8 … 10 months in the making…
Now that I am feeling a bit more established in my position, I feel more comfortable in sharing what a day-to-day might look like. There was limited information on outreach librarianship that I could find without being behind a paywall – and with the position being new to my library system, I did not have much to go off of.
Granted every library differs and what is the focus of my rural area is incomparable to other locations – I hope it can bring a grain of direction or insight. Or perhaps someone can clarify that I am way off base in my work!
As with most continued education, there are so many things that go into daily operations that we are not prepared for in graduate programs. Although I understand that it is relatively impossible to teach everythinggg that goes into running anything, there are definitely some topics that could have been elaborated on. From budgeting, to marketing, to event management; I have utilized plenty from my master’s but equally as much from learning on the job. Again, I understand that could probably be said for most professions so I am here to beat a dead horse.
I will say, one of my favorite things has been the flexibility in schedule. I work a 9/80 schedule, four 9-hour days M-TH, one 4-hour day Friday oR Saturday (we cover one Saturday a month). Going from the school system, our holidays were set in stone and it was a beast to take any time off outside of those. I really despised traveling at the same time as everyone else, but now I can accrue my vacation and take off on “random” times of the month and seasons. This post will have sporadic pictures from my travels these past few months as I am not typically taking pictures of my workplace… so enjoy!
So what do I do?
Event planning
Being the outreach librarian, I oversee the invitations, planning, and delegating of staff to attend all events we are made aware of. This required me to need to get familiar quick with all our programming across branches, seasonal events we host, and our resources.
Daily Operations
Librarians in my county are a part of the daily ongoings including circulation desk shifts, linking new books in our system, running hold lists and sorting transits. Going from a one-woman show in the elementary library to this was a bit of an adjustment but I am to have these (mostly) calming tasks. I know in some surrounding library systems, librarians (as opposed to library assistants) do not do any of this but strictly work on their area of focus whether that is programming, youth services, etc.
I thought I had escaped my weekly storytimes and I have in a way. I do still cover storytimes during special events, and switching off with our youth services librarian. I do enjoy these and although I was happy to have a break from doing them twelve times a week, they are one of the more fun and whimsical job tasks. Also, a wonderful break when you’ve been sitting at a desk staring at a computer for a six hours.
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
They were not lying about teamwork being essential. From meetings with community partners, outreach event inquiries, to meetings within the library for programming, committees, one-on-ones, and with our Friends of the Library – I am constantly attending some one way or another. They are all pretty essential, so it does not give the same dread I imagine ones in typical corporate might be. They are usually culminating in something coming to life, and building opportunities for me to show off our library.
Another key meeting type that will always be useful are online trainings, webinars, and meetings of the like. These can range from covering topics of skills or topics in the field to be aware of, to fun “upcoming releases” in publishing. There are some pretty cool ones that publishers host, as well as CALL (California Libraries Learn) and many others.
Mobile Library’ing
We have a mobile library… that I drive around. There’s a few other staff that do too, but it has become my branch. I cannot lie, it has been a bit empowering driving around the bus of books. This is the biggest vehicle I have manned and I feel unstoppable in terms of moving across states or something of the like. I get to park near parks and in neighborhoods and sign people up for library cards and provide books for them to take home. It can be quite a delightful and wholesome experience.
It is not without its grievances – the generator being dead, central valley heat, tech issues, etc. However, we persevere, troubleshoot, and get creative! It can definitely keep me on my toes, but I really do enjoy the drive time and routine of how it works. I’m not sure what its future looks like, but I am hoping to continue bringing services, new books, and resources to communities that may not have easy access to the branches.
Outreach Events
The other main part of my job is actually attending or coordinating the outreach events! I’ve attended over 30 events this year on behalf of my library and it has been a whirlwind. April and October were the busiest months by far, but I honestly had a blast. Sure the weather can be hit or miss, packing and unpacking materials – but actually doing the event is always fun. Getting to connect face to face with new people and sharing about our resources is rewarding. I’ve gone to places around the county I’ve lived in my entire life, that I had never been before, and met people I may not have crossed paths with otherwise.
They are sometimes themed events, food and snacks might be provided… all around a good time. The process of actually organizing information is where Notion.so comes in handy! I use their database insert to keep track of events and all the pertinent information. I created a shared one on our library’s email, so when multiple people have information on outreach events, we can access one across devices. I’m sure there’s a way to create something of the sort on excel, but I love the ease of setting it up in Notion, while having all the functionality I want.
Takeaways
Public librarianship has both expected realities and some things you just don’t see until you’re in the job. This can be said for just about every job, and it is always so fascinating to me to see how organizations function. Being finished with school for the time being, in my intended field, it has left me with ample time to ruminate and investigate for fun. Seeing what is next, where I want to be, and just generally figuring out what is my goal. I have been falling into the world of ecology and marine biology. These have been lifelong, childhood fascinations and I’m dearly missing that being a part of my day to day.
I’m seeing what could lay ahead and the possibility of that intertwining with librarianship. It is early days, and I am trying to take advantage of opportunities in the field I come across while seeing who is active in such fields. I know I want to go back to school again, but I haven’t decided in what specifically.
With that being said, I am still learning and growing at my current library. I’m learning new things and gaining experience by the day, and I’m excited to see where I go.
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