So many teens today come and spend their time in the library to enjoy the services that Facebook.com has to offer. It is perfectly understandable, really. Facebook offers teens a chance to interact with their peers in a semi-structured environment. They create their identity based on their interests and public social interactions. They are free from adult monitoring over behavior and interests. They can publicly display their intelligence by posting articles or commenting on the behaviors of others.
I am outraged to report that teens intellectual freedom is in danger of compromise by a recent challenge to the beloved communication channel commonly known as Facebook. The grape vine has informed me that the challenge is based on subject matters a few individuals have chosen to discuss using this Internet resource. I have heard that bullying is a problem, and that teens are using it to organize gang communication. I am strongly of the opinion that our library system must manage this challenge in the same way that we would respond to a book challenge. We have no control over how individuals choose to respond to a resource. It is our social responsibility to offer alternatives to unsafe behavior and well rounded information regarding controversial topics such as social networking. I firmly believe that preventing teens who are legally of age to be members of Facebook from accessing the site is a disservice to their intellectual development.
Our appropriate response would be to invite those challenging the resource to utilize the proper procedure for electing to remove an item from the collection. Typically there is a form to fill out and a series of meetings in which the merits and shortcomings of the resource will be formally discussed. I would predict that we will discover the issue at hand is not precisely Facebook as a resource. It seems that the real issue is rather teen behavior, specifically and the manner in which they behave toward each other. Welcome to Rochester, where one of the many symptoms of our poverty problem is black on black crime. What do we need to do? Teach kids to be kind to each other always. This is no small task, and the only way such a major cultural change could occur is if the movement comes from within. >>sigh<<
And that brings me back to the basic truth that is the foundation of quality library work. Relationship building is the foundation through which quality information can be successfully communicated. Small ideas can be communicated gently through routine interactions as the information becomes relevant. RPL is in a unique situation to help promote this sort of cultural change, if we are up to the challenge. We can't even begin to do it without adequate funding.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
21st century library websites and a rant about the state of this City
After asking a few people some questions, I've learned that no one wants to take on the responsibility of drastically improving the MCLS library website. Why? Probably because all the librarians employed here are already overworked, and part time employees don't have enough hours in the day as well. The tech people in particular, I am told, have far to many responsibilities to do an outstanding job at anything. Besides, the website was just revamped last year! Yet it looks so 2003!
The general appearance of the website does not provide me with a feeling of social and cultural relevance. It does not give me the impression that I am connecting with a 21st Century institution. It seems old. It seems like history is overemphasized. It seems like current technology and popular trends are beyond our capacity or perhaps even (uh-oh) our ability. THE LIBRARIES ARE UNDERSTAFFED! Hey Rochester, did you realize that we could meet your needs much better if you provided the funds to employ the number of people that require the amount of work that needs to be done? Any citizen following the budget deliberations is aware of the city's financial problems. But what can anyone do about it? Let us all just throw up our arms and say NOTTA-THING NOTTA-THING while the world goes to hell in a hand basket. Thank you, Mayor Richards for your realistic depiction of what Rochester is all about in your recent state of the city address. This city as I see it is so similar to the city as you see it.
I need to make one thing clear: The poverty problem in this city is not unsolvable. Not all the kids are spiraling downward into a state of uneducated drug withdrawal madness. Yes, there are many serious problems. When I meet highly educated, "landed" property owners in this city who are also parents, I have noticed an important trend: They send their kids to private school. So it's likely that they are on the wealthier end of the spectrum than the Brightonites who just send their kids to public suburban schools. If these parents all agreed to send their kids to public schools and demand the quality of education that today's children deserve, the drop out rate certainly would not be hovering just under 50%. The kids from poorer neighborhoods would have access to better schools, and might even be less likely to drop out with peers who value education and come from more affluent socioeconomic roots. If we create a culture in the city that places an emphasis quality education and rewards those who achieve above and beyond their peers, we can slowly ditch the poverty problem. As a teen librarian, I would be working with a population at the highest risk of experiencing black on black crime. This population is key to unraveling the poverty problem. Yes, there are problems in the elementary schools, but it seems that people are afraid of black teenagers and don't want to offer them the benefit of the doubt or the opportunity to prove themselves capable of handling responsibility. Can't we trust each individual until they give us a reason not to?
