with more adventures – exploring Louisville, for one, because I don’t know how long I’ll end up living here and I’d like to see as much of it as I can while I’m here. But, more importantly, I want to take time to explore my field in a way that I couldn’t during school. The MLIS coursework provided a foundation for learning about librarianship, but it didn’t always give us the time to follow up on some of the really interesting topics we uncovered during our coursework. Now, finally, I have that time.

So while it would be easy to start believing that there’s very little I can do without a job, I don’t want to think that way. I’m fortunate to have a great support system, a fantastic new place to live, and lots of time to study trends, pursue interesting topics, read, and reflect on what’s out there and how to find a place in it. While I very much want to find a place to work and project(s), I know that I can do something valuable until that comes along.

Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh

We also made it downtown to the Three Rivers Arts Festival, which concluded on Sunday. Despite predictions of thunderstorms, it ended up being a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, and the view from the Fort Duquesne Bridge was pretty amazing. We even met up with Andrew Carnegie! (He was spending the day anchored near the statue of my childhood friend, Fred Rogers.)

I really appreciated the chance to show my parents around the city, in part because it allowed me to see Pittsburgh with new eyes. Many cities have “be a tourist in your own town” events, and I love the idea. For me, taking the time to re-visit some of the local attractions and to discover new things about the place that I call home was a great experience.

All of this weekend’s seeing and re-seeing has made me think about how useful it could be to pretend to be a visitor at the libraries where I work. This week, I’m going to be making an effort to walk through “my” libraries and imagine that I’m seeing them for the first time. What’s confusing? What’s enticing? What’s helpful? What doesn’t make sense?

Showing my parents around Pittsburgh and answering their questions taught me some things I hadn’t known about my city. I’m guessing that the same might be true of considering a library from a newcomer’s point of view. Hopefully, I’ll find that I’m better able to answer patrons’ questions, and perhaps I’ll find some new ways to present the information that visitors need to make their trips to the library successful – and more enjoyable.

Perhaps later this week I’ll have some insights to share about the value of slowing down and stepping back to consider the what new patrons’ first impressions might be like. While the academic library is fairly quiet during the summer, things at the public library are really heating up. Summer reading is now in its second week, and along with the regulars, many new patrons and those who haven’t visited in years are coming in to find out about our programs. Attempting to see the library as they might see it is one way that I can try to find ways to improve the services and resources there. While I know this is probably a fairly common strategy, it’s also one that I haven’t made the time for recently, and it took this weekend to make me realize how important it could be.

Andrew afloat

I just re-read my last post about my initial observations of public library work. Two weeks later, I’ve found that even making the smallest changes can be satisfying. I’ve been able to indulge my love for flyer-and-handout design by making some materials to advertise the summer reading programs. I created and put up new signage for the nonfiction, paperback, and audio collections. And at the request of one of my coworkers, I made spreadsheets to log participation in various library events, which has until now been done by hand on loose-leaf paper.

As a class assignment I recently wrote a review of Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Over-Worked Librarian. I noted that the authors argue that librarians are too often held back by the idea that “whenever you attempt marketing, it has to be grand.” I think the same is true of efforts in many other areas of librarianship. And to some extent, that mindset has prevented me from seeing the value of the most simple, day-to-day work.

The pressure to have big ideas and to be a force for change is understandably strong in librarianship, not least of all because this is a field where  competition for jobs is fierce and is likely to stay that way for quite some time. That pressure can seem overwhelming to a relative newcomer who is still struggling to find a place (both in terms of a literal place of employment and of a specialization of some kind). In my desire to be a part of the major trends and the cutting-edge library work, I realize that I was starting to lose sight of the importance of the many little things that can shape the atmosphere and services in a library.

I feel that my public library work so far is serving to keep me grounded, and to open my eyes to the value of slow change, which, in some situations, is the only possible kind. I still think there is room for major overhauls at the library where I work. Realistically, though, I think that neither the budget nor the climate there can accommodate that kind of progress. What is left, then – for me, at least - is the satisfaction of being able to listen to patrons and respond with small improvements.

If fifteen minutes of playing around in Microsoft Publisher can allow me to create something that will help patrons more quickly locate the materials they want, or make it easier for the library staff to create materials they need on a daily basis, then so what if I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything hugely “significant”? In reality, the significance of what I do is determined in large part by how my work affects the library’s users or my coworkers, and much less so by how challenging or groundbreaking I perceive the work to be.

