It's past the midway point of the semester and I am entering the last portion of my internship at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Library in San Jose, California. The first half of my internship focused on reference and instruction, but now the focus is shifting to collection development and liaison responsibilities. I've broken down my recent activities by week:
Week of 10/11-10/15:
On Tuesday I attended my last library instruction course since Diana and I agreed to shift our focus from reference and instruction to collection development and liaison work. The instruction class was scheduled for a Religion class title, Death and Dying. Diana thought it would be a good idea to observe a variety of classes to get a feel for various teaching styles. This class was structured differently than the others I have attended thus far. First, we toured the reference area for religious materials. Then, we took a small detour to view the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) art exhibit, since it related to the focus of the class. Finally, we went back to the classroom, where the librarian gave a brief demonstration on how to use the library databases. Following the demonstration, students were free to research their individual topics. Time definitely went by quickly during this class since we were up and moving during a good portion of the class. The students seemed to enjoy this interactive approach to the class, and I will definitely try to incorporate interactive strategies into my teaching style in my future career.
Later in the week I attended my first faculty meeting. Faculty meetings occur once a month, and cover governance issues. An agenda was passed out at the start of the meeting. After the previous meeting’s minutes were approved, the librarian leading the meeting brought up the issue of vacation requests and sick policy. Faculty members had not been following the procedure to request time off, so he encouraged everyone to submit the proper form in order to establish consistency. There was some conflict because some librarians felt that it is not wise to request time off during the semester. Others argued that if all librarians took time off during the summer then there wouldn’t be enough librarians on staff during that time. The effects of the budget cuts at the library became apparent when the conversation shifted to the topic of there being a shortage of librarians. The conversation had to be cut short so that there would be enough time to discuss the budget. I learned that the budget was recently passed, but a somewhat complicated process has to occur before our actual funds are determined. Attending the faculty meeting was a great way to catch a glimpse into some of the pressing issues taking place on the academic side of the library.
On Friday I accompanied Diana at a meeting with the Chair of the Management Information Systems department. Diana stressed that it is important to maintain communication with the contacts in our departments. The Chair and Diana discussed various topics, including: the budget, the new university website, promotion of information literacy courses, and the use of the institutional repository. Being in attendance at the meeting gave me an idea of some of the issues at hand within this particular department. It also gave me an idea of the amount of responsibility it must be for a librarian in charge of multiple departments.
Week of 10/18-10/22:
I had my first experience working at the reference desk this week. Previously, I observed a few different reference librarians as they worked their shifts at the desk, but I didn’t interact with patrons. The reference desk is set up so there can be up to two reference librarians and two library staff members working simultaneously. Generally there will be one library staff member and one or two reference librarians, depending on how busy it is. My job was to answer any general questions that came to the desk. If there were any complex reference questions, I referred them to a reference librarian. Most of the questions I received were directional or technical (relating to the computers, printers, copiers, etc.).
I also observed my supervisor as she was on duty for virtual reference. Since she was leaving to go out of town, we agreed that I would cover her virtual reference hours while she is away. Unfortunately, it was slow and we did not receive any questions, but I made sure I jotted down all the steps of how to use the virtual reference service.
Diana and I also began discussing collection development, the next topic of focus in my internship. Since Diana is the liaison librarian for several departments in the College of Business, she is responsible for keeping in contact with the department chairs and selecting books and materials for purchase for these departments. She explained that the current trend is to spend 75% of an allocated budget on digital materials and 25% on print materials. Although many younger faculty members are fine with this trend, some older faculty members prefer print materials.
Week of 10/25-10/29:
This week concluded my time working at the reference desk. I am a bit sad about that since I was just beginning to feel confident answering a variety of questions. I will, however, continue covering Diana’s hours at the virtual reference desk while she is away. When I was covering the virtual reference desk hours on Tuesday, I received a few questions, one of which was a difficult question related to baseball (perhaps it would have been less difficult for a baseball fan). To make a long story short, I took the patron’s email address down and told him I would email him as soon as I found the answer. It took a couple of tries, but I finally found the information he was looking for. It felt great when he told me that I had found exactly what he needed. Later on, Diana sent me an email with a copy of a survey completed after my session. I saw that the patron rated my service as “Excellent.” It felt so rewarding to see that the patron had indicated he would use the library’s virtual reference service again in the future. I genuinely feel that providing reference services will be a highlight in my future career.
