A Job With Many Hats

When working in youth services, you have to wear many hats. I especially feel like this is true when you are working with tweens. Tweens are on such a wide spectrum with their interests and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming.

In general , I feel like this vast interests may come from different levels of maturity.

They  can be interested in anything from Pokémon to Game of Thrones. I have been struggling with this. Which led me to question:

How can you confidently deal with this wide range of interests and wear different library hats with a smile?

As I have pondered this question, I think I have finally come up with an answer!

1.   Do programs for a different age that you are not used to.

 If you have followed my blog in the past, you know how I feel about collaboration. If you work with different ages, you will start to feel comfortable with the many hats you have to wear in the library.

I am so grateful to work with such a wonderful library team.

I was able to cover a program for Ms. V. this past week.

I didn’t think much of it. I enjoy working with the teens, but it really taught me a lot.

For this program that I covered for her in particular, there were a lot of young teens (12-14 years old) that came.  Since I was covering for Ms. V, I didn't come up with my own activities. I just followed what she had out.

Unfortunately, more kids came then we expected. They didn't like the activities we had. Which ended up being both good and bad.  What we ended up doing instead was just talking and doing a few crafts.  As I got to talking with them, they told me about their daily middle school struggles. 

My favorite quote of the night came from a 7^th grade boy. A girl tried to hug him, and he looks over at me and goes, “See, this is what I have to deal with! Seventh graders!” 

Being that he was in seventh grade, this made me laugh & it really summed up this awkward time for kids for me.  Which made me learn several things.

A.      When working with tweens, it is important to spend time with teens.

The time I spent talking to these teens during this program were priceless. They were so much fun, and they taught me a lot about the trends going on.

As a general rule,  I have found that tweens want to be older and do what teens are doing. It is a good idea to be aware of these teen trends and popular books, because your  tweens will be.

After this program, I started to talk to tweens that came up to the reference desk. I found that they liked the things that I had discussed with the teens. I feel like this makes me more aware of what is going on with them and hopefully made me a better tween librarian.  Seeing this trend I also realized:

B.      Even being in the same grade, same class, and same age doesn't guarantee that they will like the same things or be on the maturity level.

I know this sounds very simplistic, but I found that I am really guilty of generalizing what kids will like based off of a certain age. For example, since I mainly work with tweens, I mainly read middle grade novels. Why? Because that is what my tweens generally read.

But what about the tweens who read on higher reading levels? Or the tween who enjoys nonfiction or picture books?

If I only read middle grade novels, I wouldn't be able to serve them as well.

This was validation for me that I need to expand what I am reading.

I know  for sure that I need to make an extra effort to do more teen programs. My goal is to try and do one every season, but I don’t think I could ever be able to read everything that teens and tweens are interested in.

This in turn, made me feel really overwhelmed. How can you know everything?  I got home and reflected on this, and realized how silly I was being. I didn't need to know everything or watch all of the shows the kids suggested. I have a team to help me!

2.   Use your coworkers as a resource

If you just work alone, you will become very frustrated very quickly. 

It is okay not to know everything. You don’t need to be a fan of every fandom the kids are. Chances are someone that you work with likes that fandom. No worries! 

I need to use my coworkers as a resource. We all read different things, and have different interests. I need to be aware of what my coworkers specialties are in and use them as a resource to better serve patrons.

For example, I majored in history in college. (My emphasis is in WWII)

I also got a minor in Library Science ,and I love to do research. If you give me a question, I will search until I find the answer.

I am one of those weird librarians who loves those, “I am looking for a book, but I can’t remember anything about it” questions.

I would love to get more of these questions, and I am sure that some of my coworkers may toss questions like these at me happily.

To me this really shows that  I need to make a reference sheet of what my coworkers specialties and interests are. That way it is a resource for help with reference questions & with programming.

Conclusion

 In my pursuit to join the library field, I am learning so much. I am finding that we all wear different hats, but we all specialize in something different. It is important to have collaboration, interaction with your tweens and teens, and to be open to trying new things. As this summer goes on, I am going to try to dabble in helping with different ages. I think that if you box yourself into a certain age range, you will miss out on so much. 

Maybe by the end of the summer I will earn my super cape! How is your summer reading going?

-Pamela

Library Yoda (Throwback Tuesday)

This is a post I posted back in 2013 at my other blog. I was reading back through my posts, but this one interview I did for school really redirected my library career. I had to do a school assignment for my undergraduate library degree. The assignment was to interview a school librarian. This was shortly after I was hired as a youth service assistant at my library. 

 I will never forget how much I learned from this individual. Without further adieu here is my really goofy 2013 self. I hope you find this advice as valuable as I did. 


September 2013 

Today, I got the privilege of interviewing a well respected school librarian. I did not think much of it. It was a school assignment, and I just kept thinking - its early. Of course I had a pumpkin flavored coffee in tow (amazing btw), but point is I was reluctant to do this.

 Then she started talking and I am all... awwwww!

It was one of those moments where you wish this amazingly talented person could beam you their power. She did, but it was less Yoda-e.  First off, I am an almost librarian and I cannot not quote a book. Ready? How about now? *Cue scroll* 

There is a point to this. I promise. So a little background! I work at a public library, and I did not think I could learn anything from a school librarian. Of course I was wrong. Lesson 1 of day: You learn the most valuable things from most unexpected people.  She starts talking, and I find out she is one of the heads of the library, and she was a president for a well respected library organization (our state library organization). Lesson 2 : The most successful people are modest people. These people are not going to rub in your face their success. The people who parade their success around are not someone you want to learn from.

                     Instead of wanting to talk about herself, this lady wanted to know about me. 

I probably looked something like this. I am at a cross roads in my life & it meant a lot she wanted to know about me. Not too many strangers want to know about where you came from, your job, boyfriend, and cat stories.

 She listened to me go on, and on, and on. Finally, after my long slightly psychotic ramble ... she stops me. She started to give me advice & she really lifted me up. 

1. She commended me on having my job. For those of you out there, good job! She talked about how important finding something you love, and doing it is. You are going to do something better if you love it. I have found it... finally! Cheeeckkk 

2. Next, she went in to how important collaboration is. No matter what field you are working in: join professional organizations, get involved, talk to other professionals! In addition, stay connected to the community. 

3. Know your users. No matter what you do, this is important. For example, if you were a teacher, you have to know your students. You have to know how they learn to best to teach them. You also need to have that relationship with them. Know their favorite t.v. shows or books. Knowing who are working with is often not given the importance it should. 

4. Go where you feel led to go. I was feeling torn about some things in my life, and she broke it down. If you want to go international. Go. Down south? Do it. Wanna stay here? We have a place for you. Never feel like you have to go some where for a job or what ever reason. Things will work out how they should 

5.  She went on to give me some leadership advice. Do not get angry. In fact, laugh it off. Negate the conversation in a group. The group will work problems out on their own. All you need to do is to listen and direct the conversation. In regards to complaints, listen. It is a habit to get mad and fight back. If you are at work and someone starts yelling, stop and listen. Generally, all they want is someone to listen to them. You generally do not have to do anything else. 

6. Finally, just do it! Now is the time to go after whatever your heart desires. If you want to be a writer, start writing. It can be scary, but do not live in the comfort of your life. With fear, there is growth. 

......& that concludes throwback Tuesday!