Say Farewell to the Roaming Librarian

 This will be the last entry in my series on the Roaming Librarian. The project will be closed out at the end of this semester. My feelings about this are mixed. 


First, the reasons for the change.  There have been just a few meetings of the librarians who participated in the Roaming project, and the feedback we've given each other is for the most part negative. I've mentioned the drawbacks already, such as librarians being by temperament more inclined to introversion. This means it takes a lot more social energy for us to initiate a reference interview with a patron, than having them come to us. 

There was an even more significant negative. We have comment cards, like most libraries, where patrons can tell us what they think. From the comment cards, we got the understanding that students felt that the librarians were monitoring students' behavior; a few commenters even used the word 'spying'. Obviously this is not the impression we were hoping to make. 

Advertising for this project was all but non-existent, so the students did not know ahead of time why we were walking around and looking at what we were doing. I had a sign that I hung on the tablet computer that gave an invitation to ask me questions, but in retrospect, I could have worded it more clearly; something like "Roaming Librarians - on the spot assistance. We'll come to you."  Anyway, the sign was fun but it could have been better. 

Our student workers were asked to get student feedback in a survey, and to do so were walking through the library with a clipboard and randomly asking students questions. All of the workers that I spoke to expressed great distress with having to take this approach. They felt as though they were intruding upon the patrons, and many said the patrons let them know they didn't like the intrusion. 

Many days while I was Roaming around, I found it uncommon for students who were seated and going about their work to even make eye contact with me. If they're not looking up or looking around, they are probably intent enough on their work that I would be an unpleasant intrusion. I chat with student workers at our service points, which is all good. This has had an unexpected side effect - I have become the librarian of choice when the student workers have to transfer a phone question. Because I've taken just a few minutes twice a week to stop and chat with them, we've developed a relationship, and so they think of me as someone who, as advertised, "knows stuff". 

While the Roaming Librarian is coming to an end, I'll still be here, taking phone calls, emails, chats and even questions in person. It is sometimes difficult to accept the essentially passive nature of our profession. Maybe there are ways to be more active, but it seems that Roaming wasn't it. Well, librarians are an adaptable lot; if this didn't work out, we'll surely find something else that will.

I'll be back, folks.

photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterharding/410096070/">peterharding</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

Tales of the Roaming Librarian - September edition

Some times it's not easy being a Roaming Librarian. It is an unhappy truth that even when we make ourselves on-the-spot available and advertise who we are and what we're doing, the students still have to decide that they want to ask us for help.

September is apparently Art month here in the library. While I've been out Roaming I've encountered:

A student in on of our group study rooms writing on the walls. It's OK, the walls are basically dry erase boards, so that students have plenty of room to make notes and such. This student was drawing clothing designs. There were four or five near-life-size female figures on the walls, all in some kind of modern dress design. The Roaming Librarian does not know women's fashion, he only knows how to do research about it. 

A student with an architect's rule, sitting on the landing of one of our open staircases. He said that from there he had the best vantage point to draw our lobby and main service desk. I spotted several more architectural tools in the area at the bottom of the staircase. 

A student in one of the Learning Commons areas, with her sketch pad spread across the table, making some revisions to a drawing of a statue. I asked her a few questions about her class, and about technique, and learned about the different markings on pencils, which indicate the hardness of the graphite. The harder the graphite, the lighter shade of gray it will produce on paper. Nifty.

Other notable interactions of late:

• helping a student find books on inter-cultural marriage
• recommending a few books on Orthodox Christianity to a student
• discussing a nursing exam on the menstrual cycle with nursing majors
• locating commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles for a student

A student actually came looking for me this week. I had spoken in his Criminal Justice class, and he sought me out for help. He was having trouble finding the kind of research he wanted on the phenomena of 'tunnel vision'. The databases were giving him info on glaucoma, not the psychological condition in which fear or adrenaline cause you to over-focus on one point, and miss all the visual data around you. 

Stay away from the light!

Before long we had located an alternative term, "perceptual distortion" from an article indexed by the NCJRS, National Criminal Justice Reference Service. From there his research got back on track, as he now had a more technically accurate term to search on.

Oh and for bonus points, I saw a lizard in the garden outside. 

Tales of the Roaming Librarian - Fall Semester Kickoff Tour

The fall semester has begun! There are students in the library again, I'm so excited!  
I've got a new, improved version of my sign from last semester, courtesy of our graphics specialist:

How cool is that?!?

