And so it begins...

I started my summer internship on Monday, May 14 at the Wheeler Taft Abbett, Sr. Branch Library. My supervisor is Kendra Davey who graduated from the SIRLS program and was initially assigned to libraries on the east side before being transferred to locations closer to home as part of a county-wide green effort. Her specialty/interest is in children’s literature, particularly teen-level books and activities.

The Abbett Library is located just off Silverbell surrounded by a beautiful park. This is the entrance to the meeting rooms.

From the moment I arrived at 11 AM until the time I left at 8 PM, the place was jumping, not only out on the floor but in the back room as well. I think the biggest surprise for me was the number of pages and clerks there are at the branch, checking materials in and getting them out on the floor as quickly as possible. Everyone rotates jobs every few hours, including the librarians assigned to work the desk, so that no one person does the same activity for too long. This cuts down on repetitive motion injuries, boredom and, for those assigned to the desk, exhaustion at being inundated by a variety of requests one right after the other.  It is a very fast-paced environment.

This doesn’t mean that staff and volunteers don’t have fun or take a few minutes to talk – they do. I have never been around such a large group of people who are, to a person, incredibly welcoming and friendly, not only to me but to each other and the patrons. The whole experience reinforced why I would love to work in a public library.

I have a few initial observations about why the tone/atmosphere at this particular library is this way:

1)   staff is being cross-trained. Kendra told me that there is a one-desk philosophy system-wide that has eliminated the segregation of reference and circulation duties: they are all done in one location by anyone assigned desk duty. Additionally, it appears that clerks and pages not only know each other jobs, they are assigned other duties to help out where needed.  Since anyone who works at the library is considered a librarian, pages are approached while shelving.  They have been schooled on how to gracefully hand off a customer to another staff person when appropriate, emphasizing service and courtesy.

2)   the philosophy of being welcoming and helpful starts at the top. Senior staff moves on a regular basis between the Abbett Library and Geasa-Marana Library so that they are comfortable at either location and can role model the kind of behavior they want to see in staff (and staff can see that the philosophy isn’t just one person’s idea but is a value held system-wide). An added bonus is that they can bring their particular expertise to a different setting/customer base, who then benefit from what they have to offer.

3)   there is a push to get folks out from behind the desk and make sure that patrons can find what they want. Some branches utilize greeters. They tried that at Abbett but it didn’t quite work as they had hoped. They do, however, ask desk personnel to roam during their shift as they are able, approaching people to make sure they are finding what they want. Kendra and I took a few minutes to roam and the three people she talked to all needed help finding a resource. By reaching out, they were invited to ask questions and Kendra didn’t just walk them to a shelf and pull the book for them, she took the time to educate them on how to use the computer, how the library is organized, etc.  This is empowering so they will either be able to find what they are looking for more easily the next time they visit or won’t hesitate to come to the desk.

The atmosphere was so congenial that I fully expected everyone to high-five each other for a job well done as we lined up to exit the building together at the end of the day. I was exhausted from trying to take it all in and from jumping from one task to another (and there is no way I am going to remember anyone’s name) but at the same time energized. I can hardly wait to go back next Monday!!

Words describing a library and its contents are captured in this sculpture. Located near the main entrance, it is spectacular when lit at night.