Silent screaming

The rest of this post will be in all CAPS. You have been warned.

I DON'T CARE IF YOU TALK ON YOUR CELL PHONE, BUT IT'S POLICY AND I HAVE TO ENFORCE IT, SO PLEASE JUST DO US ALL A FAVOR AND TOE THE LINE.

WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, DON'T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE BY HIDING YOUR PHONE BEHIND YOUR HAND OR A BOOKSHELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU TALK AT NORMAL VOLUME.

AND PUSH YOUR CHAIRS IN!!

Ah, I feel better now.

First chat reference session!

This past Tuesday, I had the chance to sub for a shift on our statewide chat reference service. This was my first "live" experience of providing virtual reference. It went quite well.

I manned the computer from 6-8, sitting in my office (a mostly-transparent cubicle adjacent to the reference desk) while our student worker manned the reference desk. She sent reference questions on to me, but this allowed me to pay the most attention to any incoming chats, and to explain to students who came in that I might have to shift gears at a moment's notice.

I had 3 chat questions over the two hour period, which was good for a first shift (not trying to balance several questions at once, for example). They were all fairly simple to answer; the most nerve-wracking part was accessing the patron's home library information (each patron that signs in comes from a particular library's portal--the librarian staffing the service can get information about that library, including how to access the catalog, how to get the patron access to databases, etc.). It went very smoothly, but I was nervous about messing that part up. All 3 patrons were community college students, so their questions were similar to the questions my regular students have (I need articles/books to do a paper on x, I need to cite x source in MLA/APA style).

I was also happy not to have any "emergency" questions. On a fairly regular basis, (public) librarians will get medical or legal questions, to which we can offer sources or referrals, but not advice. Every now and then, one of these questions will be more urgent--I brushed up on some state emergency referral services/hotlines just in case, and was happy not to have to use them!

Overall, it was a good experience, that I hope will help pave the way for offering our own virtual reference. One challenge will really be staffing levels--when there aren't any incoming chat questions, I can help in-person patrons just fine, but once the computer dings, I have to give it all my attention. This means we may often need "double coverage" for the chat reference and the reference desk--maybe a good chance to pull in library students?

Nights that make me love my job

Last Thursday was one of them.

I had about 10 public administration grad students, who all had papers due Friday, in the reference area. Now, it would have been BETTER if they had not waited until Thursday to do their research. But that did not stop me from reveling in finding articles and books for them, helping them use their sources as support for their arguments, and teaching them APA style. And giving them peppermints and encouragement. I was definitely on a high at the end of Thursday evening (but was out of time to blog, and didn't get around to it until now).

Part of what made this experience so satisfying for me was that the students didn't have unrealistic expectations. They KNEW they were late, and they were ready to make due with whatever information we could find in a limited time. They also understood that they were all in the same boat, and were very patient as I went back and forth between them to help.

Hooray for 11th hour reference triumphs! :-)

Library H3lp is back! (maybe)

I scheduled a LibraryH3lp practice Monday, and actually had 3 participants who had not used it before (yea!). It went fairly well--we actually spent most of the time practicing adding buddies and chatting across the librarian interfaces rather than fielding practice questions. However, it was very useful for giving the staff practice to how chatting works.

Unfortunately, we've just had a few major projects come up, and I think virtual reference is going to be placed on a burner that's even further back than the one it was already on. Part of the problem is that it's just hard to coordinate schedules enough (especially among public service people, who are the ones who will be on the front lines chatting!) to get in practice. And it's pretty clear that we all need more chatting practice. The other part is that I'm just not sure how many people are really interested in offering the service, at least to the point of helping to make it happen. Our best bet may be taking a staged approach--offering a couple hours a week of the service until it catches on.

An additional update is that the coordinator of the state virtual reference program has created LibraryH3lp accounts for us so that it will be easier for us to integrate with the program when and if we are ready. This is great both for that reason and because it gives me an automatic back-up person who I can call for help.

I'm trying to keep this more on my personal front burner than I have before (another reason why it's so far back!), and I will try to continue to update!

Student workers

I've personally experienced 4 student workers at this point in my academic library career. There are several more who have worked when I work, but if they are stationed downstairs, I don't get to know them as well.

It's kind of rough for the students, because they are stuck in a fairly quiet--as in less frequented--part of the library (serials), often without any particular assignment except to be present at the desk. I think this led to some students being unreliable in showing up to work on a regular basis, which created trouble for them both in terms of how much they were paid and in being re-hired.

We have more work assignments for our evening students this semester, but not enough to fill a four hour shift. Over the past week, I had a student filling out book order cards, which is tedious, but still doesn't last very long (I think she spent 3-4 hours total to go through a whole review journals worth of orders). I think if we had a more standardized, comprehensive training program for students, we could assign more work to them (which would be great considering how short staffed we are!). As it is, we train them as we have assignments for them, but it seems that finding work for the students almost creates more work.

Ideas for student worker projects? Did any of you spend work-study or just plain student employment time at a library desk?

"Leaving the Ego" vs. "Pride in Your Work"

Egos definitely play a bigger role in the world of work than I would have guessed in my innocent (that's actually pretty much true) high school days. Even in college, the few one crazy job experiences I had, I chalked up to the fact that summer jobs are supposed to be crazy.

Really, though, I think the American workplace has set itself up for failure in this regard. You're supposed to "check your ego at the door," and be a team player, but there's also an ideal of self-made business-men and -women clawing their ways to the top. On a less dramatic note, part of the quality of our work is supposed to come from taking pride in our work--it's not very far from pride to ego.

Generally, I feel like I am pretty good at working in groups and putting the good of the library above my own ego. Still, there are times when I catch myself on an ego trip--such as when a project I've been working on suddenly has a portion replaced with work from someone else.

I have experience jobs where egos seem to be a non-issue, and jobs where they are the elephant in the closet, and I'm trying to figure out how this happens. I'm sure that ego-less workplaces partially arise due to how an organization is managed, but I think there's also a concerted effort from the hoi polloi to be nice and make sure everyone else is nice, too!

Do any of you have insight into how this works?

Two amazing recent reads

Two YA books that I got to read this week. The first is the last (really the last one!) in John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began/Ellie Chronicles series, the second is the sequel (with I believe just one more to come) to Suzanne Collins' fabulous The Hunger Games. Both of these titles were high on action and emotional investment!

Circle of Flight by John Marsden


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazing end to the series--ends on a much more hopeful note than "The Other Side of Dawn," so while I would love to continue to read about Ellie and company, I can accept this as the last book in the series.

Ellie almost loses foster-brother Gavin, first to terrorist kidnappers, then to social services. As always, she relies on her friends as she makes her way through impossibly tough situations and struggles with figuring out the right thing to do.


Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thought this second installment in the Hunger Games series was amazing--Katniss moves from having battled other tributes, technologically created hazards, and her feelings for her co-tribute, Peeta, to battling the Capital's machinations and use of her and her loved ones as a pawn.

She tries to sort out the relationships that have grown with Peeta and their mentor, Haymitch, as a result of the Hunger Games with those from her childhood--with her mother, her sister, and her best friend, Gale. At the same time, she has to try to convince the Capital that she's not organizing a rebellion while she wonders if she should be trying to rebel.

Then, she finds out that she's not even safe from the Games...

View all my reviews >>

I realize that I use the word "amazing" in each review, as well as in the title. Obviously, I liked the books, but I'll try to vary my vocabulary a bit the next time I post book reviews!