Interview Post: Courtney Young

Biographical

Name?

Courtney L. Young

Current job?
Head Librarian, Penn State Greater Allegheny

How long have you been in the field?
19 years this fall! Librarianship has been my first and only career. Before earning my MS in Library Science, I shelved books as a teenager at a public library, worked all four years in a number of positions at my college library, and worked as a circulation assistant at a theological library while I was in library school.

How Do You Work?

What is your office/workspace like?

My current office is in a library building with limited renovations to date. The first thing people notice is the wood paneling on the walls. I have an L-shaped desk and a small round table with four chairs. Hanging on the walls are two framed READ posters featuring Bernie Mac and LL Cool J. I have have a plaque of appreciation from ALA New Members Round Table from when I served as President from 2009-2010, and a certificate for distinguished service on the ALA Executive Board from 2009-2012. I also have a bookcase and large filing cabinet. The desk, small table, bookcase, and filing cabinet are in a coordinated warm brown wood. Since library buildings are known for having HVAC issues, I have a heater and a fan.

How do you organize your days?

We have an electronic online calendar in our email system, but I also keep a handwritten to do list on a small notepad. I like the satisfaction of crossing things off a list. Of course when providing support to others, there are times when my day seems unorganized because I may have to stop what I’m doing to help a colleague or staff member with a problem, assist a student with a reference question, or respond to a time-sensitive email, but it happens. Also, I tend to check email and log into various systems when I first get to the office and listen to any voicemail messages.

What do you spend most of your time doing?

Responding to a continuous flood of email.

What is a typical day like for you?

One where I intend to start and complete tasks on my to do list, but recognize that I am also here to respond to questions and assist my staff with whatever arises during the course of a day. I take time here and there to check in on social media, especially Twitter where an excellent network of librarians, LIS students, and library staff enrich my professional practice. I find I am more productive when listening to music I enjoy, so I tune into one of my Pandora radio channels.

What are you reading right now?

I'm catching up on a magazine backlog. Real Simple and Sports Illustrated.

What's the best professional advice you've ever received?

You have something to contribute to this profession, don't be afraid to find your voice.

What have you found yourself doing at work that you never expected?

Mentoring students and faculty.

Inside the Library Studio

What is your favorite word?

Sale and clearance.

What is your least favorite word?

Impossible.

What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?

One of my dream jobs is to be a personal shopper (clothing and shoes). I've actually gone shopping with colleagues and former students to build a wardrobe for a new job. It's fun to encourage people to try on something they wouldn't normally select for themselves. It’s even more fun to find a great deal.

What profession would you never want to attempt?

Anything involving driving a really big vehicle, like a bus driver or big rig truck driver.

Everything Else

What superpower do you wish you had?

The ability to read people's minds.

What are you most proud of in your career?

Three things. Being elected to serve as President of the American Library Association for 2014-2015. Being promoted to the rank of Librarian and Professor. Receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Simmons College School of Library and Information Science.

When you aren't at work, what are you likely doing?

Watching an MLB baseball game. I've attended a lot of Pittsburgh Pirates games this season and am on track to see fourteen games at the stadium this season. If I'm not taking in a game I'm probably shopping, taking photos, or hand-writing letters to send in the mail.

Who else would you like to see answer these questions?

Dr. Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress.

Courtney tweets at @librarycourtney.

Vote

That's all I can think about today, and all I can write about. Please go vote for Clinton. Please.

I know everyone from weather apps to social media and beyond are offering to help you find your polling place and/or the issues, but just in case you haven't looked yet:

• Find your polling place
• Learn about where the candidates stand on issues
• And here's a personality-aside focus on where the presidential candidates stand

One last thing, since I've never been shy about sharing my politics here:

via Occupy Democrats on Facebook

How I Do Reference Interviews

13+ years out from my MLIS graduation, a lot of memories about my time at Simmons have started to fade. However, one thing is still very clear: learning how to conduct a reference interview. Our professor (and our textbook) made a big deal of how it isn't the librarian's business why a patron needs this information, and I took that "don't ask why they are asking" admonition very much to heart... for about a month after I started working in an academic library. Don't get me wrong: I still respect my patrons' right to privacy, but making sure they can fulfill the professor's requirements is also a big part of my job. As a result, I've tweaked my reference interview tactics. I don't hit every one of these with every student, but hopefully you'll understand my thinking after you read through this list.

