Books, Bedlam, and A Lively Hope

 “That’s wonderful! You must get to read all the time!”

 (Well, no, I have less time for reading than you think. And if I was found reading at work I’d be in trouble because there is so much actual work to be done.)

 “Oh, who is your favorite author?”

 (Huh? Apparently most people pick a favorite author and read everything that author writes, and that is all. I’ve been working in reverse all this time- I pick stories or subjects that I might find interesting and then I read those. Regardless of who wrote them.)

 “Do people still check out books?”

 (In droves. Our book circulation increases every year.)

 Believe me, you don’t spend two years working on an advanced degree so that someone will hire you to read books all day. Truthfully, all modern librarians work more with computers than they do with books. We understand algorithms, database design, and how to find places on the “deep” web that search engines can’t pick up. In short, we know how to find information. That’s not to say books aren’t important, they are. People come to our library for leisure reading, to become better informed, and to find information that is only available in printed form that you can’t find anywhere else. And then there’s the aspect of dealing with the public. Everyone from people with visible mental shortcomings to parents who openly admit that they “…haven’t been in a library in twenty years” who make requests for the obvious, the colossal, or the plain impossible.

 Now that you know what a librarian in a public library might do, let me show you what one actually does! Follow me through a typical day at work, which might begin at 9:30 in the morning, if I am working the day shift…

9:30  Arrive before library opens, drink coffee at desk, check work e-mail. Send book recommendations that I have written to two local newspapers, to be published in their weekly sections. I actually do work with books more than an average librarian because I am a Readers' Advisory Librarian. But I also check web page content on my library's website, and edit it to keep it current.

10:00 Quickly fill up large, lighted book display as the doors open and crowds swarm in. Believe it or not, some people have been waiting outside in the rain for us to open!

10:15 Spy outdated and worn book on “New Books” shelf. Remove and check for others.

10:30 A friend in working in another department needs help- can I lend a hand sorting through blankets that were donated for the homeless shelter blanket drive?

11:00 Read professional articles which are e-mailed to me daily to keep current on what is happening in the library world, try new online research tools and databases so I am aware of them and can use them when conducting research.

11:15 A volunteer has arrived, do I have anything she could work on? I give her some printed bibliographies to fold.

12:00 Return patron phone call. Patron is looking for a book discussion group and wants one “…within four miles of my home, but it can only be on Tuesdays or every other Friday.  No, not that one. Okay, maybe that one but could you give me directions? I don’t know that road. How about the next town over, is there one there? Oh no, I can’t do Mondays.”

12:15 Management sends out an e-mail wanting to change either an employee policy or a patron policy. Either way, the policy change will affect us in uncomfortable ways. Debate change with co-workers. Analyze lack of management sanity.

12:30 A college student for whom I am a test proctor arrives unannounced. Would I be able to let him take his test which needs to be taken by…today? Sign off on test and put student in quiet study room.

12:35 Am accosted by man asking if I work here. I do, but am hesitant to admit it as he is wearing mismatched shoes and has hair sticking up in different directions. He also appears frantic and has a request for something that is both so specific and convoluted; one might be able to easily turn his request into a full scale doctoral project. I direct him to a help desk.

12:45 Check e-mail again.

1:00 Lunch!

1:25 Running into the building so as not to be late for my shift. Another woman who works in our building and has seen me every day for the past four years chooses this very moment to stop me and ask if I am “Amish.” I correct her, express my faith in a nutshell, and hurry inside. I’m late!

1:30-5 My shift on the reference desk. The desk is manned by two librarians, and a third in reserve for back up. The reserve librarian quickly disappears, and you wouldn’t blame her. Three phone lines constantly ring while we handle complaints about computer print jobs not printing out, the change machine stealing money, and various situations where the patron insists that a book listed in our catalog is not on the shelf. There is also one comical request from a college student for the book “How to Kill a Mockingbird.” There are various homeschoolers in the library this afternoon, which I love to see. Homeschool kids are often the best behaved, and more impressively, they know how to use the library. There is an old man asleep in a chair, and several of our unemployed regulars who are diligently using the computers for job searches. There is one man using a legal database, and another woman tracing her family history. There is a woman insisting that she needs assistance with the copy machine because she is pushing the “copy” button and nothing is coming out. While trying to help the lady with the copier, a man points at some stairs that visibly lead upstairs and asks, “Do these go up?” At the same time, both phone lines ring and a line starts to form at the desk. Several people need to use computers, and one man sitting at a computer even has his hand raised as if I am a teacher and should come right over to help him. A man who smells like cigarette smoke needs a car repair manual. The smell of him gives me an allergy attack and I try to show him how to use a database between sneezing fits. I receive one ten minute break, which is accepted with the gratefulness one might express if they were to win a free vacation in Hawaii.

By the time five o’clock arrives, I am so exhausted I can hardly put on my coat- but more than ready for the solace of being in my quiet car for the ride home.