Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to establish the nature of the work that is done by librarians. The necessity for compliance with regulations cannot be overemphasized. The expectation from all concerned parties in any social setting generally and the academic community, in particular, is that everyone will comply with the laid down regulations while working in libraries. Every citizen and non-citizen are required by law to do certain duties should follow some procedures. Keeping proper records of books that have been issued as a way of avoiding problems with the institutional authorities is necessary for librarians. This also helps in identifying resources that are on-demand so that they can be added as a strategy for meeting the high demand.
This investigative paper is aimed at gathering information that will assist in determining the nature of work that is done by librarians. The identification of an individual and requesting to have an interview with him or her was the first step. I asked a number of questions that were objectively designed to extract vital and relevant information from the interviewee. This was followed by a request to see some of the documents that the interviewee has used before in the execution of his duties as a librarian. In the following part of this paper, I will explore the nature of the interview that I conducted. Information on the documents that I obtained from the interviewee will be given and this will be accompanied by a thorough analysis of the documented information. Also, as part of the appendix to this paper, I will provide the actual documents as well as the questions that I used in the interview.
Interview Summary
The interview that I conducted went more smoothly than I had expected. It was my second time conducting a face-to-face interview. I met with my interviewee in her room after his place of work. He had promised to request his supervisor for a one-hour break for the purpose of taking his lunch and attending to my needs. Without wasting any time, he picked his packed lunch as we moved to the relaxation room that is situated close to his small workstation. We sat on the comfortable chairs that were in the room and turned off the television. He took a deep breath and looked at me inquiringly. I stared back at him and realized that I would put up with him. A rough estimate gave me the impression that he is in my age bracket. This made me think that I had nothing to be scared of.
I began by introducing myself and assuring him that it was not meant to land him in any trouble. I informed him accordingly that I was out to establish the level of discipline that people have when it comes to meeting their obligations as far as library duties are concerned. I further clarified that whether he had defaulted or not, it was not my job to report, blame, prosecute, accuse, judge or use the information obtained from him against him. This included oral and written. I got into my first question followed by the second till I was done. All the questions were answered in a straightforward manner and his responses were satisfactory to me. He is almost twenty-five years old. He has been in the country for close to the entire time he has been on this earth apart from the three months he spent in Jamaica. He is a citizen who is proud to belong to this country, which he describes as beautiful. He actually clarifies to me that he began loving this country the day he was born. He has no dependents and therefore does not support anybody. He is a student, who works on a part-time basis in the university library. From his responses, he does not like the idea of college students like him struggling to secure part-time jobs. When I ask him whether he finds time to write his assignments, he laughs and points to the left corner of the room. I look at the corner and see a heap of books. He tells me that he does his assignments during the short breaks that he gets.
Apart from the above, he does also not like the fact that the government has reduced the amount of money that it extends to students like him for studies. “How do they expect people like me to juggle classwork with work since I have to work to raise the money, they are not giving me?” he asks me. This is an emotional moment for me because I am in his shoes too. He has no problems with working part-time. He thinks it is the only way for students like him to be able to raise extra money to meet their needs. He thinks that sometimes businesses and individuals can experience bad economic times and this can impact negatively on our financial ability. “The government is not an exception” he adds. He thinks that people who complain all the time are not being helpful. They are part of the problem.
Besides the above, he confesses that library work is demanding. The number of students in the university is big and the number of boos that are given out is always high. Some of the jobs cannot be done by computers and therefore he has to do them manually. He mentions the generation of summary cards that have brief information about books as the best example. This is unique in that it is not being done in any library in the world. The new cards that are either handwritten or typed are not supposed to have any of the information that is given on the introduction, preface, front cover and back cover. Someone has to do a bit of reading, and come up with completely different information of about three paragraphs. This is then written on a small card and placed on the first page of the book. This is what he has been doing, and he truthfully tells me that it is not a laughing matter.
Document Summary
Document A
Document A is generated by the library employees. It is a list of all the books that have been supplied with the information cards. The document is divided into three columns. The first column has the title of the book. The second column has the author while the third column has the date the information card was generated. A typical size A document has fifteen books. The person who generates the information cards it the one who enters all the details into this document and later hands it over to the chief librarian. It then goes up to the academic dean who is responsible for the information card-producing project. Before it goes to the academic dean, a number of copies are produced and placed at strategic positions around the library such as the circulation desk so that clients can easily see them.
Document B
Document B is also a product of library employees. It is a collection of authors into groups based on topic. If two or three authors have written on the same topic, their names will appear under the same column in document B. The ultimate plan is to have all the information that is on document B. being transferred to the electronic domain of the library for online access.
