My name is Cog
I interrupt my supposedly riveting account of Yangon to give a small update on my currently spinning-like-a-top life.
I’ve been accepted to work full-time at the State Library. It is news that’s made all my previous work colleagues incredibly envious, spouting congratulations in awed whispers and slightly widened eyes. Which of course gets me a little cowed and grateful from my first day of training.
So for those of you hungering to know what’s it like to work at the State Library, that repository of great knowledge in Queensland, the source of much resource for students and professionals alike, researchers and recalcitrants together, here’s a small byte to chew on.
My new workplace is not so much an archaic, hallowed institution these days, as it is a living breathing mechanical machinery, departments and branches securely in place and cranking throughout the day, well-oiled and slimy-smiled.
Coming from two libraries, one of which is family-owned, and the other concentrating on alternative therapies, I’ve always been comfortable in small libraries and personable relationships with patrons. Hence running up and down four floors a day and hotdesking when I can, and being trained in turning patrons away to other floors, saying ‘we don’t do this’, is new. It works for the place, but it’s still new. It’s the result of being a joint in the limb of my floor, connecting up with the duties and workings of the other departments.
Basically, patrons obtain a free e-services card, which allows them internet usage of up to two hours per day, Levels 2 upwards. (Level 1, or the Infozone, has free internet usage, though there are limitations of 20 minutes and an hour. Plus there’s wireless available on that floor, which patrons love ). The e-services card also lets you add credit onto it, in case you need to print or photocopy documents.
And photocopying is popular, given the fact that we’re a Reference Library, and the only thing we lend out is Music ( which not many people know, but get into raptures upon discovery ).
And if what you’re looking for isn’t on the open shelves of the floor you’re on, you can request that it be sent out to you, either via the online catalogue’s ‘send a request’ facility ( which again requires your e-services card ), or by a manual request. There are set times of the day by which you’d need to put the request in, in order to receive the item from the repository. For example, requests from Level 2 and 3 are to be put in every two hours on the half hour, ie by 12.30pm for a 1pm delivery, missing which the next cut off is at 2.30pm for a 3pm delivery.
For those who love digging up Queensland past through our Heritage collections, or looking up family history, there’s Level 4, where the request timings are more frequent, ie every hour on the half hour. It only means we’re constantly running in and out of the repositories to desk almost continuously, rummaging to find not just books ( how wonderfully uncomplicated that would be ) but also original materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs. I still tend to catch my breath when I come across some incredibly beautiful, historical or valuable items, like a box of photographs of the Fortitude Valley from the 1930s to now, and I consider that my one comfort when I have to sort every single photograph back into order before re-shelving them.
But this is basically what I do – I run into repositories picking up patron requests, I process cards at front desk as well as assist patrons in printing and photocopying, I discharge and shelve books out on open access and back into repositories, put out the daily newspapers, re-shelve microfilm in the micrographics area, and hopefully in the near future get to do back of house, which is a whole other blog entry by itself.
So, yes, I’m one of the many nuts and bolts of the place, executing the concepts of librarians and orders of patrons, ensuring the cycle of circulation stays smooth and uncantankerous. I’m like a spare part in a car, invisible but holding much together. Might be time I changed my name.
I’ve been accepted to work full-time at the State Library. It is news that’s made all my previous work colleagues incredibly envious, spouting congratulations in awed whispers and slightly widened eyes. Which of course gets me a little cowed and grateful from my first day of training.
So for those of you hungering to know what’s it like to work at the State Library, that repository of great knowledge in Queensland, the source of much resource for students and professionals alike, researchers and recalcitrants together, here’s a small byte to chew on.
My new workplace is not so much an archaic, hallowed institution these days, as it is a living breathing mechanical machinery, departments and branches securely in place and cranking throughout the day, well-oiled and slimy-smiled.
Coming from two libraries, one of which is family-owned, and the other concentrating on alternative therapies, I’ve always been comfortable in small libraries and personable relationships with patrons. Hence running up and down four floors a day and hotdesking when I can, and being trained in turning patrons away to other floors, saying ‘we don’t do this’, is new. It works for the place, but it’s still new. It’s the result of being a joint in the limb of my floor, connecting up with the duties and workings of the other departments.
Basically, patrons obtain a free e-services card, which allows them internet usage of up to two hours per day, Levels 2 upwards. (Level 1, or the Infozone, has free internet usage, though there are limitations of 20 minutes and an hour. Plus there’s wireless available on that floor, which patrons love ). The e-services card also lets you add credit onto it, in case you need to print or photocopy documents.
And photocopying is popular, given the fact that we’re a Reference Library, and the only thing we lend out is Music ( which not many people know, but get into raptures upon discovery ).
And if what you’re looking for isn’t on the open shelves of the floor you’re on, you can request that it be sent out to you, either via the online catalogue’s ‘send a request’ facility ( which again requires your e-services card ), or by a manual request. There are set times of the day by which you’d need to put the request in, in order to receive the item from the repository. For example, requests from Level 2 and 3 are to be put in every two hours on the half hour, ie by 12.30pm for a 1pm delivery, missing which the next cut off is at 2.30pm for a 3pm delivery.
For those who love digging up Queensland past through our Heritage collections, or looking up family history, there’s Level 4, where the request timings are more frequent, ie every hour on the half hour. It only means we’re constantly running in and out of the repositories to desk almost continuously, rummaging to find not just books ( how wonderfully uncomplicated that would be ) but also original materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs. I still tend to catch my breath when I come across some incredibly beautiful, historical or valuable items, like a box of photographs of the Fortitude Valley from the 1930s to now, and I consider that my one comfort when I have to sort every single photograph back into order before re-shelving them.
But this is basically what I do – I run into repositories picking up patron requests, I process cards at front desk as well as assist patrons in printing and photocopying, I discharge and shelve books out on open access and back into repositories, put out the daily newspapers, re-shelve microfilm in the micrographics area, and hopefully in the near future get to do back of house, which is a whole other blog entry by itself.
So, yes, I’m one of the many nuts and bolts of the place, executing the concepts of librarians and orders of patrons, ensuring the cycle of circulation stays smooth and uncantankerous. I’m like a spare part in a car, invisible but holding much together. Might be time I changed my name.
Labels: corporate management, human resources, State Library
posted by Sreedhevi Iyer | 8:22 am
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3 comments
