Week 2 Post

Anyone who has ever had to come up with a username - which is everyone -  knows how difficult it can be. You want it to be fun, but not too fun, relevant, and understandable. We've all been through the cringe-inducing college aged usernames, the professional level first-initial-last-name usernames, and anything related to our favorite pop culture, but after I've finally myt recent week of working in the Technical Services Department of the Indian Prairie Library,  my new username is TacticalLibrarian.

You probably want to know why it isn't TechnicalLibrarian. Tactical calls to mind a me wearing a bandolier of Demco supplies; book tape, spine glue, barcode labels, vistafoil, anything I would need to keep the operation running smoothly.  And isn't that what Technical Services is all about? TechnicalLibrarian makes it sound like “well technically she's a librarian…” which I'm actually not…at least for a few more months. Thank goodness usernames aren’t legally binding. 

My shift this week introduced me to Denice, who also works at RAILS so she was more than happy to give me a rundown on how IPPL and the RAILS system work together. As a Tech Services Assistant Denice is tasked with processing new books and donations, making minor repairs, auditing discs that may be skipping, updating the WorkFlows catalog, and generally being the all-star of mylar, colorful stickers, goo-gone, and in-depth catalog knowledge.  If anyone needs a bandolier of Demco supplies, it's her.

Having worked in a library, I was aware of some processing systems, but a lot of what I knew we made-up on the fly, or learned very quickly from people who were about to retire. Having time to shadow and learn from an industry pro was vital.  I was able to confirm that there were many things that I was doing absolutely correctly, and some things that definitely had room for improvement.  My mylar wrapping skills are ON-POINT!  But I should consider placing my spine labels OUTSIDE of the mylar or vistafoil instead of directly on the paper book jacket, as this will make it easier in case we need to change or replace the spine labels.

I had already known that I enjoyed processing and techservices related tasks, but this shift solidified it for me.  I'm eager to learn more about what the higher level tasks are in this area, what Denice's supervisors are responsible for. Until then, I'll be shopping for a bandolier for Demco supplies. The TacticalLibrarian is here!