tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061870849031468581.post59588804418367436..comments2024-03-27T05:00:00.090-04:00Comments on Letters to a Young Librarian: Curmudgeon or Experienced? You Be The Judge.Jessica Olinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00282500023825318766noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061870849031468581.post-72886079733442119552011-08-07T15:57:11.883-04:002011-08-07T15:57:11.883-04:00I'm right there with you about shelf reading &...I'm right there with you about shelf reading & shifting, Cari, but I might not get to avoid it completely. I just finished weeding our fiction collection and I'd really like the shifting and shelf reading to be done by the beginning of the school year in a few weeks.Jessica Olinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00282500023825318766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061870849031468581.post-3641548389951069422011-08-07T12:02:23.132-04:002011-08-07T12:02:23.132-04:00I think it's healthy to embrace "not my j...I think it's healthy to embrace "not my job." Obviously, in some cases, you have to pitch in even if it's not. ("Other duties as assigned.") In my case, the three things you mention absolutely are my job, because I'm not in an academic environment. The general public isn't always aware of these things. Now, in a lot of cases it's going to be a referral rather than direct information, because librarians don't know everything (see, my post comes back to haunt me).<br /><br />A former boss used to insist that we as librarians do shelf-reading and shifting. I understand where he was coming from, and like I said above, I am always going to pitch in with circ or page jobs if it is needed. But for no reason? I don't have time for it. I have many other things to do, and you are paying pages less than half my hourly wage to do it. How about properly training the pages so they are aware and know they should do it?Carihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17089762130217570280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061870849031468581.post-91014298242586850502011-08-04T08:36:40.759-04:002011-08-04T08:36:40.759-04:00Turner, I'll admit I will just print stuff on ...Turner, I'll admit I will just print stuff on occasion - especially if the member is a college administrator of some sort.Jessica Olinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00282500023825318766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061870849031468581.post-78487035610747890352011-08-04T02:02:07.140-04:002011-08-04T02:02:07.140-04:00I work at an academic medical library that is open...I work at an academic medical library that is open to the public. Working the circulation desk tonight, an older gentleman wanted me to find articles and print them off for him. Since I also work in document delivery in the ILL office, I know that this is a services that many patrons pay for. Part of me want to take the "customer is always right" route and just do it, but I also knew that as a circulation worker it wasn't my job.<br /><br />Instead of just doing it for him I put on my librarian hat, and said each step I was doing out loud as I searched his articles. At first he didn't seem interested, but after two articles he started to really follow along. Turns out he has never used an OPAC before. After the third article, he went to a public access computer and found a half dozen articles on his own. As he left, he called me a magician (which kind of made my night). It was the first time I was able to practice "teaching at the desk," and see it actually work. I could have just printed the articles out and it would have been way faster. But now he feels a little more empowered to do his own research. It was pretty awesome.Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00169594177394403552noreply@blogger.com