1. "If you don't mind my asking, is this for an assignment?" If they tell me it's not, I revert immediately back to the method I was taught in graduate school. If they tell me it is for an assignment...
2. "Do you have the assignment with you? It would help me to help you if I could see it." The student who was supposed to pick any painter from the Romantic period but who asked for information about a Renaissance painter? Or that other student who insisted they weren't allowed to use internet sources when really they weren't allowed to use web sources? Saved both of them a lot of time and heartache.
3. "When is this due?" This lets me know if we have time for interlibrary loan, or to request things from other libraries in the consortium, or if we only have time to look at resources that are available right away.
4. "Where have you looked? And it's totally cool if you haven't looked anywhere; I'm just trying to figure out where to start." Yes, I say that whole thing. Sometimes students get so overwhelmed that they can't even talk about their topic clearly, and I don't want them to feel bad about that. If a student has gotten to the point where they're willing to come to a librarian for help, I want them to feel good about it. However, if they have looked somewhere and had no luck, I can sometimes help immediately by pointing them to a different database or even sometimes a reference book.
5. "Can you tell me why you picked this topic?" Here's where I'm fishing for search terms. Sure, there are the assignments I've seen so many times before that I know the right words from the get-go, but there are plenty of times when someone working on a senior capstone project introduces me to a brand new topic. And though I know plenty of good search phrases in the disciplines on my campus, I am always learning.
6. "Do you feel comfortable working on this on your own? Do you have enough direction to get started?" I don't typically ask this until I'm fairly certain they'll say they are fine, but I still ask it so they can hear it themselves.
7. "If you need any more help, [how to find me and how long I'll be available]. And good luck with your assignment." I also go back, about 5 to 10 minutes later, to see if everything is still going smoothly. It's about making sure that the student has the tools they need.

So there it is: my process for conducting reference interviews at an academic library. Other academics, did I leave anything out that you usually do? 

Just For Fun: Real Isn't How You Are Made

"It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

That quote is from one of my favoritest books from when I was a kid: The Velveteen Rabbit. The story imbued all my toys, especially my stuffed animals, with their own lives and personalities and heartaches in a way in a way that never left me. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I stil have a large collection of stuffed animals in my life, ranging in age from 43 years to less than a month old. Some of them have long and detailed personal histories, but I'm still getting to know others. Here's a sampling of my stuffed friends along with a little bit about each of them.

Dorothy

Dorothy the Bunny (with stuffies who have been loved as much as this lady has, it can be hard to tell the animal) has been in my life for as long as I can remember, although I know I haven't had her my entire life. I named her after Dorothy Gale... I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz when I was a child, back when they'd play it on network television once per year. Also, I don't know if you can see from that picture, but Dorothy has eye shadow - a very young Jessica thought it would be fun.

Francis

I bought Francis Bacon at a Goodwill near my undergraduate institution the day before classes started my freshman year in college. I vaguely remember thinking it was a funny and inappropriate name for a bear, since clearly Francis Bacon sounds like a name for a pig, but other than that I don't know why I named him after a philosopher I had never and still have never read. I used to make up stories of derring-do featuring Francis, but these days he just lives on my bed in comfortable semi-retirement.

Chewbacca

Chewbacca! What a Wookie! I've had my stuffed Chewie as long as I can remember, although I no longer have his bandoleer. Whenever anyone doubts my nerd credibility, I tell them about how I have a vintage Chewbacca stuffie that I've owned since it was brand new.

Mr. Bun

I found Mr. Bun, named after Susie Derkin's stuffie, in the middle of the parking lot of my apartment building. He'd obviously been run over by a car more than once, and he has a tear along the base of one of his ears as a result. I couldn't leave him there to get run over again. I just couldn't.

Fake Roy

At a former institution, there were a lot of faculty members who brought their dogs to work. Although I adored them all (and still do), I had a special relationship with Roy the Pug. Roy looooved me and, if I passed his domain without stopping to say hello, Roy would yell at the top of his lungs in that special high pitched pug yell. When I announced I was leaving that job to become a library director, Roy's human bought me a Webkinz pug who looks just like Roy, and I named the Webkinz pug Fake Roy.

So, how about you? Any stuffed animals hanging around your home or office?

The Neverending Story (of Assessment)

A while back, during the first year of this blog's existence, I wrote about how I see librarianship as an asymptote. I never stop trying to improve my professional practice. The same thing, obviously applies to the library where I'm a director. That's why assessment is such a crucial part of my (and every librarian's) job. Lots of people act like "assessment" is a vulgar word, but if you approach it properly, it can be your friend.

The thing that everyone hates is assessing things just to assess them. The useless counting heads without figuring out why people are there, or the circulation stats that mean nothing in a vacuum. But I'm here to tell you that assessment needs to be part of everything you do, and if you plan for it assessment can be easy. (In this post, I'm intentionally focusing on a more typical set of circumstances. I'm glossing things over a bit to show you how you can and should integrate assessment with everything you do.)