 
I've already chatted with several students, and some visitors touring the library. One young lady was so excited that I helped her find Paradise Lost and some lit crit to go with it that she forgot to take the primary text with her. I had to track her down in the reading room to deliver the Milton.


OK, so this is not the result of Roaming Reference, but I wanted to mention it. A student contacted me by email, saying he was having trouble looking up county ordinances for a county in a Central/Midwest state. I do not know if this student comes from that county or not, but for his own educational purposes, he wanted to know about this county's ordinances. He searched the county website and did not find what he wanted, so he inquired of me if the library had a database of county ordinances that we could search.

We don't. So I looked over the county website as well, and lo and behold, there was the name and telephone number of the deputy county clerk. Well, there's someone who should know about county ordinances. So I rang her up, stated the problem and she was quite happy to have the student contact her with his question.

Now, why mention this?  Because the myth that "everything is on the Internet" apparently is still going strong. No, no it isn't people. Probably not going to be any time soon, as every KB of data loaded onto an Internet server means someone had to spend time and likely money to put it there. Not to mention all of the stuff that's accessible only by subscription - like most of the academic journals our library pays big bucks for, to give the students access.

And one more thing: I want one of these, but the I can't get the campus print shop to make them for us.

Gorramit, we want those overdue books back!

Oh well, maybe next year. Roaming on . . .

Tales of the Roaming Librarian - Early Summer edition

"A million, million lifeforms . . . and silence in the library."         
- The Doctor (David Tennant), "Silence in the Library" Series 4, Episode 8.

That's what I've been thinking about as I walked around the library the last week or so.  It's been very quiet. Now, some of you might think that an odd complaint coming from a librarian; aren't we supposed to want everyone to be quiet in here? 

Well, I don't. 

It is a lot of fun to Roam around the library, seeing students working, or not, talking, reading, watching TV or movies, and just generally enjoying our space. It makes me feel important and useful, quite frankly. 

Since the end of the semester, I've had not one actual reference-type interaction with a patron. I've stopped and chatted with folk, and talked about the library generally. I've given a few people directions, and walked folks to where they wanted to be, but no specific assistance has been required.  

Here's the view from the balcony overlooking the main reading room. 

 I'm kidding, again, obviously. This is the Library of Congress. But it is just as empty as it feels in our library. I want the students back!

We have groups of Education majors from our online degree program in here during their week-long intensives. But they are pretty self-contained; they get Testing kits from the Curriculum librarian (seen here) 

 This is actually Mayfield Cole, first librarian for Concord Library, Concord, NC

and sit in the group study rooms Testing each other (I have no idea what this accomplishes). The closest I've come to assisting any of them was by sitting where I could see into two group rooms (they all have glass walls) and reporting to the professor my observations on how the two groups interacted with each other. One was all professional and serious, sitting around the table like it was a board meeting; the other sat back, reclined in their chairs, laughed and talked and applauded each other. 

I hope to see the Roaming program continue into the new school year; the more we keep at it and promote it, the better we will communicate to the students what we librarians have been saying all along:

"We're here to help".

Have a good summer, all you bibliophiles and lovers of libraries.



Image sources:
Library of Congress: www.pixabay.com
Ms. Cole: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mayfield_Cole_Librarian.jpg

Tales of the Roaming Librarian - April 17th.

     I was starting to think we'd reached the point in the semester when there were few reference questions because everyone's gearing up for finals and actually writing the papers. And last week, that theory seemed to be holding true. To my relief, this week turned out differently.

     On Tuesday, I Roamed around the library as I have been; I think I've pretty well fallen into a pattern of what areas I visit in what order. I start on the bottom floor which is actually below the 'main floor' and the front entrance. It was down here that I saw the sub-tabular snoozing student earlier in the semester, so I always keep an eye out for similar schenanigans on the bottom floor. Sadly, I've had no repeats yet.  

      There was a fellow sitting in the reading room who had a book with him that I recognized, so I stopped to talk. Every week I get to put books from the New Book shelves out on a simple display; just to get the book covers turned out where the students will see them. I also include some of the art books from our Oversize book collection, which normally sees little circulation. Anyway, the book I recognized was one I had put out for display the previous week. I decided that this was a good "in" for a conversation, and we got to talking for a while about the book, about his project and the libraries facilities.

