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..."