Let me walk you through a typical project, and how assessment factors into each stage:

1. Identifying a Need: the beginning of any project is an assessment in and of itself. Paying attention to what's going on around you and noticing a need - whether in your work processes or to address community concerns - is making a judgement and therefore an assessment.
2. Initiating the Project: gathering your stakeholders and discussing why the project is needed, even if it's just making your case to your boss, already has judgement involved as well. The issue here is making sure you do it intentionally. Stakeholders are people who will be effected by a project, and this is an important step of any effort. Sure, Project Awesome will make things smoother for your patrons, but how will it change the workflow of the person/people who manage your circulation desk or your website or whatever? Thinking that through is one of the most important assessments in any project and you can't do it alone. This is also where people typically establish a goal (why are you doing this project?) and desired outcomes (specific, measurable end results). 
3. Design/Development: Sure, sometimes the perfect solution presents itself, but just as often you need to design something to solve the problem. Keeping stakeholders involved so they can give you feedback is crucial. If something is complicated enough, you will want to test early iterations of the solution as well. That can be a pilot of your new instruction technique with a faculty member who trusts you or asking a friend who works at another library to try to find something on the test website. Take lots of notes here. 
4. Implementing the Project: This is rolling out your shiny new "thing". Taking notes about timing and people involved and such is important. How long did it take? Did people say anything about the "thing" while it was happening?
5. Formal Assessment: Did you achieve your goals? Outcomes? Why/why not? This is writing the report for your director or reporting back to the instruction committee. This is also the point at which you try to figure out how to improve even further, which starts this list all over again since it's another example of identifying a need.

The biggest thing is that it absolutely has to be a cycle. You never stop assessing just like you never stop trying to improve. And with a little luck (dragon), that's exactly what you'll do.

Are There Any Questions? My First Month as a Full-Time Librarian, by Lauren Connolly

Hello! I’m new. New to this library, new to this state, and new to the world of full-time employment. I moved away from my native state of Delaware to the wilds of Northwest Ohio, the farthest I’ve ever lived from my family, to begin my new librarian life. I had a weekend to adjust to my temporary housing, and then my career began. That was a lot of change in a short amount of time, but surprisingly I only cried once, and luckily I was not at work during that temporary emotional overload. I count that as a major success.

I believe part of what has helped me keep it together is the fact that everyone here is kind to me. So simple, but so important. Even a job you don’t like can be made better by the people you work with; fortunately, I have a good job, and I am surrounded by great people. This is something I didn’t think about too much when I was job hunting. I’m an agreeable, non-confrontational person, and I thought I would be fine with whoever I ended up working alongside. When I received this offer, it came more than a year out from earning my MLIS, so I know the desperation that comes with a long job search: the little voice in the back of your head that convinces you any job offer is a good one, because at least you’ll be working.

Oh, just get a job?

But seriously, who you work with is important. People here smile, and say hello to me throughout the day. They asked me about my apartment search, and gave me recommendations on where to find cheap furniture. When I have a question, they don’t roll their eyes, they answer it, and then offer guidance. My office is right next to the library director’s, and it is not uncommon for me sidle over with one of my many questions. So far he hasn’t shut the door in my face, so I don’t think I’ve become too annoying… yet.

That was something I had to push myself to do in the beginning: ask questions. There have already been plenty of times when I’ve felt like I was missing something, like everyone else understood what was going on, and I was nodding and smiling and trying to keep up. I doubted my abilities as a librarian, feeling like I was simply mimicking people who actually knew what the hell was going on. 

This blog actually taught me what that feeling is: imposter syndrome. Honestly, is there any way to avoid that when you start a new job? You have this fancy title, but everything is unfamiliar. What do they expect you to know, and how soon? Whenever I feel the onslaught of self-doubt, I try to take a moment to myself and have an inner conversation that goes a little something like this:

Me: “What the hell is a widget? And a proxy server? What class did I skip where those were explained?!”

Me: “Lauren, calm down. We can figure this out.”

Me: “How?! I bet every other librarian knows what those things are, and has been working with them for years! How did I even get this job?!”

Me: “It’s going to be okay Lauren. Remember when you didn’t know what a LibGuide was? You were freaking out then too, but now not only do you know what they are, you’ve made them.”

Me: “Yeah, I guess…”

Me: “You know what you’re really good at? Learning. Anything they want you to do here, you can learn it. When they ask you about widgets that’s what you say. You’re not sure yet, but you’ll learn. We’ve been doing it for years. So calm down, and start researching.”

