Thoughts on Reading

I am a veracious reader, but I do not read all books the same way.  My reading patterns generally fall into three categories: books not completed, books read a little at a time, and books devoured.  These are not the only way that I read books, but they represent a great deal of my reading

Books not completed

I am notorious for not completing books.  My shelves are lined with books that I have started and not finished.  I used to feel guilty about this, but I have since learned to be more gracious with myself.  There may be many reasons for not reading a book all the way through.  Some books just don’t keep my attention.  They may start out good, but loose me part of the way through.  There are also books that are good books, but just not the right ones for that time in my life.  These books I will set aside and return to later.  Then there are the books that I never intended to complete.  These books may be gleaned for a few nuggets that I need.  They may have a chapter that I am interested in, but the book as a whole is does not meet my needs.  There are also books which have chapters that I feel will not offer any new information.  I may skip these chapters.

Books read a little at a time. 

This is perhaps the largest category for me.  I read slowly.  Most books I will pick my way through a few pages at a time.  I may fit reading times here or there in my free minutes during the day.  Other books require frequent stopping to ponder what the author is saying.  My strategy for these books is to read little and often.

There are also other books which are not necessarily meant to be read in large chuncks.  These may be poetry, essays or collections of correspondence.  These are little treats that are meant to be snacked on from time to time, but not for binging. 

Books devoured

These are the precious few books that I just cannot put down.  I stay up late reading them and may go days without watching TV or making phone calls so I can spend more time with them.  It has been several years since I have run across one of these books.  I am not sure when I will find another, but I know that the next one is out there waiting to be discovered.

Reading is not a one-size fits all endeavor.  Everyone must find their own reading style.  Every reader has his book and every book has its reader.  The next time you pick up a book, listen to your internal voice and read accordingly.

The Importance of Privacy

The other day, I was asked why privacy of patron records was important.  The person asking the question just did  not understand why I was making such a big deal of it.  This little thing about a patron's privacy was getting between him and his goal.  Couldn't I just forget about this privacy thing just this once?

I have been working in libraries for over sixteen years.  Most of that time was in patron services.  I don't know how many times I have heard, "I think I know who has the book and their desk is right by mine..." I have seen tempers flair and threats issued.  I have seen political weight thrown around.  I have nearly lost my job over this.  I have been referred to as radical.  Still I hold the value of confidentiality sacrosanct.

In my years in library service, I have worked in institutions which range from very liberal and very conservative.  I have seen what pressures can come to bear on someone who holds a dissenting view.  I have seen the looks of disgust when a certain book or writer is named.  That hostility can easily be transferred onto those who read those works.   Furthermore, many books that a patron may check out may be of a sensitive nature.  I myself have checked out books on health and other sensitive topics. 

I am committed to patron privacy.  Most of my patrons may not care that much.  Most may never know that I am guarding their information.  For some, however it may be their salvation. 

mid-life crisis in the library

The other day I was thinking that a library must be a terrible place to have a mid-life crisis.  In a library, one is constantly surrounded by books he will never have time to read and knowledge he will never be able to make his own.  It is almost enough to drive one mad.  If Faust were alive today in one of our moderately sized libraries, he would have gone mad too long before coming to the place of selling his soul.  Slowly, I am coming to terms with this.  I am becoming much choosier in the books that I read.  I do not join book groups.  Still, every day that I walk through the stacks, I am faced with my own finiteness.  

In The Line of Duty

A couple of years ago, I received a work injury.  I did not fall.  I did not pull my back under a heavy load.  I did not attempt some heroic feat.  I irritated a tendon in my knee from getting too many books off of the bottom shelf.  Most of my injuries have not been impressive.  I have had only two sports injuries: I threw my shoulder boxing in a friend’s front yard, and I broke my toe playing Hacky Sack.  I am pretty hardy, and I am not that old.  Still, some days it seems that every item that I need is on the bottom shelf.  I am not complaining; it is part of the job.  The bottom shelf often has some great treasures.  My job may never be as dangerous or as courageous as the police or other emergency responders; but I am proud to brave the dangers of irritated knees, sore wrists and endless paper cuts for my patrons.

