Omigosh...where does time go!

Time flies while you're having fun. The Practicum continues to be a varied diet from helping index high school year books (I had more fun teasing a friend about a 5th grade picture...she considered including me in her will it I'd somehow manage to take the picture out of the year book! :) ) to helping create a notebook of maps to various other relatively local libraries as a reference tool and handout for patrons. And, questions, questions, questions! Exercise dvds, backpacking, blood pressure -- he wanted to have a clear explanation of "the numbers" (systolic and diastolic) so he could explain them to someone else. His young son was far more interested in going to "get some good books." Kids have their way, don't they! In the midst of reorganizing the ready reference information and reassessing the current Disaster Plan information that was found tucked at the back of low shelf so no one could find it, the ice storm going on outside contributed (we're certain!) to the circulation and its constituent parts failing for a couple of hours in the afternoon. That's ok! We did other things and managed quite nicely in other ways. FirstSearch was searchable so we weren't without our wits ( :} ) about us.

I'm struck at how little the actual Reference area is used. I'm also struck by how many reference questions are asked and answerable in the checkout section of the library. I know I've mentioned this before but I think it merits mention again...it makes one wonder if the reference books shouldn't truly be interfiled with the regular non-fiction, as some libraries are doing. Space in this library, as apparently in all libraries, is at a premium, and I'm wondering if using this precious commodity - space - couldn't be accommodated differently.

You never know what's coming next. How fun is that!!

A conversation with another reference librarian reveals that there is a huge need for more staffing -- and of course, as in most libraries, insufficient funding, so the reference librarians find themselves wearing many hats (and being unable to find sufficient time to "do" their jobs). This a a function I meet with pleasure and familiarity, but I can see that it's a challenge to adequately meet all the apparent needs of the Reference department, from computer education to program planning to weeding to...well, you get the idea. While I haven't located any wonderfully earthshakingly useful websites to add to our collection of sites for future reference, what I have noticed again and again is how much a reference librarian needs to know if only how and where to search for the right answer. It's an issue more of how is an item going to be useful to a patron rather than an issue of whether it is the "politically correct" database or collection to own. Whether it's a question about whether there is a Terrell Owens biography on shelf or is there information about a particular medical issue or can the patron get some help with an email issue or an Excel program, the reference librarian quickly changes expertise to meet patrons' needs. I think that is the reference librarians strength: the ability to change gears rapidly and without a blink and find that good information. Ice storm or no ice storm, that patrons want their information. The reference librarian can do that. And does.

P.S. I've lost track of how many hours I've actually spent at this library with the reference practicum. I stopped counting after 50. It's just plain fun - and a real education!