As of Wednesday, January 11th, 2001 I will be returning to a job as a Youth Services Librarian after a grueling 18 months (or so) working as a Reference Librarian at the big, cesspool of dysfunction that is our flagship library.
Since I accepted the position, my attitudes have transitioned greatly. First, I started with "Oh man, I sure won't miss [insert inane, annoying behavior of my coworkers here]!" That, being such a negative perspective, lasted longer than it should have. Then I put a more positive spin on it: "I sure will appreciate being at a branch library doing something I love." But a couple of days ago I realized how valuable my time here has been and the experience that I gained as a professional aside from the stress and annoyances that often had me running out of the building in tears at the end of the day.
So what experience did I get?
Reference: Let's face it, the branch library I had been working in previous to my Reference Librarian position didn't necessarily give me good reference and research experience. Regular everyday questions were often limited Reader's Advisory and "Do you have the new James Patterson book?" Working at the flagship, including in the local history collection, gave me experience in getting my hands dirty with reference work: Indexes, databases, hastily put together catalogs of local newspapers and the dullest of government documents on land surveying, anthropological studies and the like. And did I mention microfilm? I'm young enough that I've never had to use a microfilm reader, even when in library school. When faced with the challenge of using the machine for the first time my big joke was, "Can't you just ask me a computer question? Those are easy!"
Collection Development: I had a little experience with this going into the job but from a different system. And here, I was "forced" into collecting areas that I wasn't necessarily interested in. But as each system has it's own way of going about collecting materials, and reference librarians are meant to have a general knowledge about things (yes, even things like Romance novels and self-help books) I found this experience to be incredibly useful and it turned out to be one of my favorite things about the job, despite my lack of interest in the subject matter.
Dealing with difficult people: Not that I didn't have difficult people, both coworkers and patrons, to deal with in the branches. Not that I didn't have previous jobs with similar issues. But here, in a large and busy library, with a large, relatively unsupportive staff, I got to handle it all on my own. I was an island. I was forced to build a strong, professional facade, be a stickler for the policies and procedures handed down from above and limit my enthusiasm in the interest of keeping people at a distance and not revealing my true, loving personality to a lot of strange weirdos who might try to take advantage of it.
Office politics: What can I say? I experienced it. I don't do well in that arena because I have a big mouth and a passion for my job. I get frustrated easily and share my feelings in a way that people find "unfriendly". I got into trouble. As far as I know, I've gotten out of trouble (although, through no deliberate intention of my own). I learned to sit down and shut up, which I'm not necessarily proud of, but might mean that I won't get shut out of an otherwise well-deserved promotional opportunity in the future.
Rereading this, I realize that I haven't fully embraced the "positive" nature I was aiming for but I really do appreciate having improved my skills. However, returning to a smaller location, far far away from the goings-on in library administration, knowing the staff, having a good working relationship with the supervisor and returning to Youth Services in a grateful community all makes me optimistic for the year to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment