Incoherent Scribblings

It’s a stereotype we are all familiar with: The librarian who seems to enjoy nothing better than the act of prowling the library in search of patrons who are talking just a little too loudly so she hold a finger to her pursed lips and hiss, “Shh!”

However, times have changed and libraries now offer more than dusty books and an unwelcoming environment of tomb-like silence. Technology has transformed the library into a place of innovation and collaboration and as a result, librarians and patrons alike are more tolerant of an increased decibel level.

But just when librarians thought that they had risen above the long-held images of them as prim nay-sayers, they were unwilling thrust back into that role with the introduction of a job duty that few of them had expected: The cell phone police.

In today’s overly-connected world where common sense is often overshadowed by the invisible umbilical cord that attaches us to our electronic devices, librarians are once again presented with the task of patrolling the stacks. This time, however, it is in search of the unattended cell phone with Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” ringtone or the patron who believes for some reason that the “No Cell Phone Conversations in the Library” sign doesn’t apply to the library restrooms.

Librarians do not enjoy being the cell phone police and many will turn a blind eye if a patron is sufficiently embarrassed when his or her cell phone disturbs the relative quiet of the library environment as long as the patron quickly remedies the situation. However just because a librarian seems to take no notice when a cell phone rings, do not believe for one second that he or she doesn’t know whose cell phone has rung and where it is.

Some librarians have a higher tolerance for library-inappropriate cell phone behavior than others. Nevertheless, even lenient librarians recognize that loud or sprawling cell phone conversations are disturbing and that some action must be taken.

Unfortunately, it is sometimes not enough to just throw the patron in question a withering look. Every now and then it becomes necessary to advise the patron that he or she must either immediately end the conversation or take it out of the library. Although the librarian will attempt to avoid humiliating the patron by quietly notifying him or her of this, it is not always possible because the librarian isn’t the only one who has identified the cell phone offender.

While getting “caught” using a cell phone in the library may be embarrassing, it is really no cause for offense. After all, as a society, shouldn’t we know better?

Today I read an article in American Libraries* about a situation where “groups of students and parents [...] staged rallies and presented some 85 books on homosexuality for inclusion in the libraries at 11 schools in the Fairfax County, Virginia Public School District.”

The reason that this article caught my attention was because all the books presented were “from a conservative Christian perspective” and part of a “nationwide campaign organized by the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based traditional values group Focus on the Family, which believes that sexual orientation is a changeable attribute.”

I will quickly sum up what happened: The books were not included because the coordinator of library information services for the district indicated that the librarians felt they already had a balanced perspective on the issue in their libraries and the books failed to meet selection criteria.

Of course in response the Focus on the Family group claimed censorship.

At this point I am not going to discuss the particulars of this case anymore because in many ways it becomes irrelevant to the rest of this post. However, it did bring up some questions that, as a librarian, I have been pondering all day.

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My job title is Education Coordination Librarian at West Texas Town University Library. Most people (even librarians) don’t really know what my title means, so I explain it by saying that I am in charge of the educational activities at the library.

Of course, after I say that the next question is usually, “OK, but what exactly do you do?”

Let me explain…

The main component of my job is to provide instructional services regarding library resources on campus. Typically what this means is that sometime during the semester professors arrange to bring their class(es) to the library for one class period so that I can either (for lower-level undergraduates) introduce the library, its resources, and research methods to the class or (for upper-level undergraduates or graduate students) delve deeper into using specialized resources for research projects.

These classes take place in a classroom in the library that is equipped with computer workstations so that the students can practice searching. However, as you can imagine the temptation for students (especially undergraduates) to surf the web while I am instructing them on the library’s electronic resources is enormous.

When I first began doing library instruction I worked on the naïve hope that when students were using the computers while I was talking that they were actually following along with what I was doing. However, it quickly became apparent to me that while some students were following along, the majority were checking their MySpace or Facebook accounts or aimlessly surfing the web. I tried to ignore this, but recently when some students were caught red-handed ordering golf shoes during my demonstration I decided I had had enough!

Two weeks ago I took control of my classroom. From now on, I am making the students sit in the front rows with the computers turned off while I do an abbreviated demonstration that takes about half of the time I am allotted. During the second half of the class I then allow the students to spread out and use the computers to do sample searching while I mingle among the crowd and keep them on task.

