Week 15: An AV End

In this last week I finally got to work in the AV Department. I had hoped to put in more hours here but the overall schedule did not accommodate this. At my former library, I was often stationed in the Media Department, so I am familiar with the kinds of questions people ask about finding DVDs and CDs. 

The first day at the AV desk was spent with a quick overview of the layout, as well as instruction on how to organize carts. The AV Department is the only part of Adult Services that organizes its own materials. Pages still do the shelving though. Another small task AV does throughout the day is keep the display shelves stocked with a constant stream of staff picks. These displays seem to be very popular, as they had to be refilled almost every hour. The rest of the day was pretty quiet, with only a few people asking for help finding materials.

The second day was a Sunday, which is generally a busy day as the library is only open for four hours. This shift did no disappoint. I had one patron call back three times to put various different DVDs and CDs on hold. As a homebound/bookmobile only patron, she said she had to plan in advance to make sure she would have something to be delivered to her each week. One patron asked to see the rap music collection, which Mark, the staff librarian in AV, explained was kept in a back room to prevent theft. It is brought out if a patrons requests it, and then is returned to its secure location. This is a practice that walks the fine line of making materials accessible to the public, while also preserving the collection for the future. Perhaps if music ever goes completely digital, this will no longer be a problem.

I've really enjoyed my time in the Adult and Teen Services at the MCPL. The staff were all friendly and very welcoming. When I had questions, I was always given helpful and thoughtful answers. I feel like my experiences at the reference desks and in programming were truly beneficial to my growth as a a future librarian. When I graduate, I would count myself lucky to find a professional position in this or any similar library.

Tip of the Week: Face out displays are an easy way to increase circulation. The display implies the materials are special in some way, having been chosen by the staff. Showing the covers is also more appealing than seeing a long line of uninterrupted spines.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Donohue, Nanette. "Nurturing Your Media." Library Journal 133.19 (2008): 32-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Aug. 2012.

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of managing the audio-visual collection in a library. Donohue emphasizes the rapidly changing formats of the media environment and how this effects collection development. She also touches on the necessity for increased security on these highly circulated materials.

Week 14: Challenging Interviews

I took some time off for a quick trip, so this post includes the day before I left and the day after. Not a true "week" but the amount of hours is about right for a combined entry.

These shifts both involved a couple of reference interviews that were individually challenging.

A young patron asked if I could help her find a movie she had borrowed before but couldn't remember the title of. At first, she couldn't remember anything about it except that it was animated and had people racing in space. I asked about the main character, and she remembered her name was Molly, and then added that the race was an "intergalactic race." Using these keywords, I was able to do a Google search and find a series called "Ōban Star-Racers," which the patron immediately recognized as the movie she wanted.  

The day I returned I had an interesting reference interview that was made more difficult by being over the phone. A patron called in to ask how to use coupons. I was at first astonished that someone had never used coupons before, but quickly asked for clarification. She wanted to know how to get coupons and how to find coupons and stores that would give her money back. She also wanted to get involved in a local group of couponers. I found some of the stores that accept coupons that give money back to the customer, but I was unable to find an exhaustive list. I told the customer how to access various forums online that were coupon centric, and explained that some coupons could be found online and printed off, while others would be found in newspapers and magazines. This was one reference interview where I felt like I ended it before the patron truly wanted to, she would have liked me to find all of her coupons for her, but I felt this was a misuse of my time as I had answered the basic questions and given a lesson in information literacy so that she could find these coupons herself.

Tip of the Week: If you're not sure how to help a patron or don't understand their request, keep asking questions until you do.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Harmeyer, Dave. "Reviving The Reference Interview: From Desk To Chat To Phone." Reference Librarian 51.2 (2010): 163-166. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Aug. 2012.

This article is a narrative account of one librarian's experience with the changing medium of the reference interview. Harmeyer discusses the how reference desks are being staffed by part-time employees instead of "real librarians" with only the most involved queries being referred to librarians. His story revolves around the transfer of a confused reference chat patron to a satisfied phone transaction.

Week 13: Olympic Explanations and Safety Suggestions

With the Olympics in full swing this week, we had a number of patrons calling about problems in accessing the live feeds online, or just frustrated about the coverage in general. Those having problems with the live feed often didn't realize they had to have a cable or satellite subscription to watch the live stream. I helped them find the replays that anyone can watch. If they were still unsatisfied, I referred them to the NBC Olympics Feedback email address. I also referred those with general complaints about the broadcast to that outlet.

I have been taking care to explain how the Dewey Decimal Classification system works whenever I walk a patron over to the shelves, but this week I had a patron who was especially interested in the organization theory behind DDC and the library's website. I explained it to him as best I could and showed him how to search the site for different information. He did a few searches of his own and came back to tell me that he felt better about using the library's website.

