From the Library: A morning in the life of a librarian

Weekday, a.m. Library has not opened yet. Come in and walk up the stairs and turn on the Waiting List computer. Check to be sure Print Station is up.

Uh-oh, strange message. That’s because the power went off last night during the thunder and lightning storm. Go to the Reference Desk, drop off books, papers, reviews taken home, turn on Reference Desk computer, and then turn on the reference computer in the office and check to be sure the printer is turned on.

Run upstairs to the computer server and check to be sure all is okay and restart program. Run back downstairs and yes! Print Station is A-OK.

Back out on the floor. Be sure all the computers are turned on and have the appropriate screen showing. Turn on the catalog/database computers. Great when we have new computers so we can program them to turn on and run updates automatically.

Sign in to Reference Desk computer and begin to check messages from the network. Okay. Three titles to pull and send for the Virtual Catalog (includes the catalogs of lots of Massachusetts library networks and a number of colleges and universities. Still amazing how many titles patrons have access to and can get!) and two titles to send to fill OCLC requests (out of the local networks). Go to Biography section (arranged alphabetically by the last name of person about whom the book is written. Ingenious. That way all the books about Abraham Lincoln are together.) The phone is ringing. Run back and grab the phone while clutching one of the titles requested for the Virtual Catalog.

Librarian: Yes, sir. You have reached the Reference Desk. How may I help you?

Librarian: I will certainly try. Tell me what you are looking for.

Caller: Well, I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but my wife told me to call.

Caller: She said you’d know what that new book is by that lady mystery writer. You know, the one everybody is reading.

Librarian: Oh, that one. Good. Ah. Would you have any idea the name of the author?                                                      

Caller: No. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. The lady’s name is…oh, I can’t read her writing. It’s impossible. Um…My wife said the cover of the book is a really neat picture.

Librarian: Good! Good! Good! We are narrowing this down. Why don’t I take your name and phone number and do some searching, and then I’ll call you back with some possibilities?

Another patron approaches the desk and mouths, “Can I borrow a pencil?” I nod my head yes, and mouth, “Please return it when you’re done.” Patron nods and mouths, “But of course.”

Caller: Gee, that would be terrific. But my wife went to the Cape for a girls’ weekend. You know how that is. I don’t know when I’ll be able to catch her.

Librarian: Look, I’ll put together a list of names and titles for you, and you can check with her which author it is.

Librarian:  I’d do that. What’s your name and phone number?

As the caller is relaying his contact information another patron comes up to the desk and asks, “Is there a bathroom on this floor?

 Librarian says: “Right around the corner.”

Caller yells into the phone: Hey, hey, that’s it! That’s the name of the book! Wow! Wow! Wow! How did you figure it out?

Beth Goldman is the head of Outreach, the library IT specialist, and works at Reference at the Morrill Memorial Library. If you have any questions about the Virtual Catalog, OCLC, or the arrangement of biographies, please call 781-769-0200 x223.