Paging

I started my job in the Paging Department at the library yesterday, and I think this will be my favorite place to work. American librarianship is quite advanced, and we have a system called Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Interlibrary Loan works much like video hire, where you borrow items from another library. If you want to use an item that your Local Friendly Library doesn't have, but another library does, you can request to borrow the item through your LFL. The LFL sends a request to the Other Library, and if the item is available, the item is sent through the mail, and you can borrow the item and use it.

I remember when ILL used to be done by paper, and the ILL request was mailed to libraries. Now, everything is done by computer. You use a program called WorldCat to locate the item you want, fill in your information, and hit "submit request". It's really cool! It used to be that journal articles were sent by mail, but now they are scanned and sent as e-files to the borrowing library, and then the borrower can either print them out or read them. ILL, and Document Delivery, have made the library world quite accessible. If I don't want to go to the library, or I can't go to the library, I can request items from the U of A Main Library, and they will be scanned and e-mailed to me, free of charge.

My job in Paging is to locate the items which are requested by other libraries. We are given sheets with the ILL requests, and they are split by library (main, fine arts, science, ccp, etc.). If I'm paging in the main library, I take my papers and an empty truck, and go to the proper location to find books or journal articles. If the item isn't available, I mark on the sheet, or if a journal article is cited improperly, I mark that as well. Then the items I found are taken to the processing station on the First Floor. Paging, as one can expect, is a lot of exercise. You're doing a lot of walking around the libraries (particularly if you're paging Fine Arts, which is on the other end of campus), and you're moving quickly to finish within a 2-hour shift. Yesterday we had 120 requests for the Main Library, which is quite a lot. We got through everything but the 4th floor, which is always the toughest floor to page since there is a LOT of materials.

I like paging because you have to rely on your research skills, and sometimes instinct, to find items at times. If someone doesn't give you the correct information for a journal article, you can sometimes manage to find the article quickly by using deductive thinking or sheer luck. We aren't closely supervised, so I like the fact that I'm left alone to work.

People might not realize what a dynamic environment the library really is. We have committed ourselves to holding a 95% accuracy rate for shelving, and there is always a lot of work, so shelvers and pagers must move fairly quickly at times to finish the work. At the same time, as workers of the library, our primary job is to help patrons. So if I'm paging or shelving, even with a full load, and someone needs help, my job is to stop and help them--mostly locating items, even if they are on a different floor.

I really like working at the library. I have very little money for my efforts, but I love the environment. I'm so much happier here than when I was working as an ALT. While the money was great as an ALT, I didn't have much of a chance to use my brain, or my skills. Here, I get to interact with a lot of different people, and I have fun with my co-workers and the people on the MAT (Materials Access Team). I truly feel like I'm a member of a team, not just the Token Foreigner. I'm now excited to go to work every day, as I know there will be new challenges waiting.

Midterms are around the corner, and I had a lot of work this week. In fact, I couldn't even go to kendo last night, since I had to get some Linguistics homework ready for today :( But I'm hoping I can go tomorrow.