Can You Help Me, Shayna?

Those words, spoken to me last week, made my day. That might sound a little odd, a little simple, but it's true.

At work, there is a gentleman who comes in, Mr. F. He's been coming in for years, apparently, but I've only known him for the past three. Now, although Mr. F is rather particular, I have never had any issues with him - my interactions have always been positive ones.

Since the pandemic though, I've really only seen Mr. F a handful of times. He calls semi-regularly, but it's not always me who picks up the call, and my name isn't always given either. He's the kind of person who has been around just enough that you wonder if he's doing okay, but is never gone so long that you officially start worrying about him.

So you might wonder, given that information, why his most recent visit was so impactful to me. Well, here's the thing - many years ago, Mr. F had a traumatic brain injury. He has a really difficult time remembering details, and often needs things documented in clear steps. He always needs his checkout receipt, and you need to go over his account carefully with him every time to make sure all of the items are returned. But, after many months of not seeing each other, the first words out of Mr. F's mouth to me, were "can you help me, Shayna?"

For whatever reason, Mr. F still remembers my name. I wouldn't have been offended in the least had he recognized my face and nothing else - heck, with half of my face covered by a mask, I wouldn't even have been offended had he not recognized me at all. But there he was, not only remembering my name, but feeling comfortable enough with me to instantly know he was safe in asking me for assistance. And the simple joy of it nearly took my breath away.

So thank you, Mr. F - you are exactly why I am here doing this job.

-------

Tell me about an impactful interaction in your life, whether at work, or in your personal life. Did it help to recharge you? Inspire you?

Library Life: Hold Slips - Pt. 2

A few weeks ago, I did a post all about how hold slips are generated at libraries (it's much more interesting than it sounds, I promise), and included in it some examples of famous people and what their hold slip codes might look like. I had such fun thinking about them that I decided to do a part II post entirely dedicated to what author's codes would be. 

In case you haven't read that post (in which case, I absolutely recommend it), or just need a refresher, this topic assumes that holds codes are made using the first three letters of the person's last name and the first letter of their first name.

I've scoured my brain and the internet to come up with authors that have interesting or amusing codes, and categorized them into ones that:

• Form English words 
• Result in a name 
• Caught my attention for being interesting

and last but not least,

• Where the holds code look shockingly like the author's own name

Enjoy!

Library Life: Holds Slips

When you request an item at a library, staff pull it off the shelf, check it in, and file it in a special location for pick-up. But, as masters of categorizing and putting items in order, you might be wondering just exactly how we file them. This brings up a few important issues in the library world:

• Ease of finding information - how easy is it for me to find your requested items when you come to collect them?
• Confidentiality - how can I protect your privacy so that other people don't know what you are taking out?
• Self-sufficiency - is there a method simple enough to allow the public to find their own items off the shelf, or must this always be done by staff?

In order to solve this dilemma, libraries have different methods for storing and sorting them, however they all follow similar principles.

Some libraries use slips of paper with a person's full name, sorting by their surname, and store them behind a counter for privacy. This is often done for smaller or more private libraries, as it requires a lot of space in a staff-only area.

Many, dare I say most, use specially coded "holds pick-up slips" that can be seen by the public. These involve some combination of a person's name as well as a number to help distinguish between similar names. So, a holds pick-up slip could have the first 3 or 4 letters of a person's last name, their first name, and perhaps, the last 4 numbers of their phone number. 

Most libraries I have been to, have it actually even more secretive than that, however. Most commonly, I have seen The first 3 or 4 letters of the last name, first initial, and a short sequence of numbers. The numbers usually correspond to either a barcode or a phone number, depending on the size of the library. This allows for privacy, as well as for people to be able to find their own items.

For example, mine would be something like ROGS1234

You might wonder, how private this really is though. Let me show you!

Library Life: Do We Judge You?

The short answer is no.

But the long answer...?

- Sometimes I notice what you check out, sometimes I don't. The longer you take to be prepared, more I notice about your books. If you are embarrassed about what you are checking out, I would suggest having your card ready before you come to the counter (or use a self-checkout option if it is available to you). I have had people comment on their items, and then I actually have to look at them to understand why they are commenting, haha.

- I know my regular's hold slip codes. That doesn't mean I check what you have on hold, only that I know you have holds because I had to interfile other holds nearby.

Library Life: Community or Quiet?

Whether you are a frequent visitor of your local library, or or haven't been in one since you were little, I'm sure you have a distinct picture in your mind of what they are like. Are they quiet places of study and refuge, with people who shush you, a musty smell, and books in pristine condition? Are they maybe centres filled with the sounds of storytimes and children running around, media centres to explore technology, and a nice little cafe on the main floor?

Whatever your opinions are, most of them currently fall somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, as wonderful as this balance is, it comes with some sacrifices. How can you have a quiet study space but also allow for multimedia use? How do you keep the books clean and without damage, but also allow in food? You can't. But, there are ways to protect both of these environments to get the best of both worlds.

Library Life: Colonoscopy

Now, if that title didn't get your attention, I really don't know what will. It's a little bit of click-bait, but honestly... it was prompted by something that happened recently.

Spending so much time working in a public place, you get to not only see a lot of people, but some of them you see so often that you inadvertently learn a lot about them...or sometimes they tell you far too much. For example, I know that Patti* loves to look up facts about country music on the computer, and Stephen will automatically spell his whole name to you over the phone instead of saying "Stephen with a 'ph'," and Elizabeth will remind you she is legally blind every single time she can.

These interactions are what you just get used to, and you try to shape your conversations around this information. And then, there are these moments, where people tell you things they probably shouldn't, and that you definitely can't "unhear":

Library Life: You Found WHAT in a Book?