Don't forget that libraries are an important aspect of community education. There aren't the organizational problems in Rochester Public Library that exist within the Rochester City School District. Individuals come to the library not because they are being compelled to do so by the law or the threat of a less enjoyable future, but rather because they are interested in using library materials and services to improve their minds, entertain themselves, and experience intellectual and popular culture.
30.4% of the people are below the poverty line. That means that about 70% is above it (myself not included.) Housing values are relatively stable, some homes even increasing in value. I wonder how many people actually have high speed Internet connections in their homes? I think that most educated people probably do. Anyway, the visual and organizational appearance Rochester Public Library presents to our online customers not only gives them a snap judgement about our ability to meet their informational needs, but it also offers the rest of the world an impression about the quality of life in this city. Why does our website look so "retro" in comparison to http://www.chipublib.org/ or http://www.nypl.org/? Is it because we simply don't have the staff or the funding to correct the problem? What if we had the opportunity to change this problem? Are there any grants available to remove these barriers?
The general appearance of the website does not provide me with a feeling of social and cultural relevance. It does not give me the impression that I am connecting with a 21st Century institution. It seems old. It seems like history is overemphasized. It seems like current technology and popular trends are beyond our capacity or perhaps even (uh-oh) our ability. THE LIBRARIES ARE UNDERSTAFFED! Hey Rochester, did you realize that we could meet your needs much better if you provided the funds to employ the number of people that require the amount of work that needs to be done? Any citizen following the budget deliberations is aware of the city's financial problems. But what can anyone do about it? Let us all just throw up our arms and say NOTTA-THING NOTTA-THING while the world goes to hell in a hand basket. Thank you, Mayor Richards for your realistic depiction of what Rochester is all about in your recent state of the city address. This city as I see it is so similar to the city as you see it.
I need to make one thing clear: The poverty problem in this city is not unsolvable. Not all the kids are spiraling downward into a state of uneducated drug withdrawal madness. Yes, there are many serious problems. When I meet highly educated, "landed" property owners in this city who are also parents, I have noticed an important trend: They send their kids to private school. So it's likely that they are on the wealthier end of the spectrum than the Brightonites who just send their kids to public suburban schools. If these parents all agreed to send their kids to public schools and demand the quality of education that today's children deserve, the drop out rate certainly would not be hovering just under 50%. The kids from poorer neighborhoods would have access to better schools, and might even be less likely to drop out with peers who value education and come from more affluent socioeconomic roots. If we create a culture in the city that places an emphasis quality education and rewards those who achieve above and beyond their peers, we can slowly ditch the poverty problem. As a teen librarian, I would be working with a population at the highest risk of experiencing black on black crime. This population is key to unraveling the poverty problem. Yes, there are problems in the elementary schools, but it seems that people are afraid of black teenagers and don't want to offer them the benefit of the doubt or the opportunity to prove themselves capable of handling responsibility. Can't we trust each individual until they give us a reason not to?
Don't forget that libraries are an important aspect of community education. There aren't the organizational problems in Rochester Public Library that exist within the Rochester City School District. Individuals come to the library not because they are being compelled to do so by the law or the threat of a less enjoyable future, but rather because they are interested in using library materials and services to improve their minds, entertain themselves, and experience intellectual and popular culture.
30.4% of the people are below the poverty line. That means that about 70% is above it (myself not included.) Housing values are relatively stable, some homes even increasing in value. I wonder how many people actually have high speed Internet connections in their homes? I think that most educated people probably do. Anyway, the visual and organizational appearance Rochester Public Library presents to our online customers not only gives them a snap judgement about our ability to meet their informational needs, but it also offers the rest of the world an impression about the quality of life in this city. Why does our website look so "retro" in comparison to http://www.chipublib.org/ or http://www.nypl.org/? Is it because we simply don't have the staff or the funding to correct the problem? What if we had the opportunity to change this problem? Are there any grants available to remove these barriers?