High Praise

The other day, I was introduced by a student as, "the best librarian ever."  I write this not to boast, but to speak of the ways that we touch our students.  I am not sure that I could pinpoint one stupendous thing that could have impressed this student in this way.  I do not recall helping find a very obscure reference or saving the day in any big way.  I do try to listen attentively to my students.  I give them time.  I build relationships with them in a small way.  My goal is that every student that comes to me feels validated and valued.  Perhaps this attention to the person is just as important as any question answered.

Warehouse or Water Cooler

There are two ways of looking at the library.  On is to look at it as essentially a collection of resources.  In this schema, emphasis is put on the technical services of acquiring resources, organizing them and putting them within the reach of the patrons.  In this view, the library is essentially a warehouse and librarians are essentially charged with distribution.

The second way is to see the library as essentially a service industry.  In this way of looking at the library, emphasis is placed on the patrons' experiences.  In this model, the librarian is not essentially a clerk but is a mentor, an sage and a teacher.  In this model, the user plays the central role.  If a patron has a good experience, then the librarian was successful, if the experience was not good, then the librarian failed.

The second model is particularly important for small libraries which may not have ready access to a vast number of resources.  In this case, relationships are all important.  The librarian must seem trustworthy.  He or she must be a friend and guide to the patron.  In this case, even if the requested resources may not be immediately placed in the hands of the patron, the patron leaves with a good feeling about the library and is more willing to wait until his resources arrive.

Relationships must be build as well as collections.  The librarian must be as much a "water cooler" librarian as he or she is a task oriented person.  We must be willing to be interrupted by people and be willing to give them the time to form that bond with us.  This may seem like wasting time, but it is invaluable to the overall success of the library.  A librarian who works on his relationships with his patrons may be described as "the best librarian ever" even if he or she is in a relatively resource-poor library.

A Librarian's Morning

Got up this morning.  Ate breakfast. Answered a reference question on Facebook.  Took my dog out.  Read a little. Then proceeded to get ready for "work."

From Patron to Community

There are those days when I feel like I am in a bit of a funk.  Perhaps I have had some bad news, or I just had a bad day-before.  Perhaps I slump into the library and sit down to catalog a few books just hoping to pass the day.  Then I see them, a small group of smiling patrons ready for service.  They are glad to see me too.  I have helped them many times before and we almost feel like we have known each other forever.  We are more than librarian and patrons, we are community. 

Numbers

When one thinks of libraries, one thinks of books. Despite the ebook revolution, this is still mostly true. However, libraries are also about numbers. the Count from Sesame Street would feel right at home in many libraries. On my desk, I have several sheets of paper. One records reference questions. Another records books that are shelved. I have counts for book donations, books checked out, books added to the collection. The list goes on and on. Most people who visit our library do not give a hoot about these numbers, but they are crucial to the operation of the library. It is often by these numbers that we promote ourselves to our library's chief decision makers. It is also by these numbers that we are able to measure our success. We still have books, journals, databases, chairs and tables, but we also have a lot of numbers. Time to shelve books again. "One, ha, ha, ha. Two, ha, ha, ha..."

You want to know what?

As a reference librarian we sometimes get rather odd questions.  I remember one particular case when I was working at a library at an art school.  a student approached the circulation desk and asked me who painted the Mona Lisa.  I was a little surprised that this art student did not know this.  Trying to hide my shock, I answered "Leonardo DaVincci."  The student then asked, "Is he still painting?"

I always try to think the best of all my patrons, so it is important not to let elitist sensibilities intrude on these moments.  In hindsight, it was possible that the patron asking the question mentioned above was a freshman from a background that afforded little access to art.