We had an incident this week that I think the library could have handled better. A teen came up to the desk and said he couldn't find his mother. He said she didn't have a cell phone but described her for us. I called security over and they looked around for her, taking the teen with them. Twenty minutes later she was found. While the boy was not a small child, he was clearly anxious. The MCPL has a policy against the use of the PA system, except for closing announcements and in the event of an emergency. This is ostensibly to avoid bothering patrons. Searching a large building with a small group of security staff seems to me to be inefficient. I don't see how a short announcement asking "Jane Doe" to meet her party at the reference desk would unduly bother patrons, and it would be more efficient. At both my former library and at Barnes and Noble the PA system is used sparingly for these sorts of announcements with no apparent effect on patron comfort.

Tip of the Week: The safety of one patron is more important than the comfort of all patrons. Following current policy is important but reviewing policy and asking questions about policy are also important. Don't be afraid to speak up if you have an issue with current policy.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Casey, Michael, and Michael Stephens. "Six Signposts on the Way." Library Journal 15 Nov. 2008: 21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Aug. 2012.

 This article explains how libraries can encourage discourse on improving library transparency and policy. The authors emphasize the importance of hearing the opinions of all types of library stakeholders. All ideas should be given consideration, even those submitted anonymously. Acting on constructive criticism from the community and staff creates a sense of unity and trust that will hopefully carry over into support for the library.

Week 12: Cancellations and Incident Reports

This week started off with yet another program cancellation due to low registration. The other programs only had one teen registered, and consequently cancelled. This time there were three teens registered, so we were hopeful that this program would happen. Unfortunately, one hour before the beginning of the program two of the teens called to cancel. Chris, the teen librarian, called the remaining girl (the same girl who had been the only one to sign up for the other cancelled programs), to see if she wanted to still do the program by herself. I thought this was a nice courtesy to extend, because as it turned out, she didn't want to do the program alone.

The rest of my shifts this week were full of the average computer issues and book questions. But on a day when I wasn't at the library an incident occurred involving three different staff members. Each staff member wrote an incident report of the problem. These reports are automatically sent to department heads and all "Persons-in-Charge," who in turn share them with other staff. Since I didn't know about the incident, a Person-in-Charge showed all three incident reports to me. Incident reports are supposed to be as accurate and unbiased as possible, which I felt these were. But it was interesting to note how they differed in style, one report was written very succinctly, while another went into extensive detail. I think it is important to keep staff updated on daily incidents, in order for them to feel in the loop of communication. I was certainly glad to be kept up-to-date, but I do think there could be a better, more centralized way to keep staff appraised of weekly incidents, than pulling aside people one by one.

Tip of the Week: Small courtesies extended to both staff and patrons can go a long way toward creating an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Gordon, Rachel Singer, and Michael Stephens. "How And Why To Try A Blog For Staff Communication." Computers In Libraries 26.2 (2006): 50-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 July 2012.

This article extols the virtues of creating an internal blog, citing increasing staff communication and reducing email clutter as good reasons to begin. Gordon and Stephens go on to explain how to get started with different software options, giving pros and cons for each. They emphasize the importance of delegating responsibility of running the blog to a staff member, while also encouraging other staff to post.

Week 11: All Day Anime ( ^ _ ^ )

The beginning of this week saw me at the All Day Anime program for teens. The first hour I was there, I helped set up the program room into various craft and activity stations. These included painting mugs, creating felt electronic cases, general drawing, and leftover crafts from last year (coloring windsocks and masks). There was also a Wii games area where teens could take turns playing and watching games. Some tables in the back held the "Graphic Novels & Manga" signs for the teens to color in, which when finished would be used as the new signage in the library for this section. Once everything was set up, I was put in charge of explaining the mug painting. Most of the teens just needed basic directions and then were pretty self-sufficient.

Sarah made a point to tell me not to hover too much or try to intrude in their conversations. The whole point of teen only programming was to give them a space to be parent and mostly chaperone free, while still having some sort of loose structure. We had a good turn out of about thirty teens throughout the day. Most stayed for the entirety of the program from 12pm to 8pm. As the day went on, I moved around to the other stations to see how those were going. All the stations were steadily popular except for the leftovers table, but it did get some use. As a reminder that change is a constant in the library, the felt electronic case table transformed into a make-your-own-anime-plushie during the day when a bag of stuffing was discovered.

Sarah and Chris (the teen librarian) had pizza delivered around 5pm for dinner. After dinner there was a bit of a lull, but then a girl asked to set up an "Anime Jeopardy" game she had created, which was a big hit, and carried the program through to the full-length anime movie at the end of the day. This was a great program and I really enjoyed and learned a lot from it.

