Library Technician

Library staff have no right to decide how much effort they put into a particular job based on whether they like the person or the job. Stopping short on a job for any reason isn't acceptable. My lib'n was asked to get a thesis that had been written for an overseas university and she had trouble with it. I'd started the job and showed her where I got stuck searching UMI (the thesis was a bit too old for easy online searching without a sub) but I also showed her that it was available from the university library itself. She screwed up her face, almost said yuk, emailed UMI directly and passed their no on to the reader without bothering to investigate getting it directly from the uni or passing that info on to the reader. I really feel like pulling the reader aside separately and giving him info but it could backlash really badly.

My lib'n is finally starting to get stuck into the idea that she has to do the promotion of the library. We've been given a stay, we aren't closing straight away, but one of the conditions is that the library has to be promoted. She's been moaning for days, resisting this, saying all sorts of silly things about other people not taking on the responsibility. You'd never believe she's running this library! If this library actually manages to survive it will be in spite of her not because of any effort she's put in. Today is the first time in two weeks I've heard her change her tune. She got a folder about library promotion from another library and it has finally sparked ideas. We actually had quite a lively discussion. I've never run a promotion campaign before but I know about it and helped out. I've also seen some excellent people in action. She was really taken with the idea of the elevator speech, 15-20 seconds of promotion. She said that it was an elevator speech that managed to get the library moved out of the basement years ago. I like waylaying people for ten minute lobbying. I'm trying to push her to push information out to our clients. She seems to be expecting them to come to us, but she sort of understands that isn't the way it works. I think she's also a bit scared of the consequences of promotion - what if we end up with too much work???

Scenario three. A small government library, part of a department that was absorbed by another department (thereby becoming an office instead of a department), that already has a library of it own. Both these libraries are at either ends of a city. The collections are quite different but there is some overlap in interest and they have both borrowed from each other for years. The absorbed library had a lovely but slightly introverted lib'n who never had to promote the services of the library before because it was a conveniently small organisation and she was located in a conveniently central location, everyone liked her and used the library. Promotion itself really wasn't a problem here until they were absorbed and faced with a mega dept determined to cut costs everywhere and a top dog who didn't know her and never visited her library. When they decided they only needed one library per mega dept she just didn't have enough experience to even make a case for staying open and really didn't have the interest - she was a year off retiring. They kept the library open for that year with her working by herself and simply closing the library when she needed time off.

Another library gone. More library staff positions gone. Another whole building of dept staff who are now having trouble getting their information needs met.