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I thought I would start this feature by sharing some of my professional background.
Currently, I am the Stacks Supervisor for an academic library in Washington, D.C. but my book-related career began in High School. I worked at a used bookstore after school and during the summer. A lot of my paycheck went to buying books. I should have known then I was destined to follow my father into the library profession.
In college, I started a part-time job at my current library as a Stacks Assistant. There is a lot to learn working with a print collection every day, but my biggest career decision came during the summer following my sophomore year. That summer, I interned in the U.S. Senate while also working at the library. To my surprise, I enjoyed the library much more than the Hill. I took that as a sign that my life was not in politics and made the decision to work in libraries and obtain my MLS.
Following graduation, I spent a year as a Technical Services Assistant in the Collection Management department. In that position, I saw the back end of library work. My position handled book repair and commercial binding, retrospective conversion of catalog records, and prepping items for patron use. When my old boss in Stacks Management moved on to school libraries, I applied and was hired for her position.
I have been the Stacks Supervisor since mid-2007. Stacks Management is a part of Access Services and my office's main role is to facilitate patron use of the collection. Our daily activities include shelving, shifting, item searches, and helping patrons use the collection. I oversee a staff of about a dozen part-time student employees whom I hire, train, and supervise. The unique feature of my office is that it has fingers in almost every library department. This allows me to see both the big picture as well as the details of working in a library.
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The goal of "On the Job" is to share what I have learned while working in libraries. While I found my classroom education to be important, what I've learned in the office has proven incredibly valuable. My coworkers, employees, and patrons are amazing sources of information.
I'd like to open this feature up to anybody who'd like to share what they've learned. If you have a great lesson, tip, or anything else for people who work in libraries, please leave a comment. We can all mentor each other and share our knowledge for best practices.
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