Welcome to Our World

We're wearing goofy hats this week - exams week - for comedy relief for students. #librarylife #librarydirectorlife pic.twitter.com/Q55sBbBtS6

— Jessica Olin (@olinj) April 29, 2015

I have this theory about libraries and students who are under-prepared and/or who learn differently (catch all phrase for learning disabilities, ADHD/ADD, autism spectrum, etc.): the library represents academic pursuits and things that make them struggle. It is so important to remember that we have patrons who struggle with the things we assume users can do easily. We've made our lives in the library, but it can be intimidating to others. We libr* types need to do something about that. As for me, one of the things I try to do wherever I'm working is to make the library more welcoming. We all have students who learn differently and who aren't as prepared. Besides, even if your patrons aren't under-prepared or learning disabled, it never hurts to enhance your relationship with the members of your community.

That relationship building and enhancing is something we're trying to do at my library, and towards that end we spent the entirety of a monthly staff meeting brainstorming and hashing out different ways to make our library more welcoming to students. That's why that picture above happened: one of the ideas was for all staff members to dress for a theme of some sort, like goofy hats. And so, once I determined that everyone was comfortable with the idea of the hats, we picked a week and went with it. Wow did it work. So many stressed out students would see me in my witch hat or my tiara, or the reference librarian in her pith helmet, and burst into laughter. At one point a colleague in another department said something like, "You should advertise that you're doing it. Otherwise people will think you're just being silly." My response: "But we are just being silly. That's the point." The best part? People in other departments around campus wanted to join in the next time we do this!

Other ideas we have for the future or that we have put into action:

• Student art exhibited in the library, either temporarily or permanently.
• Coffee bar at night during exams.
• Giving student groups the opportunity to design and put up book displays in the library.
• A library sponsored essay contest that ties into an existing celebration of student scholarship.

I want to bring this post back to where I started, so I can explain how I got from students who learn differently to the goofy hat brigade: it's about how our buildings make our students and patrons feel. If a member of the community is intimidated - for whatever reason - they are never going to come into our buildings and we won't have a chance to help them. However, if we make them laugh and show our human sides, it's going to help our patrons relax. If they are more relaxed, they'll be more likely to come in to our buildings to ask for our help... and that's where we can do our work.

We have other ideas for building the library's relationship with faculty, but I'm curious what you all are doing to build relationships with any of your stakeholders/segments of your community. And be warned: if you share your ideas here, I may end up stealing/borrowing them.

Aaaaaah! Scary Librarians!

Creative Commons licensed picture by Amy Barker.

Librarians are scary, aren't they? Well, not really, but that's the way some members of our communities act. It surprised me at first, since I grew up loving libraries and librarians. Eventually I got used to it, or so I thought. From "I'm sorry to interrupt you," to asking other patrons for help, and onto the stammering that results when we realized that "I can't find anything" is being caused by a spelling error, I am so accustomed to patrons acting vaguely afraid that I thought I'd seen all the possible permutations.

But then I noticed a new development. Over the last year or so, but most especially this semester, I've seen an increase in the number of patrons showing up at the reference desk in pairs. It's most prevalent with freshmen, but it's not isolated to the youngest members of my community. (Just to remind you, I'm at an academic library that is part of a small, liberal arts, residential college, and I deal most frequently with traditional undergraduates.) I've talked to a few people about this phenomenon, but not broadly. I don't know if this is an across-the-board change at both public and academic libraries, but I do know other academic librarians have noticed it.

I want to move beyond noticing it, though. I want to know why this is happening. Occasionally, I think the students might be trying to make things easier for the librarian, since sometimes the pairs will both be working on the same assignment. That's not often case, though. Another idea I've had is that some of our students are completely unfamiliar with what's expected college and/or libraries. That lack of familiarity is making them feel some trepidation, so they want company. I also wonder if it could be a safety concern. This is a small, rural-ish campus, but a lot of our students come from Pittsburgh and Cleveland, so maybe they've been raised to use the buddy system for safety?

Even if I can't find the cause, there's I'm also concerned about how to react. When the students are in the same class, it can be convenient to "kill two birds with one stone" at the reference desk. So much of the teaching I do is in these one-on-one situations, so isn't it more efficient to work with two at once? On the other hand, I think about the privacy implications. When dealing with a student who's working on a research essay, it's unlikely that s/he will bring up sensitive issues, but it's still a sticking point for me. Sometimes I shoo Student #2 away from the desk while I work with Student #1, but not always. I'm not sure which approach is the right one.

