A while back I saw a post on John the ADHD Librarian’s blog in which he answered a few questions asked by a reader interested in a career change and pondering librarianship as an option. I’ve been pondering my own answers to the questions. John answered from the point of view of a youth and children’s librarian in a public library; my answers are from the point of view of a science and engineering librarian in a university librarian.
Describe a typical day at work..
My role has the description “Science and Engineering Divisional Librarian”; this means I am responsible for providing information help to the academic staff and Higher Degree by Research (PhD and Masters by Research) students at the division (or faculty) of Science and Engineering at MPOW. I was actually tempted to say that I write emails for a living (like Caterina Fake of Flickr fame), but I would be exaggerating the role of email in my job – although sometimes it does feel like I spend a huge amount of my day answering email. People send me a lot of queries, comments, and the occasional complaint, via email.
I have an office in the division, and spend around 80% of my 37.5 hour week there or around the division. I attend divisional committee meetings (research and development, teaching and learning, graduate studies), and go to staff and student offices to provide personalised assistance with tools like EndNote, SciFinder Scholar, and assorted databases. The other 20% or so of my time is spent attending meetings in the library, doing stints on the reference desk (or doing virtual reference) and delivering information literacy classes.
In a typical day I help people borrow books and theses from other libraries, obtain articles from journals we don’t have subscriptions to, troubleshoot EndNote, provide a shoulder to cry on (doctoral students especially like to talk when they feel like they’ve had enough), promote our institutional repository, order books, evaluate new journal databases, check citation counts and impact factors (I’m usually given an academic’s full list of publications – a time-consuming job), keep my eye on “new technology”, attend a meeting…
How many hours do you normally work in a week?
Officially, 37.5 hours. This varies at different times of the year – for example at the beginning of the academic year I might do a lot more hours, but I can usually take the time off later, as TOIL.
What kind of qualities does a librarian need?
Intellectual curiosity. You have to learn quickly. You often get asked for help on topics you know nothing about. (Since I started working as a librarian I have been assigned to the health sciences, business, and now science and engineering. I have degrees in the unrelated fields of Chinese studies and applied linguistics.) Flexibility. A good memory. A certain level of computer knowledge.
What do you like best about your job? What do you like least?
I like meeting people and helping them. Being told I am a “gem” or a “lifesaver” is good for my ego.
What I like least? Meetings. I am not convinced that we need to have quite as many meetings as we do.
How ADHD friendly do you consider your career? Do you have any special strategies for coping with your ADHD as a librarian?
Seeing as I don’t know much about ADHD I think I’ll leave John to answer this one. Although I can relate to his description of leaping from task to task. There’s so much to do, sometimes it feels a bit frantic. I do sometimes wish I had more time to ponder why I did X, and how I would do it next time, etc.
What do you see as the potential for growth in this field?
Ooo the $64 million question. I think many librarians (in all sectors) are currently very energised by what we see as opportunities for change. We’re having to rethink how and why we do things. The Net has meant that the old methods of information searching and delivery are completely changed – and for the better, I think. (I agree with Derek Whitehead, that “Wikipedia is the best thing since the invention of the library two millenia or so ago.”) People have so much information at their fingertips, but in many cases they still need guides to help them navigate and evaluate what they’re seeing. Librarians will continue to have a role there, I think.
And I think the library is still a popular place to be. When our library reopened after the four day Easter break, there were crowds of people waiting at the door to get in! I think the challenge is for us to make our online presences more appealing and more visible.
What can I do now to help me find employment in this field?
I think John covered the formal education component quite well so I won’t add to it. I do agree with John, that obtaining library work while you’re studying can be very useful to get you employed later. A job in a library could also help you decide if that particular area of librarianship would suit you or not.