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Comics in Education Conference Review
It was with pleasure that I volunteered to assist at the first annual (hopefully) Comics in Education Conference at Rochester Public Library. Eighty-five librarians and educators registered and paid a very small fee to attend. The discussions I attended included "From Script to Publisher: How Comics are Made," by Mark Siegal, a leading editor and founder of the prominent graphic novel publishing imprint First Second. The second was "Reading the World Through Imagetexts: Helping All Readers Learn New Literacies" by a panel of educational researchers from Nazareth College. After assisting with distributing really great boxed lunches, I attended Mark Siegal's second talk "Comics in Culture: History and Relevance." Lastly I was present at a panel discussion titled "Evaluating Comics." The day was completed with an opportunity to purchase select few graphic novels from the library book store accompanied by an autographing session.
I approached the event from the perspective of a fairly recent library school graduate who subs at many of the branches of Rochester Public Library and also at Teen Central within the Central Branch. I enjoy reading graphic novels for teens and I often recommend many titles with which I am familiar to teen patrons at various branches. I personally have broken down the stigma barrier that comics are not quality literature, but I recognize that more traditional patrons may hold that belief. However during the conference I came to realize that I did hold a pre-conceived notion that comic readers are reluctant readers in the traditional sense. I learned that this is not necessarily true. In selecting comics individuals hold these resources to literary standards in the same way that any other resource is analyzed for interest and quality. Selected resources vary widely across these measures and comic exist addressing nearly any given topic.
I also learned that the scholarly study of the comic format is taken very seriously by many colleges and universities. These teacher training and artistic centers of culture will continue to promote the format into the next century and the use of this visual and textual combination of information is certainly likely to increase in its proliferance as scholars continue to more deeply understand its cultural relevance. The combination of the visual and textual is certainly increasingly relevant as the information age progresses and the use of computers and the Internet influences the way young minds develop and process information. A perhaps unintentional theme of the day I noticed was that quality comics seem to experience the gestalt effect, in which the sum of the information is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, comics are more than just words with pictures within cells. The complete meaning of the resource is derived from the combination of and relationship between artistically created visual images, carefully selected words placed artistically within the images, and also the cell as a unit of information that relates visually to other cells within the page. In addition, it's important as a librarian to consider the function of the format within the rest of the collection and the placement of the physical resources in comparison to the rest of the collection. Most librarians agreed that fiction graphic novels and comics ought to be shelved separately from the rest of the collection based on perceived user behavior. Perhaps it would be useful to include non-fiction graphic novels interfiled with the rest of the non-fiction collection. There was controversy over the appropriate placement of non-fiction graphic novels within public libraries. Some librarians thought they should be filed by subject, some thought they should be housed in the art section. Others thought they should be housed in a special collection specific to the age of the intended audience. I found this particular discussion especially fascinating.
While much of the conference was highly informative and perhaps may have even helped to shape collective understanding of the format, I did however discover one significant aspect of the conference that may be improved in the future. Numerous times prior to the conference I tried to find the wordpress document online so that I might share the existence of the event with interested individuals. I was unable to find it via Google and other search engines. The publicity of the conference was lacking. I believe that publicity is actually extremely important to an event like this because it is relevant to the future of libraries and the use of information. In my opinion it would have been useful for an internet publicity campaign, and also the local media should have been notified. The conference could have easily tripled in attendance with little effort and library public relations could have been boosted by media coverage. This would not only benefit the library but also the entire community. If library conferences are well attended and attract many individuals from out of town, the local economy is certain to benefit in numerous ways. I believe that Rochester Public Library is an outstanding organization with an approach to the field of information that could certainly help to shape the future of libraries and their role within the community, especially if we continue to create rich educational learning opportunities such as this event.
Two other suggestions I would make to conference creators would be to offer print evaluation forms for each session and the conference in general. Also, I would have liked print outs or handouts from conference presenters to assist my memory for each session.
I approached the event from the perspective of a fairly recent library school graduate who subs at many of the branches of Rochester Public Library and also at Teen Central within the Central Branch. I enjoy reading graphic novels for teens and I often recommend many titles with which I am familiar to teen patrons at various branches. I personally have broken down the stigma barrier that comics are not quality literature, but I recognize that more traditional patrons may hold that belief. However during the conference I came to realize that I did hold a pre-conceived notion that comic readers are reluctant readers in the traditional sense. I learned that this is not necessarily true. In selecting comics individuals hold these resources to literary standards in the same way that any other resource is analyzed for interest and quality. Selected resources vary widely across these measures and comic exist addressing nearly any given topic.
