Observation Reflection
My observations included an elementary and a middle school librarian, and academic librarians in the IT, reference, and circulation departments.
I have been working in some capacity in a library setting for some time now – 10 years – so, I approached my observations as both a student and a colleague. The questions I asked were from a position of someone who is in and knows the profession, but is curious about other perceptions of the job. Additionally, I took this opportunity to learn from my colleagues, focusing on areas in which I know I need a polishing up.
My first question to all librarians was, ‘do you feel your job is rewarding?’ I have found this question to open up conversation as to whether or not people like their jobs, what they do and don’t like about them, and so forth. Of the five librarians I worked with during my observation, four found their work to be rewarding. I found that to be very affirming. When pressed on what they found rewarding about their jobs, most mentioned the opportunity to work with students and teachers as the number one or two important factor in their decision. Money was not mentioned as a rewarding factor, either because they do not consider that to be an important aspect of their job, or they do not feel well compensated, I do not know.
The second question I asked was, ‘do you feel as though your position has changed or is changing since you began? And, if so, is the change for the better.’ Here my answers were not so straight forward. The school librarians both felt as though their jobs have changed significantly since they began. In fact, the elementary school librarian had her entire library divided out to school classrooms and her job function has been primarily teaching art. The middle school librarian explained that while she still considers herself to be a traditional librarian, she feels that there is a district-wide momentum to change the roll of the librarian. The term “makerspace” gets brought up a lot in these conversations. It was not clear to me if the librarians felt as though this change was for the better.
The university librarians also felt as though their positions had changed but only in the sense that they have transferred departments, or taken on more responsibilities since they began their career. However, they all mentioned the trend they have seen in their library of adapting to the student needs of the community. Yes, the library is changing. The students are the impetus for the change.
This leads me to my final question, ‘What role do you play in the overall community?’ Using the student-led theme of change, the University librarians stuck to the idea that they were an agent of assistance for the students and faculty. This aligns with my philosophy of librarianship. We are here to serve our communities. The school librarians varied a bit from that theme. While both focused on literacy as the main function of their position, they had differing perspectives of how that played out in their roles within the school. This, I believe, has more to do with the different expectations of a librarian’s job in an elementary school as opposed to a middle school wherein the former focuses more on scheduled teaching than the later.
Overall, I was impressed that so many of my colleagues found their work to be rewarding and important to the community in which they work. I find this to be very reassuring in my beliefs that I have found the best job ever!
I have been working in some capacity in a library setting for some time now – 10 years – so, I approached my observations as both a student and a colleague. The questions I asked were from a position of someone who is in and knows the profession, but is curious about other perceptions of the job. Additionally, I took this opportunity to learn from my colleagues, focusing on areas in which I know I need a polishing up.
My first question to all librarians was, ‘do you feel your job is rewarding?’ I have found this question to open up conversation as to whether or not people like their jobs, what they do and don’t like about them, and so forth. Of the five librarians I worked with during my observation, four found their work to be rewarding. I found that to be very affirming. When pressed on what they found rewarding about their jobs, most mentioned the opportunity to work with students and teachers as the number one or two important factor in their decision. Money was not mentioned as a rewarding factor, either because they do not consider that to be an important aspect of their job, or they do not feel well compensated, I do not know.
The second question I asked was, ‘do you feel as though your position has changed or is changing since you began? And, if so, is the change for the better.’ Here my answers were not so straight forward. The school librarians both felt as though their jobs have changed significantly since they began. In fact, the elementary school librarian had her entire library divided out to school classrooms and her job function has been primarily teaching art. The middle school librarian explained that while she still considers herself to be a traditional librarian, she feels that there is a district-wide momentum to change the roll of the librarian. The term “makerspace” gets brought up a lot in these conversations. It was not clear to me if the librarians felt as though this change was for the better.
The university librarians also felt as though their positions had changed but only in the sense that they have transferred departments, or taken on more responsibilities since they began their career. However, they all mentioned the trend they have seen in their library of adapting to the student needs of the community. Yes, the library is changing. The students are the impetus for the change.
This leads me to my final question, ‘What role do you play in the overall community?’ Using the student-led theme of change, the University librarians stuck to the idea that they were an agent of assistance for the students and faculty. This aligns with my philosophy of librarianship. We are here to serve our communities. The school librarians varied a bit from that theme. While both focused on literacy as the main function of their position, they had differing perspectives of how that played out in their roles within the school. This, I believe, has more to do with the different expectations of a librarian’s job in an elementary school as opposed to a middle school wherein the former focuses more on scheduled teaching than the later.
Overall, I was impressed that so many of my colleagues found their work to be rewarding and important to the community in which they work. I find this to be very reassuring in my beliefs that I have found the best job ever!
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