So I guess I have more questions than advice this week, since I'm still formulating my response to a new-ish thing. What about you? Have you seen this phenomenon? What, if anything, are you doing about it?

Students Are Not You At That Age

"my brains - let me show you them," by Liz Henry

In last week's post, "Ten Things I Didn't Learn in Library School, Academic Edition," the first thing I listed was about how present day undergraduates are not the same as we were. For the most part, it's not a "kids these days don't know nothin'" thing. As I said:

"Think about it this way: if you're an academic librarian (or want to be one) chances are pretty high that you liked college and were a good student, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about spending your life in academia. Many of the students with whom I talk every day are here either because Mommy &/or Daddy made them, or because it's the next logical step. There will be students who want to be at college, but that's not every student."

After I published the post, I had a few people ask me how I deal with students like this. The truth is that I still struggle with it on a semi-regular basis, although I know that I'm better than I was when I got my first job. I have days, sometimes weeks, when I am instinctually calm and don't have to remind myself of the items I listed below. But I don't get too upset when I do struggle. Practice makes perfect, right?

Anyway, I deal with students by remind myself:

1. In some ways, students ARE you at that age (but you have probably forgotten what it was like because your brain has finished maturing). To put it colloquially, teenage & early/mid twenties brain chemistry/structure is MAD crazy. Not only are their brains constantly growing and changing, they are doing it at an amazing rate. Another side effect of this is that teens & young adults process social input from a much more primitive part of the brain than you do. Brain chemistry and structure changes are why students can be so surly, so I try to be patient.
2. The person in front of me could be a first generation college student. Statistics vary from school to school, obviously, but 40% of my undergraduate population falls in this category. I don't. Not only do I come from a long line of college graduates on both sides, both my maternal and my paternal grandfathers taught at the college level. This means that when I arrived at my undergraduate institution, I knew what was expected (at least to some extent). First gen students don't have that knowledge, so I try to help them fill in the gaps.
3. It's about good customer service skills. Bear with me while I tell you a quick story. I put myself through my first graduate degree by working at a mid-range, fancy-ish restaurant. I had my regulars who always sat in my section. For them, I'd explain the specials and then pretty much get out of their way. I also had plenty of first time customers, even at that fancy pants place. With them, I'd explain every single thing about the restaurant, the menu, the bar, and so on. If I did my job well with a new customer, and the circumstances were right, I'd eventually have a new regular. That's what I want in the library - someone who knows what they are doing and only needs to have occasional pointers - so I put in the time with them when they are freshmen.

Any thoughts? And, for those of you who have a bit of experience, do you have any advice you can add to mine?

Ten Things I Didn't Learn in Library School, Academic Edition

Eric Riley wrote a similar post about public libraries that you should also read, since plenty of academic libraries (especially large, urban ones) have the same issues. However, I had a request for a similar post about academic libraries. So here it is, for the most part in no particular order: ten things I - an academic librarian - didn't learn in library school.

1. Undergraduate students are not you at that age. Sometimes the differences can be chocked up to growing up in an earlier era, but not always. Think about it this way: if you're an academic librarian (or want to be one) chances are pretty high that you liked college and were a good student, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about spending your life in academia. Many of the students with whom I talk every day are here either because Mommy &/or Daddy made them, or because it's the next logical step. There will be students who want to be at college, but that's not every student.

2. Every college/university has its own way of treating librarians. In my first professional position, we were purely members of the professional staff - except we were required to march with faculty in official events like graduation. In my current position, we are a weird hybrid of faculty and staff, without tenure or sabbaticals but with extensive committee responsibilities and voting power in faculty meetings. I know lots of academic librarians who are treated just like faculty, with publish-or-perish mandates hanging over their heads.

3. For most students, asking a librarian for help is a last resort. They will ask other students, and then maybe a teaching assistant or a residence assistant they're starting to sweat. Students will turn to their professors next, and the librarians dead last. If I'm honest with myself, I can admit that I didn't go to the librarians at my undergraduate institution too frequently. But wow, this reticence to ask for help surprised me when I realized it.

4. "We tried that before in 1987, and it didn't work then, so it won't work now." This is an extreme version of resistance to new ideas, but it's not too far off from something that I was told. I don't know that this mentality is exclusive to academic libraries, but it was one of the biggest surprises I encountered after leaving graduate school. While pursuing my MLIS, I spent all that time reading about innovative programs and approaches and being praised for my original ideas. I understand it now, but it was hard to hear at first.