I also learned that the scholarly study of the comic format is taken very seriously by many colleges and universities. These teacher training and artistic centers of culture will continue to promote the format into the next century and the use of this visual and textual combination of information is certainly likely to increase in its proliferance as scholars continue to more deeply understand its cultural relevance. The combination of the visual and textual is certainly increasingly relevant as the information age progresses and the use of computers and the Internet influences the way young minds develop and process information. A perhaps unintentional theme of the day I noticed was that quality comics seem to experience the gestalt effect, in which the sum of the information is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, comics are more than just words with pictures within cells. The complete meaning of the resource is derived from the combination of and relationship between artistically created visual images, carefully selected words placed artistically within the images, and also the cell as a unit of information that relates visually to other cells within the page. In addition, it's important as a librarian to consider the function of the format within the rest of the collection and the placement of the physical resources in comparison to the rest of the collection. Most librarians agreed that fiction graphic novels and comics ought to be shelved separately from the rest of the collection based on perceived user behavior. Perhaps it would be useful to include non-fiction graphic novels interfiled with the rest of the non-fiction collection. There was controversy over the appropriate placement of non-fiction graphic novels within public libraries. Some librarians thought they should be filed by subject, some thought they should be housed in the art section. Others thought they should be housed in a special collection specific to the age of the intended audience. I found this particular discussion especially fascinating.
While much of the conference was highly informative and perhaps may have even helped to shape collective understanding of the format, I did however discover one significant aspect of the conference that may be improved in the future. Numerous times prior to the conference I tried to find the wordpress document online so that I might share the existence of the event with interested individuals. I was unable to find it via Google and other search engines. The publicity of the conference was lacking. I believe that publicity is actually extremely important to an event like this because it is relevant to the future of libraries and the use of information. In my opinion it would have been useful for an internet publicity campaign, and also the local media should have been notified. The conference could have easily tripled in attendance with little effort and library public relations could have been boosted by media coverage. This would not only benefit the library but also the entire community. If library conferences are well attended and attract many individuals from out of town, the local economy is certain to benefit in numerous ways. I believe that Rochester Public Library is an outstanding organization with an approach to the field of information that could certainly help to shape the future of libraries and their role within the community, especially if we continue to create rich educational learning opportunities such as this event.
Two other suggestions I would make to conference creators would be to offer print evaluation forms for each session and the conference in general. Also, I would have liked print outs or handouts from conference presenters to assist my memory for each session.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Put me in a library.
So I have some ideas about how to make teen services better for the Rochester Public Library branches. I'm not an experienced librarian, but I'm working on growing as best I can. My colleagues comment on my commitment to customer service, my passion and enthusiasm, and my personality. I need more experience, mostly. There's only one way to get that - by getting hired. They seem to like me around here, but budgetary constraints seem to be the biggest barrier to employment. I drafted a plan about what I'd like to do to make things better. It's about five pages long and justifies staff funding for teens and suggests a three fold solution. I haven't done anything with these recorded thoughts other than show them to a few people. I worry if I'm doing the right thing.
Some people say it's a bad idea to create waves as a young inexperienced employee. I do not want to hurt anyone or cause political damage. I'm not in it for power or for selfish reasons. I just want a job where I can work hard to achieve quality results. I'm afraid to turn in my proposal and justification. I just think that if they actually put me in the position where it is my responsibility to fulfill these ideas I might not be able to live up to what I set out to do. I need more experience first. Put me in a library. Introduce me to a community.
Some people say it's a bad idea to create waves as a young inexperienced employee. I do not want to hurt anyone or cause political damage. I'm not in it for power or for selfish reasons. I just want a job where I can work hard to achieve quality results. I'm afraid to turn in my proposal and justification. I just think that if they actually put me in the position where it is my responsibility to fulfill these ideas I might not be able to live up to what I set out to do. I need more experience first. Put me in a library. Introduce me to a community.
Monday, March 5, 2012
My response to RPL 2012 Staff Day
Upon attending the 2012 RPL Staff Day, I found myself re-examining my personal commitment to customer service and also the vision I have developed for the role of customer service in meeting the needs of communities through public libraries. It is essential that the needs of all patron groups are examined when considering customer service in the library. We are only given so many chances to make errors in our service before a patron elects to avoid a certain library or perhaps loses interest in reading for the purpose of intellectual stimulation all together.
