Re: What do you do all day??

[Su Epstein <SuE@GFACADEMY.ORG>]

As one who considers herself a LIBRARIAN vs a TEACHER, and who firmly
believes that even schools should have school *LIBRARIANS* what I try to
focus on is library work, beginning with the most obvious and accessible:
        I search for books that fit the circulum and are interesting for you
(students) to read.  This means I have to know about books, the subject, to
a degree, read reviews, etc.  Then I find where the book can be purchased
and manage the budget to purchase the books that we want.  Then the books
need to be ordered and when they arrive checked in. Why? Hold up example of
Oxford Dictionary of Musicians that came bound upside down.  If the books
are "wrong" I argue with the vendor to make the situation right, if they
books are ok, then I search for them in a large database, like LC, I import
(download) the records, then I review the record, making sure its right and
adding the information that we want here.  In this process I assign it those
funny little numbers - why? (If your doing a report on American poetry do
you want to look through each book to find *American* vs Irish vs English vs
Spanish?)  Because when your doing your report on the Soviet Union do you
want to look all over or have one stop shoping (the catalog)?  I explain the
catalog is a database (light blubs go on with the alternative term.)   The
numbers are important.  I assign controlled vocabulary. (Do we know what
that means?  How many ways can you describe a cat - a panther, kitty,
Morris?) So, now that I have a book and a record and I've cleaned up that
record, I have to import it again into our main database (two steps b/c if
the data gets corrupted you don't want to risk loosing or messing up 10k
records! - no one argues).  Then the books need to be stamped and pocketed
so they come back, then book covers or tape or such to help protect them
when they're thrown in to lockers and car floors, then they must be put on
the shelf in the right location so we can find them.
        This is just the books... now, we can talk about magazines ...
electronic databases, web pages, supervising the space, reference work,
bibliographic instruction, computer tech support, marketing, and all the
time that's spent shh-ing, explaining, picking up the garbage ....
        I've yet to have anyone be willing to wait beyond the books, but I
have had a lot of comments to the effect of wow I didn't know there was so
much to do in a library....

Su
Su Epstein, Ph.D.
Director of Library Services
Greens Farms Academy
Greens Farms, CT
sue@gfacademy.org

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