Reference Blog #5

Today was not the last day I will be covering the reference desk in the near future, but it will be the last one I am writing about. (November 20th)

I got to do some different things today as the library was rather slow. For example, I learned a lot about interlibrary loans and processing them. Our library is involved in two different library link systems, one with academic libraries and the other with public libraries, all within the state. It is very heavily used (the most heavily used in the country, as of late) and so reference librarians at the Westerville Public Library play a big part in helping pull items for remote patrons, sending them off, and on the other end receiving items from other libraries and checking them out to our local patrons. Because these are special items, they must be checked in and out a certain way as well as obtain a particular label that makes patrons aware these items do not belong to us (or do, if they are remote patrons). Because it is so heavily used, we can have three full carts of items to process. Thankfully, we were slow today and I was able to participate in this process and get a grasp on what the reference librarians here to every day.

On that note, I think it's important to remember that the patrons we serve we don't necessarily meet face to face, or even talk to in any semblance of a conversation. However, we still participate in a transaction with them. In this way, it's really satisfying to see other libraries helping remote patrons. Ultimately, our jobs are public service. These relationships are valuable and should not be discounted as anything else.

Another thing to mention is that we do occasionally get reference questions in snail mail form. While I did not personally answer any of these, I have spoken with several librarians who do respond. Many of these letters are from patrons who cannot physically come inside the library; to be more specific, incarcerated patrons. Dealing with these patrons is different because there are additional privacy issues involved on the side of the librarian (especially the female ones). Sometimes they have to refuse information because patrons will ask for say, 50 pages of printed material. I hope to learn in the future what good policy is with communicating with these patrons (and quite honestly, to see if I personally agree with our current methods of communication, or if they could be improved somehow).

All in all I've learned a lot during my reference shadowing experience and I'm very grateful to the many librarians who advised me and graciously provided me with their time throughout writing my blog. (And thanks for reading it too!) I hope to continue working in reference and constantly learn new things to help patrons.