Providing the best service to all patrons is highly important. Adult patrons are the voting tax payers and library advocates that protect library funding and frequently use the library. Children and young adult services are also extremely important because these are the patrons who will shape future library usage and may provide some of the strongest advocacy because they need libraries more than any other group for the purpose of fulfilling their education.
Whether adults like it or not young people are constantly learning from every aspect of their environment. The library service (and resources) we are able to offer youth then instills the value of quality information and professional library service only to the extent to which society is willing to invest in these and promote intellectual growth among future generations. It is our role as librarians to provide youth with the basic resources through which they may grow and learn to shape their future for the better. Youth services, addressing juvenile, tween, teenagers, and perhaps even the transition of young adults into their twenties are uniquely positioned to support a community struggling to overcome some of the social challenges associated with poverty.
Here at Rochester Public Library there is an outstanding program intended to enhance youth services through relationship building between staff and young patrons in the library. Children's services are enhanced by literacy aids who offer homework assistance and programming. Teens enjoy the Safe to Be Smart Program in which social workers in designated teen areas enhance library services to build relationships, promote literacy activities, offer programming, and assist with behavioral issues. Through these positions, youth in Rochester are met at their point of need at a time when budgetary issues do not allow full professional staffing. The present budget is entirely unacceptable if in fact the quality of life in this city is to improve. We must work to reduce crime, provide our citizens with jobs that pay living sustainable wages, and maintain property values in this beautiful city already steeped with so much professional and creative talent. Youth programs within Rochester Public Library are in a position to help shape future generations for the better. We must continually find ways to meet this challenge better than we have in prior days.
It is essential to acknowledge that literacy aids and social workers are not a suitable replacement for professional librarians. In the latest round of budgetary cuts, teen library programs have been reduced severely as this was a coping mechanism for many branches of Rochester Public Library. As long as the Safe to Be Smart program is present in teen centers then behavior problems are managed and programs are provided. This level of service for our teens is enough to keep complaining individuals quiet, but is entirely inadequate in a community seeking to promote social justice, combat the problems associated with poverty and increase the standard of living for all citizens. We must empower the youth in our community to create a better future for themselves by taking education into their own hands through the use of the public library.
Providing the best service to all patrons is highly important. Adult patrons are the voting tax payers and library advocates that protect library funding and frequently use the library. Children and young adult services are also extremely important because these are the patrons who will shape future library usage and may provide some of the strongest advocacy because they need libraries more than any other group for the purpose of fulfilling their education.
Whether adults like it or not young people are constantly learning from every aspect of their environment. The library service (and resources) we are able to offer youth then instills the value of quality information and professional library service only to the extent to which society is willing to invest in these and promote intellectual growth among future generations. It is our role as librarians to provide youth with the basic resources through which they may grow and learn to shape their future for the better. Youth services, addressing juvenile, tween, teenagers, and perhaps even the transition of young adults into their twenties are uniquely positioned to support a community struggling to overcome some of the social challenges associated with poverty.
Here at Rochester Public Library there is an outstanding program intended to enhance youth services through relationship building between staff and young patrons in the library. Children's services are enhanced by literacy aids who offer homework assistance and programming. Teens enjoy the Safe to Be Smart Program in which social workers in designated teen areas enhance library services to build relationships, promote literacy activities, offer programming, and assist with behavioral issues. Through these positions, youth in Rochester are met at their point of need at a time when budgetary issues do not allow full professional staffing. The present budget is entirely unacceptable if in fact the quality of life in this city is to improve. We must work to reduce crime, provide our citizens with jobs that pay living sustainable wages, and maintain property values in this beautiful city already steeped with so much professional and creative talent. Youth programs within Rochester Public Library are in a position to help shape future generations for the better. We must continually find ways to meet this challenge better than we have in prior days.
