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18/02/2005
Lost Libraries
When our space was reduced by about 20% we were feeling like we didn’t know how we could cope, it was the readers space and they are now crowded into a corner, but it turns out that most of our regulars don’t mind sitting closer than they use to although it hasn’t meant more discussion or chatting – they just sit quietly closer. I have noted some people walk in, look around and walk out again, but they aren’t too many. We have an empty desk from our staffing being reduced and one of our bolder clients has taken to using that space. We don’t mind. There’s no computer, it’s just reading space now. Our space being reduced has an upside too as we are paying about 20% less for the space.
Today an email request came in from one of the staff to borrow a loose leaf service from another library. Now I can write that so calmly and there’s no way you can tell the reaction I had, but if you know what loose leaf services are you have probably just had a similar reaction. I rang her to explain that it wasn’t happening, very nicely of course, and asked if she knew what section she needed and maybe I could get it copied. I had to ring another government library and that was a chore in its own right because the departments and sections have all changed name so often in the last few years that if an old name is used no one knows who they are now. I rang a department with a similar name, and they said that the section I wanted was within their department and they had a new name now and their own one person library … the sound in her voice was quite bored with the way the gov is behaving lately. I finally got thru to the section I needed and that entailed a mildly hysterical exchange of stories of lost departments, sections and their libraries. She’d lost a library recently too. Good thing our job actually entails tracking down information, comes in handy when the gov is playing hide and seek. It doesn’t help when the old name is something that’s been in use for generations and is an descriptive name – everyone keeps using it. The new name doesn’t stick and isn’t descriptive so you can’t find it in the directories. In this case it’s even more complicated because the section I was looking for wasn’t in the government directory or on the main department website or in the Interlibrary Resource Sharing Directory. Phoning around was the only thing that worked and even then you hope you can find a long termer who remembers all the connections.
There is a need for an online directory of the old names of sections and departments and the new names for them.
She very kindly faxed over the section from the looseleaf service that was needed, no charge.
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