"But I'm proud of what I am! I (pause) am a LIBRARIAN!" (Library / Information Assistant)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Library / Information Assistant
Date:	02/08/02 (547 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Get a staff library card, which means longer loans and no more fines

Disadvantages: Low pay, sore feet, Get shelving overload

I have quite a bit of experience of what library work is like - my mother was a library assistant for most of her working life, I worked in my college library while I did my first degree, and funded the MA I am currently doing by working in my local public library. A lot of people seem motivated to do this kind of work because they "like books", but after spending up to 10 hours a week shelving the damn things, you soon learn to see books in a different light! I'll try to cover as much as I can about this type of work in my review, but if I miss anything important, please leave a comment here or over on tooyoo - its always good to hear what people think of my efforts y'know. :-)

I suppose a good place to start is by saying what a library assistant actually is. Well, libraries are populated by two distinct species - the librarian (professionally qualified, more important, higher pay) and the assistants (similar role but less important and much lower pay). The assistants look after the main issuing desk (which means they check books in and out, take fines, renew loans and help out members of the public), and shelve returned books ? they may also repair books and work on enquiry desk if the library is large enough to have one. Your role in this job falls somewhere between being a shop clerk, supermarket shelf stacker, admin assistant and receptionist!


● Useful qualifications
In my job description, I saw that the only essential qualifications for doing my job were 5 GCSE passes including English and Maths, so it is hardly considered to be difficult job to do. Having said that, virtually everyone I worked with who was competent at the job had extra qualifications, mostly A levels and/or NVQ customer service. As this job requires reasonable general knowledge and an understanding of how to search for specific material amongst hundreds of books, then having studied to a higher level than GCSE is an obvious benefit.


This is one of those jobs where personal attributes are more important than specific qualifications though. The ability to communicate clearly to a range of people (even very stupid ones) is vital, as is being able to cope when your library is very busy and understaffed, which frequently happens in the public sector. It is also a surprisingly physical job (I was told that if you don't lose weight in the first couple of months then you are not doing your job properly), so you must be fit enough to be on your feet all day and spend a fair bit of that time shelving heavy books. It's a great workout though!


● Training
In theory at least, you should be given on the job training on how to use the library catalogue and computer system, procedures and charges and how the Dewey Decimal system works. In reality, if you work in a public library as I did, then there is a good chance that you will just be thrown in at the deep end on your first day and left to pick it up as you go along. The best way to tackle this is to do plenty of shelving, as this familiarises you with the layout and stock of the library and gets you used to the decimal system - it is also a good idea to play around with the catalogue and issuing computers during quiet moments, and learn which colleagues you can pester for help. It should be obvious to your boss that training you will produce a more competent worker and get more work done, but this didn't seem to occur to the muppets who "ran" my library.


● Level of pay
Well, this depends on the type of library you work in. In college, I was paid £2.50/hour, which rose to minimum wage level when this was introduced. In the public sector, expect around £5/hour, and anything up to £15/hour for private libraries.


● So, what is it really like?
Have you ever seen docu-soaps on TV such as Airline? The sort of programme where you see ordinary members of th
e public flip their lid and go completely mental when they don't get there own way? Well, a small minority of the public are like this wherever you go - you are always going to meet people who think that the rules are made for everyone else but them, or who hurl abuse at front-line staff over the slightest little thing. I have met them. If you work in a library, you will too. The first time you meet people like this, it is shocking and quite upsetting - in the end, all you are ever trying to do is help people and stick to the rules the council lays down. When serving customers like this, all you can do is be polite but firm, explain why rules exist, and if need be, get a senior staff member to deal with the situation. The most common cause for angry customers in libraries is of course fines, but I have equally seen grown men and women throw tantrums when they cannot take a book out without their card - and I bet you the same person would never dream of behaving like that in a bank or even a video store.

The other thing you will inevitably come across are the resident oddballs - libraries just seem to be weirdo magnets. This means that you sometimes find yourself having the strangest conversations...
Customer: Umm, I've got a bit of a problem with a library book
Me: What seems to be the matter?
Customer: It's a guidebook you see, and I took it out walking with me over the weekend. I'm afraid that it rained quite heavily and the book got wet.
Me: OK, do you have the book with you? We might be able to repair it.
Customer: Well, I didn't want to give the book back to you in such a state, so when I got home, I tried to dry it out. The radiator didn't seem to be doing much, so I put the book in the microwave - I stopped it as soon as I saw the sparks, but... (man puts charred remains on counter and looks very red faced)
Me: (Trying to suppress laughter) Err, we put metal security tags into books to stop th
em being stolen, you know!
To be fair to the man, he did buy us a replacement, but can you actually imagine having that conversation? Why not just say you lost the book and save yourself the embarrassment of having to confess to such stupidity?

On the whole though, most customers are pretty normal and not attempting to drive to the brink of insanity - after all, that is the management's job.


● A funny thing happened to me on the way to the library...
I couldn't possible write this opinion without reference to the following classic librarian's joke:

"A customer comes into a library and asks the librarian for a book on euthanasia. The librarian looks in the catalogue for several minutes and then apologises to the man, telling him that they had nothing on that title - they did however have one called Young Man in India..."


● A final word
Being a library assistant is quite a useful thing to have on your CV - after all, you can be one all over the country, and use it as a stepping stone to becoming a fully qualifies librarian. It also teaches you many "transferable skills", which employers just love these days, such as:
- Communication (getting dumb people to understand you)
- Interpretation (realising that when an old woman asks for a medical book, she means Mills & Boon doctor's romance)
- Resourcefulness (finding enough buckets to catch drips from the leaking roof when it rains)
- Patience (not loosing it completely when the 300th child this week asks you for Harry Potter books and having to explain the concept of huge waiting lists AGAIN)
- Prioritisation of tasks (getting that absolutely vital extra roll of sellotape from the store when an angry customer is seen to be approaching your desk)
- Teamwork (figuring out the best way for two people to do the work of four on a busy evening shift)

I realise that most of you reading
this will never experience the, errr, pleasure of being a library assistant. But at least now you can cast pitying glances in their direction whenever you use your local library - and know not to ask for Harry Potter books any time within the next 25 years, as you won't get them!

(P.S. Can anyone recognise the quote in my title?) :-)

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