Changes
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
Our main library used to have four reference desks: science/business/social science/documents; art and music; history and literature; and periodicals. As the budget cuts came, the number diminished and we now have only one. There is still a separate desk for periodicals and the local history room still exists. A single desk means that all of us (and there are fewer of us!) must handle reference questions in all subject areas. Our collections have been merged into a single reference collection. The merger of the desks was not something that we wanted, but we had no choice. Now that we have been working in the new environment for awhile, most of us enjoy it. It is nice to stretch the mind with a wide variety of questions. I enjoy doing a bit of reader’s advisory and sharing my favorite mystery writers with fellow afficionados. I also enjoy answering music questions. It was fun when a woman called on the phone, ran to her piano and played a few bars of Mendelsohn’s “War March of the Priests” from Atalaia and asked me to tell her what it was. She had forgotten. She also wanted the sheet music, which we had. Having played it at graduation for many years in my high-school orchestra, I remembered it well. We still maintain our subject specialties and help each other as needed. We have kept our collection development and training duties although we have much less time for the latter due to staff reduction. Staffing a single desk has also brought us together as a team. We have always been collegial, but separate desks created some distance. Now we have one desk and one schedule, so we spend more time with each other. This is for the most part a good thing. We learn from each other and back each other up when faced with problem patrons. The weak links are more obvious, but they are few.