Me: “You’re right. I can do this.”

So that’s a glimpse inside my brain, and pretty much my thought process throughout my first month. I go through waves of stress, but recovery time is quick because of my co-workers. Plenty of people will tell you that when you start a new job it’s okay to ask questions. I’ve found it’s equally as important to find a place full of people who will answer those questions, and sometimes even thank you for asking them.

Lauren Connolly is the Online Services Librarian at the University ofFindlay. She tweets at @laurenaliciaCon, and also runs the Shafer Library social media pages (@ShaferLibrary).  [Editor’s note: And in the interest of full disclosure, Lauren used to work for me at Wesley College. I’m happy for her success, but I miss having her around my library.]

Interview Post: Jacob Berg

Biographical

Name?

Jacob Berg

Current job?
Senior Librarian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State, via The LAC Group

How long have you been in the field?
Off and on since 1996, but totally all the way on since 2007.

How Do You Work?

What is your office/workspace like?

I've got a windowless office with some bookshelves, cork boards on two walls, and a sit-stand desk. I try to stand about two-thirds of the time. There's also a table and two other chairs for meetings, and there is almost always chocolate as well as trail mix on hand.

How do you organize your days?

It's a small library, and I know I'm going to be working the reference desk for at least an hour per day, so I try to work around that. For the most part, I try to handle internal library issues in the morning, and external in the afternoon.

What do you spend most of your time doing?

Administrating, usually strategic planning, plotting a library renovation, marketing and outreach, and a bit of collection development.

What is a typical day like for you?

I'm training myself to be more of a morning person, and with enough cold brew coffee I can almost fake it. I get to work at 7:30am and scour social media and library listservs for good ideas to steal. Then I stand, check in with the other staff, check email, and start writing. Documenting workflows, strategic planning, brainstorming outreach... I'm out on the desk for an hour in the middle of the day, then I take lunch, and then I'm back at it, standing, often with collection development, and reaching out to schools and divisions within the Foreign Service Institute to see what they need, suggesting edits and editing the website, and the occasional cataloging. I leave around 4:30.

What are you reading right now?

Shadowshaper, by D.J. Older. Young adult fiction, thriller-horror set in Brooklyn. Authors take note: I am reading this primarily due to Older's excellent twitter presence, @djolder. I also enjoy longform journalism.

What's the best professional advice you've ever received?

I'm not going to declare something the best, but please, document everything. Write it down! I'll credit Becky Yoose, @yo_bj, for this through her use of #writethedocs. Also, this is a good time to mention that for librarians like me that don't have and/or haven't had mentors, peer networks are everything. Find your people, please. They're out there.

What have you found yourself doing at work that you never expected?

I had no idea how much outreach to the FSI community I'd be doing. I'm not an extrovert or type A, so this has been interesting, to say the least.

Inside the Library Studio

What is your favorite word?

"Piglet." Just say it with me. Hard not to smile, right?

What is your least favorite word?

Cliché, but I am one of those people who really does not like the word "moist." <shudders>

What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?

Working at a zoo. Poop aside, being outside, with animals... Cheese-mongering would be fun, too, plus it's another good word.

What profession would you never want to attempt?

There are so many. Acting. Lawyering.

Everything Else

What superpower do you wish you had?

Befitting an introvert, invisibility.

What are you most proud of in your career?

At a previous job I worked with a vendor to build open access into our discovery layer, raising awareness on campus and providing access to resources that would otherwise go unfound. Also, I've been able to take advantage of DC's job market, hiring, and training library staff from a wide array of backgrounds.

If you're willing to share, tell about a mistake you made on the job.

I am forever making mistakes. They happen. They happened. They'll happen again. If you can, please give people space to make mistakes, and to fail. I even have a tag for it on my seldom-updated blog: http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/search/label/failure. Specifics are there.

When you aren't at work, what are you likely doing?

Bemoaning the current state of the world online; gaming with my ten year old; talking about dinosaurs, Star Wars, and Legos with my four year old; petting dogs; gardening and cooking; reading and writing about beer; binge watching TV shows; and rooting in vain for the New York Mets, my favorite squadron.

Who else would you like to see answer these questions?

Kenny Nero, Jr. (@kennynerojr).

Jake tweets at @jacobsberg and blogs at Beerbrarian. This is the third post he's written for Letters to a Young Librarian. The first was "Doing Research Lets You Justify Why You’re Doing What You’re Doing" and the second was Ethics, Copyright, and Information Literacy,