Reference Blog #3

I covered the reference desk again on November 2, this time with a non-reference librarian. The two of us had been asked to cover the desk while the reference librarians had a meeting. This person normally works in technical services, so we were both praying something extraordinarily difficult didn't happen that neither of us knew how to deal with.

This was an interesting experience by itself. The other person is older than me and communicated with patrons as well as conducted searches in a different way. Her knowledge of the catalog was immense, considering her experience in ordering and processing the majority of our library. However, I found that when a patron didn't know exactly what they want, I was able to quickly use some newer searching tools and databases that she may not have been aware of. To be clear, I am not saying that this person was unhelpful, we just performed the same functions very differently.

This leads me to the point that staying in touch with technology is a vital part of being a reference (I repeat, reference) librarian. The primary goal is to answer the questions of patrons, and the fewer resources you have at your disposal, the harder time you may have locating what the patron wants. At this particular desk it is necessary to work as a team since questions can come in through a variety of means, sometimes all at once. Knowing how to delegate these tasks should not happen because one person does not know how to perform a certain task. I guess what I'm trying to say here is being a reference librarian is always a learning experience. This is not only due to evolving technology, but evolving forms of communication (i.e. instant messenger, text, etc.) There are absolutely still things that I don't know how to do and being at the desk can be overwhelming. It can be very personally challenging to have a patron stare at you because you clearly don't know what you're doing.

That feeling is going away for me as I gain plenty of experience at the desk, and I'm enjoying learning new (and some great old) techniques.