Conclusion
From my investigation, library work as a discipline is demanding; a point that is also made clear by my interviewee. One has to be mentally prepared if success is to be achieved. Wring takes place all the time, and it is of different types. Sometimes it is short notes while at times it is pages. It can also be mathematical whereby tabulation is involved. This writing is utilized by all users of the library.
Appendix 1
Documents A
The first document A is a list of books that have been cleared from the information card production desk. This is where my interviewee works. The cards I am referring to here, are small pieces of paper; mostly hard paper that have information on the books. Every time the interviewee is done generating the brief information that goes to the small card, he enters the name of the book on a list in the format of title, author and the date the card was generated. The name of the person who produced the card appears at the bottom of the paper. The recording of all the information on the paper is done by him. It is then handed over to the chief librarian every evening for photocopying and filing. The aim of the university library is to ensure that all the books have this type of cards. The preliminary data obtained has indicated that the library, which is also being used by members of the public at a fee, has begun getting more clients since the commencement of this card experiment. This is why the administration is determined to generate these cards for all the books. From this filing that is done by the chief librarian, the file is forwarded to the academic dean who is the ultimate authority in this undertaking. He looks through the lists and gets back to the chief librarian in case of any anomalies. The photocopies that are generated are kept at the circulation desk so that clients can easily see books that have these cards and those that do not have them. Document A that I was given has fifteen names; which is the maximum number of names that can appear on such a document.
B
This document is also generated by my interviewee. It shows the names of authors who have written books on the same subject. The university library is big with a massive number of books in the library. This means that so many copies of document B have been generated in the past. A typical document B has columns X and Y. These two columns take the names of the disciplines. For example, X can be Library studies while Y is Arts. This data will end up in the hands of the chief librarian who will then work with the larger group to put it into the library’s online domain so that students can always know the authors to search after they have accessed a resource by a certain author. This is not restricted to students only. All library users can make use of this data.
Appendix 2
General Character of Document A and B.
Document A is what can be described as a list. The lines make the columns run from top to bottom. At the topmost part are the headings: title, author and year of card production. The paper that is used to generate document A is yellow. The black lettering on a yellow background creates a sense of unity. It is a beautiful document. The recording of the information in Document A is what is important. It is highly valued and highly guarded by the library staff. The already generated copies are properly laminated. They bear a sense of importance that makes you forget that they were produced by a part-time student who is struggling to make ends meet. They have a sense of authority that does not take long to discern. The arrangement of names is carefully done with the surname appearing first. All names are arranged in alphabetical order.
Document A, like document B, is a product of someone who knows his job. This gives me a feeling that this is a serious document that has factual information. This would not be the case if I was dealing with a document that had been prepared by someone who I do not know or I know that he or she lacks the knowledge in the field in question.
Document B on the other hand is the assembly point of all authors who have written on the same topic. It normally has two columns with each column carrying the names of authors from a specific topic area. For example, the first topic in the document that I was given has Art History in the first column while the second column has names of authors who have written books associated with Religion in America. The names appearing on the Art History column are seven. An equal number of names also appear on the Religion in America column.
This document is neat and well organized with the names appearing in their alphabetical order. Like document A, the names are also arranged in such a way that surnames come first. This is apparently the order that the names take on the covers of the books. The work done on the document is convincingly authoritative; an aspect that makes me feel like I have the duty to handle this document with care. But where does this authority come from? In my view, the authority of a document is not based on how neat a document looks but on who has prepared it. The knowledge that the document has been prepared by someone who understands what he or she is doing gives the credibility of the documents. Since I know that my interviewee knows his work well, I have every reason to feel that I have credible and authoritative documents at my disposal.
Document A
Prepared by: Dalton Long Date:…………………… Signature:……………………
Document B
Prepared by: Dalton Long Date:……………………… Signature:…………………
Source of documents: Interviewee.
Appendix 3
Interview Questions
- How old are you and what is your work?
- How do you find your work?
- How do you manage to do this work?
- What are the major challenges that you face as you do this work?
- How much writing do you do and if any, does it have any special features?
- In the writing that you do, do you adhere to any rules? If yes, which ones?
- How would you describe your level of satisfaction as far as your work is concerned?
- D o you regret doing what you are doing? If yes, Why? If not, why?
- Is this what you have always wanted to do in life?
- What work relayed concerns do you have?
- What are your future plans as far as your discipline is concerned?
- Would you describe what you are doing as dynamic or static?
Works cited
Long, Dalton. Personal Interview. 2010.