So. Label templates. Shelf signs. Spreadsheets. It’s still more than a little hard to believe that these seemingly basic things haven’t been taken care of before. But I don’t ever want to come across as insulting the way things have been done there, or in any other comparably low-tech library. What seems very basic to me as someone who’s been using this kind of software for over fifteen years is obviously not going to be basic to someone who has a very low level of familiarity with the computer.

So I’ve been adjusting my perspective on what qualifies as “important” work, and, surprisingly, doing so is helping me feel more connected to this particular moment in my life and my career. By shifting my focus away from the need to do Something Big and Impressive, I’m getting more done, and I’m learning more. But that doesn’t mean I’m taking my eyes off the big picture. Rather, I see my current work as as opportunity to become better informed in terms of what large-scale trends actually mean to those on the ground, and how and why certain day-to-day priorities can take precedence over these issues.

My time there so far has already confirmed some of my expectations about the differences between the public and academic settings. But there have also been some surprises. I’m going to focus on those here because, frankly, I find them more interesting.

The first shock came when I learned that before the current director came to the library, the staff wasn’t using email. A year or so later, several of the employees are still just barely computer literate. While everyone seems adept at handling the basics, some processes are still stuck in the last century. Spine labels and bookplates are still being created on a typewriter — though though the other day I stepped in, found a label template online, and created a set of instructions for creating spine labels on the computer. (This wasn’t pure altruism – rather, I had decided that if I had to spend hours of my summer coaxing spine labels out of a finicky old typewriter, I would never make it through this fieldwork.) After a few weeks when I’m more settled there, I may volunteer to work with some of the staff on computer skills, since I’ve heard them express interest in further training. I genuinely love helping people learn to use technology, so I’d be happy to do so there, but it’s just one more case of not wanting to overstep my boundaries as the new kid on the block.

I’m also surprised by the way cataloging is handled there. I spent part of the last few months hip-deep in cataloging theory, completing exercises in perfectionism for my “Introduction to Cataloging” course. Although I have a tremendous amount respect for the professor, I feel that in some ways that class was doomed to fail from the start. Cataloging is one of those things that you truly learn only by doing — a view supported by another faculty member in my program, who said recently in class “I’m sorry, but theory of cataloging does not get you a job.”

Still, at the library where I’m working the employee who handles the bulk of the cataloging seems frustrated by her lack of background knowledge about the work and the “whys” behind what she does. She is great at following the procedures as she’s learned them – and, thankfully, she’s great at explaining what she does, which has made learning to catalog there a pleasure. But as she was showing me how to process new books she remarked more than once that she didn’t understand why certain things were done the way they are, and that she wished she knew where to go to find out. I promised to bring in my copy of the AACR2 and my other cataloging texts, so hopefully that will give her some place to start.

At any rate, the gap between theory and practice is even more enormous than I suspected last semester. One one hand, you have MLIS students who are learning all about the history and rules of cataloging without getting any meaningful hands-on experience. And on the other hand, there are people like my co-worker, who never attended college, let alone library school, but nonetheless knows a great deal about the practical end of cataloging – yet feels hampered by a lack of the “big-picture” knowledge that would help her to make more sense of the rules she’s been told to follow. I can’t help hoping that, somewhere, there is a middle ground!

Another surprise, and the one I’m most bothered by, is the apparent lack of a clear policy regarding customer service. It isn’t typically a problem there, thankfully. The staff are generally very pleasant and helpful. But the library relies heavily on volunteers, and I’ve noticed that on more than one occasion, one volunteer in particular has responded to patrons with what I would say borders on disrespect. The first time, she insisted on checking in books on the only computer that was available while a patron who was fairly obviously in a hurry to check out and leave was waiting. I tried to gently point this out and got nowhere. The second time, a patron asked a question; the way in which the volunteer told her that she didn’t know and would have to ask someone else was beyond brusque. I realize that I probably sound horribly uptight. But I saw the patron’s face, and she was clearly put off.