      I approached one group of students who were talking and writing animatedly, which seemed like a good bet they were all working on a project. It turned out they were all studying for the same test, in one of the big general survey courses. They had a big timeline which apparently had to be reproduced or properly labeled on the exam. We chatted a while about the class and the professor, whom the students regarded as tough but good. Even though I answered no reference questions, this stop and the one in the reading room were to me profitable interviews; making the case without saying so that librarians are approachable, available, and interested in the students' studies. 

     As I continued on my way, I noted with great amusement two or three other knots of students, holed up in the group study rooms, diagramming the same timeline on the writable walls. As I studied the diagram, one of the students looked up and saw me. I pointed to the diagram, gave a knowing smile, waved and wished her the best with the test.  Her reaction said she appreciated the good wishes. 

     Earlier the week, I was on my way back to the main desk where we store the Roaming tablets, to put it away, when I saw a student was wrangling with one of the catalog computers. It had frozen up (again), so I offered to utilize the tablet to help her find the book she wanted. This turned into an hour long search of the catalog and several databases for information on technological advances in World War One. We camped out in Class U (Military Science) and collected a pile of books before I had to depart for a meeting. The meeting, predictably, was less fun than sitting on the floor in the stacks poring over books. 

     I mention this because today as I was getting the tablet ready to go Roaming, one of our student workers told me very excitedly that this student I had helped lived on her floor; and I had made such an impression with my assistance that I was now her 'favorite librarian'. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it just doesn't get better than that.

Tales of the Roaming Libarian April 3rd

Zeus, Odin and Confucius walk into a bar . . .

 

I have no idea what the punchline to such a joke might be, but somewhere there must be one. As I was Roaming today, I helped a student find his way to the mythology section (subclass BL). His English class writing assignment was to write a short story, and he decided to look to classic myths for some inspiration. 

We looked for Greek, Norse and Chinese mythology (and I suggested he check out Tolkien's mythology) and I can't say I'm surprised that we had more books analyzing these myths that we had books of the myth stories themselves. Still, we found a few collections of tales that could suffice to get him started. He seemed satisfied and I left him to select his stories.

Also on my Roaming adventure, I stopped to chat with a student who was studying flash-cards, and he told me he was learning Japanese from another student. We have many Chinese and Korean students, but few from Japan. Our modern languages department teaches Chinese, and we have a sizable Korean student group, but few students from Japan, so when  I took the student with me to investigate our Japanese language holdings, I was not much surprised to find that the PL 500-600's were pretty thin. Even without classes in the language, it seems to me that we should have at least a bilingual dictionary or two for a major language; so I promised the student that I would order some.He mentioned that he has plans to go to Japan to teach, and I recommended that he check the history section (Subclass D_ ) to gain some understanding of Japanese culture. I have long said that if you don't understand the past, you cannot understand the present. If he wants to meaningfully interact with modern Japanese society, he should have some knowledge of how it got to be the way it is. This is not a value judgement on Japan, just the truth that all societies develop organically, responding to events and movements from within and without.

While I was in the reading room, someone once again asked me to pose for a photo. 

 

Sure they did. This is Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress at the turn of the 20^th century

 

      It occurred to me after these two encounters that part of the broader point of Roaming the library is to learn what it is that the students want. I think it is unlikely for a student to approach one of our service desks and make a book request uninvited. We have a form on our web page where students/staff can request books, but it is hardly something we advertise heavily. A student would have to think to themselves "gee, I wish the library had this book I want to read" and then go to the web site and find the link. Possible, but not likely.

     However, with the librarians making the first contact while our Roaming, the students have an opening to make these requests. I will incorporate into my plan for interaction with students to ask them 'what books/resources do you know of that we don't have?'

Right while I was typing up that last sentence another idea came to me. I should have a plan for what I'm going to say, in general, when I interact with students while Roaming.

We can develop a sort of script, which should include:

• an 'elevator speech' about why we are Roaming
• why I stopped to speak to them in particular
• I should know the collections well enough to tell them “books on that are found here, here and here”
• a few questions to prompt conversation
• the trusty 'are you finding what you're looking for?'
• what do you think of the (area where they are studying)?
• Mention a resource that will be helpful to study of the subject
• a good closer/exit line; which will include how to gain assistance in the future – LibChat, email, the various service desks.
  

    I am surprised by how much these blog posts have helped me with the Roaming Librarian program.