Only time will tell if they retain the information better this way, but one thing I can already verify: When I make them sit in the front of the room without the computers to distract them I see a lot more eyes looking at me instead of those damn computer screens!

I have to admit that I only read a few library blogs. However, one of the ones I read recently answered a meme entitled “how I became a librarian” and ever since I read it I thought I should answer it too.

So, exactly how did I become a librarian?

Once upon a time, there was a little blonde girl who liked to read…

I am sure that is how you are anticipating this story begins and to an extent that is true. When I was little my family lived around the corner from Small Town Iowa Public Library and my mom and I spent many a happy hour there.

However, the story actually starts a few months before I left for college. When I got accepted to college I had a ton of paperwork to fill out and that included paperwork related to the work study program that I qualified for. I knew from an inside connection that freshmen usually got stuck working in the cafeteria unless they specifically indicated there was somewhere else on campus they wanted to work.

Well, as you can imagine I had no desire to get stuck in the cafeteria washing dishes, so my mom suggested that perhaps I might get to work in the library if I requested it. It sounded like a good idea to me, so I requested the library on the paperwork and when I got to college a few months later I learned that I would be working in the library.

I worked in the library all four years I was in school and a couple of summers to boot. I worked in circulation and remember wishing that I was the one that answered the reference questions that I referred to the librarian, but other than that I absolutely loved working in the library.

As you may remember, I was an English major in college and as I approached my senior year I realized that although I had plans to write The Great American Novel, I probably wasn’t going to make a living doing it. (Yes, I still have plans to write that novel… someday.) I didn’t want to be a teacher and I didn’t want to work at Chain Restaurant ABC for the rest of my life. What was I going to do?

Naturally I decided that I should go to grad school.

Although my first thoughts of grad school focused on continuing with English, by this time with the support and encouragement of the library director I had begun thinking that getting an MLS (Master of Library Science) was not only something I might enjoy, but something that might also get me a job. Honestly, I wanted both. I wanted an advanced degree in English and I wanted to be a librarian.

I had such a hard time making up my mind that I missed the deadline to take the GRE and as a result ended up working through a temp agency at a dead-end job for a few months after I graduated.

As you can imagine after working at my boring dead-end job for a few weeks I realized that if I didn’t go back to school I would probably kill myself, so I began preparing for the GRE and making a list of schools that had both a library program and a graduate English program.

During the months after I graduated from undergraduate school I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and finally came to the conclusion that I would go to library school first. It was the late 90s, libraries were becoming more and more technology-oriented, and technology-related jobs were booming. It seemed like a win-win situation.

So that is what I did. I went to library school, got my MLS, got a job, quit my job, ran away to get married, lounged around as a domestic goddess for a few years, got divorced, and a year ago I ended up back in libraries and have been working here at West Texas Town University ever since.

And that is the story of how I became a librarian.

What does it mean to be a reference librarian? When someone asks you a question, what do you do?

Do you find information for that patron? Do you suggest a few select books from the catalog or point out articles that seem to be on topic? Even as you perform such a consultation do you act as a readers’ advisory?

Or do you instruct the patron on how to find the information for him or herself? Do you explain the theory behind searching and do example searches? Do you teach the mechanics of manipulating data?

Do you do both? If you do both, why? Why do you simply find information for one patron, but chose to instruct the other one?

The library instruction librarian in me wants to teach everyone that comes into the library how to find information for him or herself. She wants every boy and girl that enters the library to know how to tell a good source from a bad one. She wants them to know how to use the good source when they find it and do so responsibly. She wants them to be independent researchers and find it rewarding.

Many requests are relatively straight-forward and, if properly educated, the patron can easily find the information for him or herself. Therefore, a little instruction can go a long way in answering the question.

But when that gem of a question, that rare nugget of authentic reference work is presented, the rouge reference librarian in me emerges and suppresses that naive instruction librarian. The reference librarian wants the thrill of finding the answer all to herself. She doesn’t care if all the good boys and girls learn how to find the answer or not.

It isn’t about guarding the secrets of the library or being lazy. It isn’t about purposely finding the information so the patron doesn’t have to or influencing the information the patron receives.

It’s all about solving the puzzle.