If nothing else, my years and years of customer service work  - in grocery and department stores, restaurants, and offices alike – have taught me the importance of maintaining a polite and positive attitude with patrons. The same answer, delivered in two different ways, can elicit wildly different reactions, and can leave customers with entirely different impressions of your institution. For me, a positive attitude with the public has become as basic as breathing. Like anyone, I have my moments of frustration and head-achiness. I have my share of I-wish-I-was-home-curled-up-with-a-book-and-not-dealing-with-this-right-now moments.  But I have years of practice in doing my absolute best never to let this impact the way I treat patrons. So when I encounter someone who seems to have a less-than-great grasp on customer service, it’s a little jarring, whether it’s a coworker or the person ringing me up at a register.

The difference is that when it’s the person ringing me up at a register, I don’t let it get to me. I try to give that person the benefit of the doubt, and I go on my way. But when it’s a coworker, I can’t help feeling that in some way, his or her approach is going to reflect on me. That when that patron comes back, or when they ask me the question the other person couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, she will be guarded with me – perhaps even frustrated or angry – because she will have no way of knowing that I won’t be just as rude.

I know that this library can’t afford the staff it needs and is dependent on its volunteers. But I don’t think this is any reason to tolerate volunteers being rude to patrons. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea how to address this appropriately. Or, rather, I have ideas, but I’m not comfortable with any of them. Speaking to the director is one option. Speaking directly to the volunteer – gently and subtly, of course – is another. I don’t really like either option. And then there’s the voice in my head saying “you’re an intern, you’ll be gone in ten weeks, and it’s not your place to say anything to anyone about this!”

I realize that I’m primarily at this library to watch and learn, and not to try to propose  solutions to “problems” that the staff members don’t consider to be problems at all or to badger the volunteers about their customer service skills. But already, I find myself repeatedly struck by the impulse to try to make things run more smoothly and work more logically.

This much is obvious: walking the line between observing and wanting to improve things there is going to make for an interesting summer!

It would be one thing to say “I want to land an awesome job.” Would I say no if I was offered one? Of course not! But approaching ALA with that goal in mind would put an enormous amount of pressure on what I want to be a positive professional and learning experience. The job-hunt mindset (which I’ve lived with just about every day for the last few months) comes with a fairly enormous pair of blinders. And I’d like to attend ALA with those blinders off. So I’ve come up with three things I’d like to focus on while I’m in D.C.

First, I’d like to spend time spying on tech use. I’m very much interested in the practical applications of technology for librarians and library users alike, and ALA seems like the perfect place to see what professionals in the field carry with them and what they talk about in terms of tech. I currently work in two relatively low-tech libraries with managers who are themselves operating at a much higher level technologically. One of the directors I work under uses an iPad in a library where much of the staff is only comfortable with the most basic computer use. It’s a combination that makes for some interesting opportunities to reflect on IT in the field: where we are (whoever “we” is!), where we’re going, and where we feel that we could be if only we had the funding/support/cooperation we want. So I am definitely looking forward to watching and listening to learn more about various perspectives on technology.

I’d also like to work on becoming more comfortable with networking. I need to view it as a positive thing, and to recognize that it’s not reserved for people who are more aggressive, more knowledgeable, or what-have-you. Someone who I respect very much and who has years of professional experience gave me some encouraging advice on networking. She acknowledged that it can seem shallow, but told me not to waste time talking to the people who are supposed to be important — that instead I should just work on gravitating toward the people who I find genuinely impressive or interesting. “The organizations that share your values, attitude, and interests,” she noted, “will appreciate yours, too.” I like to think that she knows what she’s talking about, and I’m going to keep her advice in mind and work on talking with the people who I can see myself having a meaningful basis for connecting with.

Finally, I want to think of ALA as a great opportunity to start making plans for my future in librarianship. The conference comes at a pivotal time for me. And to be perfectly honest, I need help working past the feeling that when I leave my grad program in July, I’ll be drifting away from the bulk of my professional networking resources and my strongest links to the field. ALA is an opportunity to focus on the positives in all of this, and to begin thinking of myself as a professional as opposed to a student –as someone with the ability to forge connections and pursue interests and goals even without the massive safety net that my program currently provides.

As a student, I’ve had a lot of my work and time over the last year or so planned out for me. I’ve tried to make my coursework reflect my professional goals, but I  haven’t always had the ability to devote my time to my own interests in the field. Graduating will give me that freedom, and I need to start viewing this as the asset that it is, as opposed to something scary. Attending ALA and having a plan for my time there makes me feel much better about doing that.