Fascinating things can be found between the covers of a book - and I don't just mean the words. Amongst the pages of books and the cases of DVDs and books on CD, I have found many a treasure. Here are a few of the things I have found trapped between the covers of library items, from the mundane to the ridiculous:

Library Life: Phone Etiquette

Conversation #1

______ Library, how may I help you?

My name is _____ _______ and I lost my book, or I think I lost it, but I don't really know, and it might be in my cottage in North Bay which is several hours away, and my daughter might be able to get it in a week or two, but I don't know. What do I do?

Okay, let me take a look at your account. Can I get your name again?

*Patron now thinks I am an idiot because they already told me their name, and proceeds to spell their name which is something like "Mary Smith"*

Situations like this happen to me several times a week, and there are a few simple ways to change this - but it seems like learning phone etiquette is a thing of the past...or never occurred at all. So, I would like to share a few tips on how to conduct yourself over the phone with a business or organization. Now, organizations have different ways of doing things based on how their computer system works, but this is a generally good guide.
-------------

What to do before making a call:
1) Know what has happened (even if you don't know why)
2) Know what you want to achieve
3) Have your client card/number present

Tips when speaking:

1) Say hello.
You don't need to ask how the person you are calling is, it's okay. You are welcome to (politeness is definitely not a bad thing), but please also keep this relatively brief - often staff are minding phones as well as other things, and drawing out a phone call for a long time over pleasantries can be a bit frustrating. However, please never EVER just launch into what your problem is without even saying hello - it is just plain rude, and people are less likely to do you a favour.

2) First state in a single clear and concise statement what the problem is.
This is not the moment to give the entire backstory of what has occurred. Often people will have launched into their full problem in complete detail...only to be told that they need to be transferred to another location or person. Some businesses have people to answer the phones simply to route the calls to the correct place and answer simple questions (ex. hours of operation, nearest location, etc.), while others have fully trained staff answering the phones and taking care of other things (or somewhere in the middle). Since you likely won't know the capabilities of the person on the other end, the best thing that you can do is to simply inform the person what you need/the problem, so that they can determine what tools will be needed to help you - whether that is opening the correct computer module, or transferring the call.

Library Life: And I Quote...Unusual Favours

I'm going to start a new series! Well, a segment within a series. Within my new "Library Life" series, I want to do an occasional segment, which I'm thinking I want to call "And I Quote..." but that might change, haha. Basically, I wanted to share some of the hilarious situations I deal with while working in a library. Some of these are very much exclusive for libraries, but a lot of them are things that people in all public service situations can relate to. So, here is my first installment of this series - let's see how it goes!

*Disclaimer: to protect the privacy of the people involved, small details and/or wording may be changed from what actually occurred, however the main content is the same.

Library Life: Library Misconceptions

I've been fortunate that most of my life has been split between two incredible fields of work: science, and library services. Yet, what I've noticed while talking to people outside of these fields, is that there is very little understanding of what we do! I don't blame people for this, I have no idea how an accountant spends their day, or an electrician. However, both of my fields tend to be portrayed rather stereotypically in the media, leading to some pretty funny misconceptions. So today I want to share with you some of the most common ideas I have heard from people about library work/workers. In future, I want to discuss a little bit of what types of jobs I actually do! I've had experience in three departments, and in two types of positions, so my experiences will be an amalgamation of those, and anything else I can tell you - It won't be indicative of every library, but it's a start!

Misconception #1: You get to read books all day!

Uh...I WISH!
I have had to do this in the past, absolutely, but it's not as big a part of most library jobs as people believe. Children's Programmers, those who run storytimes, definitely have to do this to select the items they are going to read. Librarians mostly skim read to determine what items to maintain in the collection, otherwise they usually read book selection/review articles and magazines (nowhere near as fun, trust me). Occasionally we read to get an idea of items in the collection to better be able to recommend them to others, but this is usually on personal time, and for fun! I actually work with some people that don't read for enjoyment at all. These guys are usually movie buffs though!

RFID Poetry

For many of those working in today's libraries, RFID is a term you are more than familiar with - radio-frequency identification. Tags are placed inside books, movies, and other library materials which act as both a security feature and a quick and easy way to sign out items. This allows these materials to be checked out without using the barcode, and for users to borrow and return items without the help of library staff.
RFID poetry is a form of book spine poetry (placing spines of books next to each other and reading the titles in order to create a poem). Created by checking out or returning items with the use of RFID scanners, the resulting receipt can create some deep, hilarious, or downright weird poetic creations depending on the order the items are scanned.

Forest of Reading 2018

For those of you who don't know me, I work in a children and teens library. That means essentially that most of what I have read over the past few years has been, well, youth materials. Some of these (see: anything by Cassandra Clare) have been purely for enjoyment, while others have been to better be able to recommend books to patrons. I read lots of picture books, but at this point I don't review them on here. I do from time to time however give them a quick review on Goodreads, so feel free to follow me there. If anyone is interested in having reviews of picture books on here, I am more than happy to do it, but otherwise I focus on teen to adult works for the most part.

Anyway, I digress. So, working in this environment it means that it is time for one of the most important youth literary events of the year (well, next year!) - Forest of Reading.

Intro to Book Recommendations

Have you ever had to recommend a book you've never read? What about suggest a read-alike to a novel you've barely even glanced at? Welcome to my daily life in a Children's Library - and I won't pretend for a second that I don't love it.

Over the past few years especially, finding time to read for pleasure has been nearly impossible, save for a random picture book or two. University afforded me little time to keep up to date on the most current books. However, even with tons of spare time and a good reading pace, it's still highly unlikely for someone to be comfortable with the whole Library collection.

So, what does this mean? Fake it until you make it.