May 6, 2024: Reflections

Supervisor:  Renee Kirchner

Having decided on a career change from teaching to library science, the practicum was the best class for me.  I have never worked in a library and had no idea really, as to what a librarian actually did.  For instance, I was actually very surprised that librarians don’t shelve books!  I suppose I have always thought, if it ever crossed my mind, that everyone who worked in a library was a librarian.  Of course, my only real interaction with librarians had been my school librarians and they certainly did everything.  The early “Shelving equals Librarian” connection was cemented.  Working toward my MLS degree has had me breaking lots of cement.  Librarians are more akin to low-key rockstar defenders of free speech with cool booklists and mad detective skills.  Reading Advisory isn’t just “here is the latest book”, purchasing isn’t simply spending money, and everything is programming in some manner.  My supervisor, Renee Kirchner, created an amazing program that allowed me to experience every piece of the puzzle that creates a “Library”.  

Some parts of the puzzle were very familiar.  I have done many storytimes as a preschool teacher.  Yet, library storytimes are a bit different.  Librarians may not have the luxury of listeners they have formed relationships with, who know subconsciously how storytime is going to go.  Those new listeners can be squirrely but the story must go on! Reader Advisory is also a familiar puzzle piece.  Although I simply thought of it as “Hmmm, what about this book?” when talking to my students.  Subtly drilling down to what a child, or any patron, is actually trying to describe can be arduous work and I have never had to do it in front of a parent who may or may not agree with my “All reading is GOOD reading” philosophy.  How to explain that kids of a certain age naturally drift toward scary stories?  Frankly, most non-Disney-ified fairy tales are pretty scary!  How to gently inform parents that graphic novels are actually quality reading choices for all children?  As a teacher, I dealt with the child and the books were presented at home, fait accompli.   Even programming was not wholly unfamiliar.  Teachers plot out events large and small all the time. We budget, schedule, and gather required paperwork just as librarians do. However, public libraries have an added layer of bureaucracy in the alignment of library best practices and city policies.  Regardless, I often found myself planning a hypothetical storytime or event as if I were teaching.  Librarians aren’t teachers though.  Librarians are connectors or pathfinders.  Storytimes and programs  spark interest or facilitate knowledge seeking rather than offering a complete unit of information.

While most of Youth Librarianship seemed at least vaguely familiar, some parts were completely unanticipated.  I have assumed, throughout my MLS studies, that I am slow at gathering information (too many rabbit hole moments) or painfully clueless with technology (which button/screen/page/program am I using) but, nope, librarians just have that much to do!  Research, reading, creating, collection development all take huge amounts of time.  Putting together a Display Title List for a 4 shelf display took most of a 5 hour day.  And that was a fairly simple task!  I can not fathom the time it took for Technical Services Supervisor, Charissa Stewart, to create and maintain her many spreadsheets- spreadsheets that are vital to bringing structure and order to chaos.  The only straight forward task that I did was shelving books!  Take a cart, put the books away, log the time it took to do that.  Shelving left me with a feeling of accomplishment as I returned an empty cart, my task completed in 15 minutes.  Conversely, most of the librarian tasks were months of work, or occurred in never ending cycles.  Collection development, programming, and reader advisory are multi step tasks that simply never end.  The Youth Services staff at LPL made it look like a well oiled machine.  However, once the chaos factor of packing an entire work room, 6 desk areas, and multiple supply closets- while the library was open and programming continued-was added, I could see the delicate balancing act required so that no tasks vital to the smooth running of the Youth Department are dropped.  

The Lewisville Public Library does a lot with a little.  The youth staff is actually small with only 5 full time and 2 part time librarians.  Yet they manage all the collection development, programming for children and teens, run 10 storytimes a week including 2 Spanish language storytimes, manage all the social media posts, and produce all the graphics used in the youth areas and programs.  It is A LOT.  While many things could make a librarian’s life easier, adding a marketing and/or programming librarian would be most beneficial.  Keeping the branding as well as the look and feel of the library’s social media presence cohesive and current is a huge undertaking and central authority control could help streamline the process.  Not only could efficiencies be affected by a Marketing Librarian, more effective media outreach may also occur (think of the new National Parks Services Instagram posts-amazing).  This same reasoning applies to a Programming Librarian.  Additionally, the Technical Services Supervisor Charissa Stewart, would like to add a librarian to her staff to liaise with departmental librarians to ensure that expectations are reasonable and being met and she, in turn, is providing the information librarians need in the manner they need it to be delivered to maintain smooth workflows.  These positions may be combined into a single position or apportioned out separately.  All growing enterprises reach an inflexion point where the systems and protocols need to be adjusted as the enterprise scales up.  The Lewisville Public Library seems to be hovering right at that delicate edge.  

I have used the Lewisville Public Library as a patron, a new mom, a teacher, and a student.  Each year I discover a new feature or program as the library continues to grow and evolve (as all good libraries do).  During my time with each department, I could see the growth.  This was exciting as each change was initiated and refined by individual staff members.  Librarians are innovators and instigators and the library culture fosters those characteristics.  Ms. Kirchner’s program demonstrated the independence of each staff member and how a quality staff works together as a seamless team.  I find this to be one of the most appealing aspects of librarianship. It can be repetitive but creatively so.  Ms. Kirchner works to maintain the Youth Department as a community meeting place, where everyone is welcome and there is something for everyone.  Being part of that work is as meaningful as working with children.  While I may have been a tad optimistic in my salary expectations, I have not been wrong in the appeal of librarianship.