Working at a reference desk, a person never knows what he or she may be asked.  A librarian must be ready at all times to answer any question with grace, protecting the dignity of the patron.  At times that means that, in a graceful way, we redirect the questions or the patrons themselves.  I remember another time at the same art college when someone wanted me to appraise a print.  Since it was a phone reference encounter, I did not see the print, but I was pretty sure that the artist in question did not produce prints.  Still, I kindly informed her that we do not appraise arts of work and referred her to a gallery.  No matter what the question, the librarian must be he epitome of hospitality and helpfulness.

Calling All Professionals

One of my former library directors once said that librarianship is not a job; it is a profession.  What makes a professional?  What makes something rise above the mere label of "job?"  Perhaps it is the advanced education that we pursue.  Perhaps it is the skills that we have honed through our preparation.  Perhaps it is the body of knowledge that we have mastered.  Perhaps,it is an understanding of practices that we know how to use. Perhaps it is a sense of higher calling.  Perhaps it is our dreams and ambitions.  Perhaps it is our passion.  Once a librarian, always a librarian.  I've had jobs before, but I am a librarian; I am a professional.

My First Library

I still remember something of my first library.  I was only about three or four at the time. It was an older library with an atrium surrounded by stacks raising up on every side for several floors.  It had classic dark wood trim.  The light was a little dim, but not to dim.  I do not remember it having harsh fluorescent lights.  I remember my mother flipping through the old manual card catalog to find a book.  I remember the smell of a book that has not been opened in a while. I remember the old style library cards with the metal plate in the corner with our patron number on it.  I remember when it was sent into a metal machine where with a "thunk" it put our due date on a return slip. It was Wonderland: it was Narnia.   Part of me has always stayed in that place.  And I plan one day to make a pilgrimage back there if it is still standing.

What Do We Do?

My late step-father was in the IT field.  He had one of those jobs that I never seemed to understand.  He described it to me a couple of times, but it went right over my head.

In a little different way, we as librarians have a job that few understand. Part of this is because the work that we often do is behind the scenes.  Instead, what most people see is library clerks working at the front desk, and mistakenly assume that everyone there is a librarian who spends all day checking out books.  If the reference librarian is sitting at an adjoined desk, he or she may blend in seamlessly with clerical workers.  What most people do not understand is that a librarian is part M.B.A., part scientist and part educator.  It is an intellectual job as much as it is a task-oriented job.

Librarians tend to be less assuming people. We are dedicated to our job and others-focused.  Perhaps we need to take a cue from Whitman and sound our "barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" a little more.

Kudos for Solos

Solo librarians have a lot to manage.  Everyday there are books to check out, reference questions to answer, cataloging to do, books to process,  books to shelve, books to repair and a hundred other things.  There are reports to write, statistics to analyze, licenses to negotiate, budgets to manage, development projects to manage, and funding to raise all while assuring that we are exceeding the standards of our industry. Added to all of the tasks that need to be done, librarians need to be educators, citation experts, authorities on copyright and plagiarism, gurus for technology.  Lucky solo librarians may have assistants or student workers, but at a small school one person may have to do more. It is like being a ringleader at a crazy circus.  Libraries are complex environments, and it takes a skilled leader to make them successful. If it sounds impossible, be thankful for the solo librarians who provide all of these services every day.

Numbers

I was reminded today about the importance of people. We often have to justify our libraries in terms of numbers.  It seems like we are always crunching numbers to show how we are doing.  But if those numbers are not tied to people, then they are meaningless.  It is easy for us to get distracted from the qualitative nature of what we do.  The student working on a paper is not that worried about our statistics.  He wants answers and a good encounter.  There is that saying, "Keep the main thing the main thing."  Our main thing is service.  We still need our statistics, but they must come in second to our patrons.

Technology is a part of our lives now.  In libraries we are inundated with news of new resources, devices and formats.  As soon as we invest in one, it seems to change and become obsolete.  How are we to decide which technologies to use?