It is essential to acknowledge that literacy aids and social workers are not a suitable replacement for professional librarians. In the latest round of budgetary cuts, teen library programs have been reduced severely as this was a coping mechanism for many branches of Rochester Public Library. As long as the Safe to Be Smart program is present in teen centers then behavior problems are managed and programs are provided. This level of service for our teens is enough to keep complaining individuals quiet, but is entirely inadequate in a community seeking to promote social justice, combat the problems associated with poverty and increase the standard of living for all citizens. We must empower the youth in our community to create a better future for themselves by taking education into their own hands through the use of the public library.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Teens don't exist on Sundays
According to the US Census Bureau, there are about 32,537 people living in Rochester, NY who are between the ages of 10 and 19. They represent a significant 15.4 % of the population plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. They are not to be ignored. Their participation in society is valuable not only because of their numbers, but also because of their age. They have the power to shape society in the future. They will be the productive members of society owning their businesses for better or worse. Many of them already are parents or will be parents within a reasonable amount of time. Their contributions help to shape this city regardless of whether or not they choose to get a high school diploma, attend college, study for the GED or sell crack cocaine to each other. They help define the morals and values of life on the streets and those children grow to accept as normal. This is a portion of the population that is worth investing as much time, money, and resources as our fair city is able to offer if we wish to grow away from crippling poverty and toward a vision of sustainable living that this city has the potential to achieve.
When considering the youth, it is absolutely essential to remember that they don't need resources such as love, positive role models, and an enriching environment to in which to learn and grow older. They grow and develop without any help at all. The trouble is that when they are offered the minimum, they begin to believe that they are not worth the effort. They make the social problems in this city worse instead of better.
http://store.acousticom.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=107
When considering the youth, it is absolutely essential to remember that they don't need resources such as love, positive role models, and an enriching environment to in which to learn and grow older. They grow and develop without any help at all. The trouble is that when they are offered the minimum, they begin to believe that they are not worth the effort. They make the social problems in this city worse instead of better.
http://store.acousticom.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=107
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Attitude
I hope that I am making progress as a sub at Rochester Public Library. I think I am working fairly frequently these days as regular librarians seem to be dropping like flies and so are the rest of the people in this city with regular winter illnesses. My son has also been sick. Somehow I am still healthy and that is a miracle, I suppose. I've been doing a lot of reading teen literature in my free time. I try to avoid violent book as they don't leave me feeling good when I stop reading. My life has been wanting to experience more comedy and I try to comply with book and movie choices. It isn't easy to get ahead of the curve with what people are already interested in, but I'm trying to make this uphill battle funny at the very least.
As usual, my personal life wants to get in the way as I have been struggling to find reliable care for my babies and also hit a happy stride in my not quite brand new marriage. Slow but steady these are progressing. My stress levels are reduced as I work more hours at the library and that really is a very good thing.
So attitude, yes I wanted to write about attitude. I do try as much as I can to work hard whenever I am subbing. Not every library provides me with tasks to complete and I spend time in front of a computer. I answer reference questions of course but that still leaves some down time. I suppose I ought to strive to be reflective and return to my Info Mania blog. I'm sure there are plenty of tidbits of information that I could have added and that are useful to record in such a format as this.
My mantra as a substitute librarian is "I am happy to help in any way that I can." Whenever someone, especially one of my coworkers, asks for anything I cheerfully comply. I think this has facilitated my working more hours. It's either that or they don't want to lose me to the full time teen librarian position that I applied to out of the area. I also applied to a part time teen librarian position that is within driving distance of my current residence. If I get the second position, I can continue to sub a little. If I get the full time position I may be able to seriously change my life situation for the better. There is another position open locally that I applied for but it is not working with teenagers. It is working with the city historian. The pay is less and the work is temporary, but I could stay with Rochester Public Library. I would very much like to have regular hours so that my kids can have more stability in their lives. I want to continue to make the wages I am earning at the present time and no less. Full time would be nice... I'm dreaming. The library universe is full of cuts, but I hold on to the belief that if I work hard enough they will feel they need to keep me and find me a position.
