Sofa Sogood

Being in the library behind the scenes really opens one's eyes up to the services offered therein! It's more than just borrowing stuff, sitting there using their WiFi, or browsing the shelves. There's actual computers, including laptops and eReaders, there's old technology for those of us with old eMedia, databases which you can access both at home and at the library, JP services, historical services, and community services.

So far, I have allocated items straight from the publishers which have been reserved by keen borrowers, helped people at the front desk, even when I wasn't supposed to, picked the items which people thought would be easier to reserve than to look for, and reshelved items which borrowers have returned.

Doesn't seem too interesting to one who would be just reading this to see where my proposed seachange was taking me- shuffling books around a building. But, as I said, there's more to it than that, which my first couple of days have taught me. The first few hours was basic orientation, meeting everyone who was there and finding out what their part is within the big picture, and then to my immediate supervisor for the next few days. She took me through the system and very basically showed me what I'd need to know, and the other full-timer in the area did so in more detail.

Yesterday was spent in the main library chamber, returning items and helping borrowers at the front desk, and in the afternoon I was processing newly received items for stock. Today was spent only picking out reserved items (stuff people have marked out for themselves for when it becomes available, or thought it would be easier to get a staff member to find it for them): I only picked the non-fiction and some of the AV and community-language items; one of the night staff had to go through the rest of it. I hope that isn't too much of an issue but, if they wanted me to learn the lay of the facility, I think they've done it.

Tomorrow I'm doing something else again (hopefully), next week I'm with the person who looks after special interest collection, and at one point I think I'm with the IT guru; then for the third week I'm out at one of the larger / busier branches. But the aim of the whole period is to learn librarianship, which I sure am!

Now to let my co-ordinator at Uni know what's happening ...


peterg
24Jan13

Apprehensive but excited

Tomorrow I start a three-week practicum at the local library. It's part of the Grad.Dip I'm doing through Curtin.

I hope to be able to blog about it- I have mentioned it to my co-ordinator but not to my host. I hope he's cool with it.

So here I am, 11:00 on a Sunday night, writing a blog when I should be asleep.

Nervous? Probably- it's a big step I'm taking. This probably won't lead to anything- I'm just an intern. But it will show me if I want to be in the field.

Apprehensive? Well, yes- I'm 47.5yo and looking to make a sea-change: MrsG is open to the move, and Jr is young enough not to be overly uprooted. I've been in the public service since 2001 (so that means this entire millennium), which is good for one who never wanted to be a gubbo, let alone doing a practical during Long Service Leave!

Excited? Well, that goes without saying. The Hellmouth has given me all it's going to, so it's time to move on. This period of internship is only so I can pass a unit- whether I go on in the field is determined by how the internship goes.

There are so many options in the field- local, academic, corporate facilities all with various requirements, but the main one is the Grad.Dip I am studying for and for which this internship is part.

Let's see how we go through the coming weeks.


pg
20Jan13