There are two approaches.  The first looks at all the cool new technology and asks, "How can we use these?"  This approach starts with a technology and then builds policy and services around it.  As a result, if asked why they use a particular technology, they may respond that everyone is using it, or that it is just cool.

The approach that I like best is what we see in Instructional Design.  It asks. "What is our objective," then asks, "what technology best serves this objective."  Those who favor this approach to technology see technology as a means to an end.  In this way, the use of technologies is more strategic.

Technology is a tool to serve us.  We should  not be slaves to technology. In the end, we cannot use every social networking site, every format or every new thing that comes along.  We have to be judicious.

New Year (In June)

In many academic libraries, the new fiscal year starts in June.  I have spent much of this week planning  for the next stage or our new library.  All of a sudden, it struck me how strange it felt to think of a "new year" in June. I felt out of time, like I had just missed Christmas and January 1.  Or perhaps it felt like I had just lost half a year.  I am living in two times, and right now I am feeling a bit of dissonance.  It is almost like waking up from a vivid dream only to find that the week that you dreamed about did not happen.

Still, I am excited about the coming year.  We will have some new firsts: new students; new resources; new challenges and new spaces.  In the (paraphrases) words of the professor from Back to the Future, the future is not written yet, it can be anything that we want it to be.  Happy New ( Fiscal) Year to all of you academics!

Why I keep doing it

I have been doing a log of cataloging lately. I am now a solo librarian at a graduate school.  As a solo librarian, I have to be able to do everything. We have been fortunate to receive hundreds of great books in donations.  I am anxious to get as many of these as possible on the shelves as quickly as possible.  Cataloging is not my favorite part of library work.  I know of many people who love cataloging.  I tend to lean more towards public services. In my last post, I mentioned that I once was given a button that said, "Cataloging is a public service."  I continue to spend time every day cataloging because, as I read through all that code, I have the end users in mind.  I am thinking of the students who will be doing important projects and may need the book that I am cataloging at that time.  This keeps me going.

A Short Praise for Catalogers

When I was in Library School, I was given a lapel pin that said, “Cataloging is a public service.” Having worked for several years in public service, I can attest to the benefit of good cataloging. All of those little details that catalogers love to fuss over do make items more retrievable. I have also experienced the frustration of items that seemed to have disappeared because they were mis-cataloged. In my library, I try to make sure that our catalogers know how important they are. They are not just the bodies hovering over computers in a back room: they are my partners in getting the right information to the right people. I couldn’t do what I do without them.

Are The Contestants Ready?

Have you ever watched a hot dog eating contest? I have seen a couple on TV. Competitors line up with plates piled high with hot dogs and buns. There is no mustard or relish on these dogs. They are not meant for enjoyment. The competitors have just a few minutes, or seconds, to eat as many as they can. Most can barely hold them down, and occasionally, one sees one of the eaters grab a bucket.

For many librarians, it is hard work to gain access to one of our classes. Instructors are busy trying to fit in their required plans. They may not see the need to make room in their syllabus for quality library instruction. It often takes a good deal of time to build the relationships with the instructors which allows us to demonstrate how we can help them. As a result, we often feel that we have to cram everything that we want them to know into thirty or so minutes. The result is an information hot dog-eating contest. We stuff them with fact after fact as fast as we can. In the end, few can swallow or hold down all that we have fed them.

In a couple of days, I will be teaching a 30 minute segment on APA style. I know that I cannot cover everything in that short of a time. There is a reason that the APA style manual is so large. What I can do is teach them how to look at citation references and introduce them to a few. I can show them the basic building blocks of a citation which will better help them understand the style manual.

It is important to be realistic with ourselves, our students and our faculty partners. We need to have a clear vision for what we can do and what is beyond the scope of our allotted time or environment. This means working from clear learning objectives. Sometimes we need not ask “What is everything that they will need to finish the race?” It is often better to ask, “What will they need to get to the next leg of the race.” We can always end our session by introducing them to other things that we can teach them. If we are lucky, instead of leaving them feeling overstuffed, we can wet their appetites for further feasts.