I've been working at Central literature division more and more. I need to improve in my reference skills. They are teaching me, but it's hard because I have to ask for a lot of help. Older librarians are frustrated working with young people like me because they think I think everything is on Google. I made it through library school, and I know that there's more to finding information than typing it into a search engine. At the same time I recognize that I need to grow in this area. I can't do it without help. Like, how am I supposed to know it until I learn it? I am capable of figuring stuff out, but whenever I interrupt and ask another librarian for help I feel as though I am intruding. Central is cliquish and sometimes I leave work from there feeling inadequate. I do enjoy subbing at the branches, but Central librarians are supposedly superior because they have subject specialties. It's a great place to learn, but being constantly aware of how I am not yet good enough at what I do can be exhausting. I just need to remind myself that I am glad to be improving and I must always continue to improve as my career progresses. Some librarians are better at helping me learn than others. Unlike some librarians I am unashamed to admit what I do not know. I think keeping my ego separate from my knowledge makes it more enjoyable for me to learn and work. I like to learn, that's why I became a librarian, not because I like being an expert.
If I do know the answer, I might as well share what I know anyway. One of the problems I am having with myself is that I find myself remembering information but being unable to cite where the information came from. Thus I come across as a wanna be know it all without any substance to back up my claims. I just wish my memory would serve me better. Titles, authors, and sources all need to be linked in my mind and they just haven't been doing that some of the time. I just wanna whack the side of my head and say "WORK DAMMIT" and force my brain to submit to my needs. I hope it will eventually succumb to my wishes as I persist in making my wishes clear. Dendrites, come on dendrites. Grow~~!!!!
As usual, my personal life wants to get in the way as I have been struggling to find reliable care for my babies and also hit a happy stride in my not quite brand new marriage. Slow but steady these are progressing. My stress levels are reduced as I work more hours at the library and that really is a very good thing.
So attitude, yes I wanted to write about attitude. I do try as much as I can to work hard whenever I am subbing. Not every library provides me with tasks to complete and I spend time in front of a computer. I answer reference questions of course but that still leaves some down time. I suppose I ought to strive to be reflective and return to my Info Mania blog. I'm sure there are plenty of tidbits of information that I could have added and that are useful to record in such a format as this.
My mantra as a substitute librarian is "I am happy to help in any way that I can." Whenever someone, especially one of my coworkers, asks for anything I cheerfully comply. I think this has facilitated my working more hours. It's either that or they don't want to lose me to the full time teen librarian position that I applied to out of the area. I also applied to a part time teen librarian position that is within driving distance of my current residence. If I get the second position, I can continue to sub a little. If I get the full time position I may be able to seriously change my life situation for the better. There is another position open locally that I applied for but it is not working with teenagers. It is working with the city historian. The pay is less and the work is temporary, but I could stay with Rochester Public Library. I would very much like to have regular hours so that my kids can have more stability in their lives. I want to continue to make the wages I am earning at the present time and no less. Full time would be nice... I'm dreaming. The library universe is full of cuts, but I hold on to the belief that if I work hard enough they will feel they need to keep me and find me a position.
I've been working at Central literature division more and more. I need to improve in my reference skills. They are teaching me, but it's hard because I have to ask for a lot of help. Older librarians are frustrated working with young people like me because they think I think everything is on Google. I made it through library school, and I know that there's more to finding information than typing it into a search engine. At the same time I recognize that I need to grow in this area. I can't do it without help. Like, how am I supposed to know it until I learn it? I am capable of figuring stuff out, but whenever I interrupt and ask another librarian for help I feel as though I am intruding. Central is cliquish and sometimes I leave work from there feeling inadequate. I do enjoy subbing at the branches, but Central librarians are supposedly superior because they have subject specialties. It's a great place to learn, but being constantly aware of how I am not yet good enough at what I do can be exhausting. I just need to remind myself that I am glad to be improving and I must always continue to improve as my career progresses. Some librarians are better at helping me learn than others. Unlike some librarians I am unashamed to admit what I do not know. I think keeping my ego separate from my knowledge makes it more enjoyable for me to learn and work. I like to learn, that's why I became a librarian, not because I like being an expert.
If I do know the answer, I might as well share what I know anyway. One of the problems I am having with myself is that I find myself remembering information but being unable to cite where the information came from. Thus I come across as a wanna be know it all without any substance to back up my claims. I just wish my memory would serve me better. Titles, authors, and sources all need to be linked in my mind and they just haven't been doing that some of the time. I just wanna whack the side of my head and say "WORK DAMMIT" and force my brain to submit to my needs. I hope it will eventually succumb to my wishes as I persist in making my wishes clear. Dendrites, come on dendrites. Grow~~!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)