The rest of the week brought a slew of patrons with computer issues. I helped two older patrons set up email accounts for the first time. One of these patrons needed it to fill out an online job application. He was frustrated with the necessity of creating multiple online accounts for a job that would not require or even involve computer usage. A roof leak took three computers out of commission, so the computer reservation line was busy as well, leading to more impatient patrons than usual.

Tip of the Week: Having a set program is great, but don't be afraid of allowing attendees to add to or change the original plan. Sometimes the best ideas come from the audience.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Paone, Kimberly. "Japan Comes To Elizabeth, New Jersey." Young Adult Library Services 3.4 (2005): 27-29. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 July 2012.

This article is an account of a week of teen programing at the Elizabeth Public Library in New Jersey. Paone gives details on both the planning and presentation of the program. With the increase in popularity in anime and manga, she decided to devote a week to activities based on these and other aspects of Japanese culture. She gives a detailed list of materials needed and their respective costs, as well as a detailed bibliography of the manga included in the festivities.

Week 10: Book Reviews and Blog Posts

This week one of the teen programs I was scheduled to assist with was cancelled due to no one signing up for it. Instead I got acquainted with the library book blog. Sarah, my supervisor, told me they could use a teen book review and set me up with a library blog account. To start, I took a look at what had already been reviewed for teens and read a few to familiarize myself with the style of the reviews. I saw we didn't have many staff picks form general teen fiction, so I chose a book I had recently reread, The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty. Sarah gave me a brief tutorial on how to use the library blog account and reviewed my draft. She asked me to include some additional books that were similar, so I spent some time on NoveList accumulating some similar books that I had also read and could recommend. Then I was able to post my review, which can be seen here.

Otherwise, this was a pretty average week spent helping patrons with computer trouble, printing, finding books, and looking up phone numbers. There was one specific patron, with a more complicated reference question, whom I helped. He needed to find books about crucifixion in the ancient world, but not focusing on Jesus Christ. We didn't have any books on just crucifixion that didn't also focus on Jesus, so I pulled some books that had chapters about crucifixion, and also found some related books in the IU library catalog for him. The reference interview took place over the phone, and he kept losing service and calling back, so I don't know how helpful the books ended up being for him, but I enjoyed the challenge of finding them anyway.

Tip of the Week: You need to be flexible and able to adapt quickly in a library. Things can change without much notice, so you should have other activities planned or duties to fulfill. Creating content for the library's online space, and perusing the content already there are good ways to spend this unexpected free time.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Farkas, Meredith. "The Bloggers Among Us." Library Journal 132.20 (2007): 40-43. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 July 2012.

This article discusses the demographics of the library blogging world. Farkas surveyed more than 800 librarian bloggers over the course of three years and detailed her findings in this article. Among other interesting findings, she found that more librarian bloggers work in public service areas than in any other section of the library. She comments on the increasing popularity of blogging, and its growing acceptance as a scholarly form of communication in library circles.

Week 9: Too Hot to Read

The weather for this entire week was hot and dry, with temperatures consistently in the low hundreds. With the library serving as one of several cooling centers around Bloomington, we were prepared to deal with higher foot traffic this week, serving those who lack any other air-conditioned building. We also seemed to be getting more phone calls, perhaps because people with air-conditioning didn't want to venture out into the heat to visit the library.

A water main break delayed the opening of the library on Saturday and also led to the library drinking water being under a boil alert for the entire day. Many patrons depend on the library as a source of free drinking water, even more so with the hot weather. Consequently we dealt with many unhappy and thirsty patrons. While most patrons were generally understanding of the situation, if disappointed, a few were more outspoken with their displeasure. One patron thought we should have gotten the Red Cross to provide bottled water since the library was a cooling center. I think it would have been a nice gesture for the library to make, but we were really only obligated to provide a cooler environment than outside.

I continue to gain confidence in using library resources in reference interviews and reader's advisory. This week I spoke with a patron who liked the author Sharyn McCrumb and wanted to check out some similar authors. I had never heard of this author, so I found her on NoveList and was able to quickly go to her author read-alikes list. The descriptions of each author helped me find the ones that were both stylistically similar to McCrumb, while also tailored to the particular interests of the patron. Then using the catalog I checked to see if the library owned copies of the other authors works.

Tip of the Week: You can't read every book or be familiar with every subject. So get to know your reader's advisory and research tools. Having first hand knowledge is great, but these tools fill in the gaps in your experience.

Article Annotation and Abstract Area

Kennedy, Tara D. "Steamy Situation: Water Emergency In Sterling Memorial Library." Public Library Quarterly 25.3/4 (2006): 89-97. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 July 2012.

This article gives a detailed account of the response to a water emergency in Sterling Memorial Library. Kennedy explains how already having an emergency plan in place allowed library staff to respond quickly and efficiently to the sprinkler system going off in the basement of the library. Together with the university contracted water damage specialists, staff were able to save nearly 99% of the affected materials from being permanently damaged.