5. Students don't know how to find a book in the stacks. Not all students, but more than you'd expect. This is a corollary to #1 above, but it was a shocker. I distinctly remember the first time I handed a student a piece of paper on which I'd written a call number and got a blank look in response. I grew up going to libraries, so I learned this skill pretty early. That's not everybody's story.

6. Collection development is done differently in every library. Collection development classes are all well and good, but you won't really learn how to do it until the first time you have to order books. From talking to colleagues at other institutions, I know that no two academic libraries do it the same way. Some  have carefully constructed formulas that consider how many classes, students, professors are in a department versus how widely their materials are used versus the direction in which the wind is blowing at that moment. Others divvy the money up evenly. Some academic libraries get offended at the thought of popular reading materials in their collections. Others actively embrace and pursue such ideas. Collection development is all about the context and the parent institution.

7. Members of the faculty can be your best friends, or your worst enemies. It's important to remember that they have their own agendas, and you need to figure out how to marry your goals to theirs. Even if you have faculty status, your jobs are only related to theirs - you aren't doing the same work. This can be a source of friction if you're not careful.

8. The library (the department) is not always in charge of how the library (the space) is used. Everyone will want to use the space. It is prime real estate on most campuses. You may even end up having to share the space with other departments, which has good and bad ramifications.

9. Sex will happen in your library. If you're lucky, the only evidence you'll find will be the used condom. If you're unlucky, you will witness the act and have to do something about it. And yes, masturbation counts in this category. With all those raging hormones and all the porn out there on the web, I'm surprised I haven't witnessed more.

And I've saved the biggest shock I had for last:

10. You will spend more time in meetings than you can imagine. One on one meetings, campus wide meetings, task force meetings, ad hoc committee meetings, standing committee meetings, search committee meetings, and so on. During a good semester, I spend less than 25% of my work hours in meetings. However, I've had weeks where I spent more than 50% of my time in one meeting or another. Some will be useful. Some will be inane. Every once in a while, you'll be in a meeting so bad that you'd swear you had died and gone to hell. True story: I was once part of a campus-wide "retreat" (in quotes because we were still on campus for this meeting) where an administrator actually wanted us to come to a consensus about what we meant by "consensus."

How about the rest of the academic librarians in my reading audience? What shocked you? What did I leave out?

One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Understanding the Users and Their Needs Is Critical in the Library, by Melissa Doyle

Source

There’s a schism between what they teach you in library school and what actually happens in libraries. It’s no secret; I’ve even had a professor mention reading articles and books about “what they don’t teach you” about working in a library.

I have been incredibly fortunate to have a part-time job at an academic library while in graduate school. I got the job from a classmate, and started working weeks after the program began. I am hyperaware that my situation is exceptional, and I do not take it for granted. That said, I am also in a position to constantly juxtapose the theoretical library of class lectures with that of the real world library.

The academic library I work for is small. The institution is a small liberal arts-based university in a rural area.  Our needs are pretty different from other academic libraries, and it’s created quite a challenge for me as a grad student. 

My experience has been that being aware of patron demographics is not a significant part of the curriculum.  However, it is a very important component of librarianship. If you don’t know who you’re serving, how will you be able to serve them? Seems to me an obvious question to address, yet it’s been largely ignored in my classes. 

Knowing who you serve is important on so many levels, from spending money wisely to communicating with the patrons. In my opinion (admittedly one of a student, but a student with work experience), it is the key to a successful library. There’s a common phrase used in writing and performing, “know your audience,” and it is absolutely applicable in other realms, particularly the library where we are entrenched in service and our community.

Yet it’s barely been mentioned in any of my classes. Sure, I’ve had projects where I had to give a general description of the library and the patrons, but never enough to impact the project itself. It was almost an afterthought to the assignment.

At my job, I have noticed that the concepts taught in library school are not always the best fit. For the most part, our students do not have a need for several hundred databases. I have learned this from interacting with the students, learning what their assignments are, and talking with the professors. On the contrary, my courses have shifted the focus to electronic resource providers such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest and all that they make available. I do believe these are wonderful for research and accessibility, however any more than a handful for each subject taught is definitely overkill. 

So here I am, weeks away from finishing my MLIS program, and I am contemplating how to approach finding out what the users’ needs are as a professional librarian. I’ve learned about needs assessments and surveys from the librarians, which are used to ask the faculty what they teach in class and to find out what the students want to read more of for fun. I encourage everyone to consider the importance of learning who is coming into the library, what they need, and how to find out their needs.

Melissa Doyle is a Library Assistant at Reinhardt University and she is about to graduate with her MLIS from University of North Texas.