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What is a librarian’s day really like?
If you have ever wondered what a typical day is like for a librarian, then I will try to paint that awesome picture. I will start from my first day’s experience as an extra help librarian. I think by starting from the beginning of my librarian career will help show new librarians how I adapted to using my practical experience from the theories you learn in library school. “Library school” is a term I use whenever I’m trying to explain to someone else not in a School of Library and Information Science program. I think it is easier to roll off the tongue, and it is straight to the point, even though the number one question I get from my family and friends immediately follows with a “You have to go to school to become a librarian?” If you want to become prepared in this profession, I would strongly advise those prospective students to not only enroll in the program, but also start working in a library or volunteer at anything library related! The transition was easier for me this way also. I started out as a volunteer then worked my way up!
So, once I graduated from the library school program, I became an extra help librarian fairly quickly. This was an exciting time for me (: I was being trained at a very busy library, much bigger than my home library, and I was extremely nervous and anxious because I wanted to do well. I remember I was working an afternoon shift right when all the kids were just getting out of school.
Here’s a sampling of all the different types of questions I received on that glorious first day:
-Do you have any books on Pearl Harbor?
-Why isn’t my library card working on the computer?
-I’m doing a book report on owls.
-Do you have any Harry Potter books?
-Do you have How to Speak Dragonese?
During my short shift that day, I learned how to keep asking the right type of questions in order to find out what they really needed. In school, the reference interview is probably the most important thing in getting the patron what they really want. So, this is a skill that you have to practice. Not only did I have to locate the items on the catalog system, I had to learn sometimes along with them because that was my first time at that particular library. The only way I could do this quickly was to go into the stacks, once I knew the call number, and write down all these notes for myself like: J paperbacks are near the computer station, autobiographies are interfiled with non-fiction, romance novels are interfiled with fiction, etc. I already knew how to do some things, like how to transfer a call, or what the library’s policy was from my clerking experience. Even though at times the amount of people asking questions seemed to come in waves, I still was satisfied knowing that I helped out so many different types of people, and I couldn’t wait to do it again.
