I have had a rough couple of months professionally and personally so I thought it would be worth it to remind myself why I got into this crazy life of library work. Of course we are under-appreciated, underpaid, over worked and have to do more with less. Can't fix that with a pithy blog post, but I can recite these (and many more reasons) to get up and face the music.
Librarians are all about the sharing
Whenever I am faced with problems be it personal or professional I am always amazed and thankful at the ability of my colleagues to give advice, commiserate, and almost drop anything to lend a hand. I can't think of a time where even a casual question on a blog or at a conference didn't garner a first rate answer. Need an idea for a program and have no budget? Need to solve a tough personnel problem? How about a book suggestion? Library people want to (and I think NEED to) share. As long as I know a librarian or two, I am NEVER without resources.
Libraries are never boring
I don't care if you are a visitor or an employee. It will always be a cool place to go and no matter what, you will have something to talk about at the end of the day. (I have had days that I can't believe I am being paid to be here! Okay, paid poorly, but still paid.) I have been doing this for over ten years and haven't had a dull day yet. Stressful, yes. Dull, never.
OCD tendencies are usually appreciated as a personality trait
Making order out of chaos is often the best basic job description of a librarian. Okay, maybe my house is a mess and I have a desk that could be condemned, but I love nice book processing, a clean catalog and tidy shelves. If I need to "relax" at work, let me shelf read or look at the shelf list for errors.
Book bags are cool
Ever since I started working in a library, I have found a magnetic attraction to book bags. Even the ugly ones.
Anyway, since I am not exactly pouring out the creativity lately, I figured I better just get out there and do my job. Yes, stable funding, a better economy, and a larger materials budget would be nice too.
Mary
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
The hardest weeding in the world
I have been consulting with a small library and of course preaching the virtues of weeding a collection. I love to spout off on how ALL libraries have dead weight in the collection. Nonfiction is usually easy to weed and somewhat predictable regardless of library size. But then I treaded into fiction. Ouch.
Fiction usually is an area of the library where a shelf space and circulation still have to intersect with taste and personalities. Ultimately this is where weeding is mostly art and not science. Glancing at the shelf list I was pleased by the circulation data I was presented. Nearly every title in this collection was working hard for the library. In another library with space, I would only have to pull for condition. My new problem became what do you pull when all of it is circulating well and is in good shape.
Time to put the big girl librarian pants on and plunge in! With help from the staff we all re articulated what the fiction collection goal was going to be-popular material and classics. Back titles are nice, but can we afford them or the space? With help from circulation data we had to draw a tighter definitions of "good" circulation numbers, This became a real project especially when you think of authors with series and back titles that are amazing. I don't envy anyone this challenge.
I have got through about a third of the collection. My new goal will be to weed systematically and regularly every few weeks. Checking the shelf list regularly will also help. My head still hurts but we are getting there. My new rule is going to be the tighter the shelf space, more active regular the weeding. Waiting until shelving is at critical mass is going to be much more difficult and painful.
So if you are a small library and feel like there is ABSOLUTELY no where to go, try this. Define a an area (maybe a stack or a section of the alphabet) Be brutal and fill a cart. Don't look back. Wait twenty four hours and breathe deeply. Have another staffer go over the cart and discuss as necessary. (I like a double check because there is always something odd that might need to stay). After weeding from the collection take to your book sale room or box it out of the way. Don't have it sit around and taunt you.(this is how the hoarding starts) Keep moving forward.
Mary
Fiction usually is an area of the library where a shelf space and circulation still have to intersect with taste and personalities. Ultimately this is where weeding is mostly art and not science. Glancing at the shelf list I was pleased by the circulation data I was presented. Nearly every title in this collection was working hard for the library. In another library with space, I would only have to pull for condition. My new problem became what do you pull when all of it is circulating well and is in good shape.
Time to put the big girl librarian pants on and plunge in! With help from the staff we all re articulated what the fiction collection goal was going to be-popular material and classics. Back titles are nice, but can we afford them or the space? With help from circulation data we had to draw a tighter definitions of "good" circulation numbers, This became a real project especially when you think of authors with series and back titles that are amazing. I don't envy anyone this challenge.
I have got through about a third of the collection. My new goal will be to weed systematically and regularly every few weeks. Checking the shelf list regularly will also help. My head still hurts but we are getting there. My new rule is going to be the tighter the shelf space, more active regular the weeding. Waiting until shelving is at critical mass is going to be much more difficult and painful.
So if you are a small library and feel like there is ABSOLUTELY no where to go, try this. Define a an area (maybe a stack or a section of the alphabet) Be brutal and fill a cart. Don't look back. Wait twenty four hours and breathe deeply. Have another staffer go over the cart and discuss as necessary. (I like a double check because there is always something odd that might need to stay). After weeding from the collection take to your book sale room or box it out of the way. Don't have it sit around and taunt you.(this is how the hoarding starts) Keep moving forward.
Mary
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