Tag Archives: the University of Michigan

Behind the scenes

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I was excited to read about a Flickr photoset of pictures taken of various areas within technical services at the Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan.  (Seen via librarian.net.)  This photoset provides a lot of insight into how books and other material are received and processed in technical services in a large library.  Having taught a course in technical services librarianship, I am well aware of the utility of this kind of picture collection.  Most of the students who take my course have never worked in technical services and don’t have much of an idea what technical services is.  The class I’ve taught in the past is an online course and one of the biggest drawbacks to an online venue is the inability at times to give students “hands on” experience.  This is particularly the case when teaching  technical services.  In UIUC GSLIS’s online curriculum (LEEP), each class has only one opportunity to meet together in person, called an “on campus day.”  Usually for a portion of that day, I schedule a tour of UIUC’s Main Library technical services operation.  Feedback from students has shown that this firsthand look at technical services is tremendously helpful.

Surely the next best thing would be to show and discuss this photoset in class or have students look at it on their own.  That would go a long way toward demystifying some of the physical aspects of this area of librarianship.  I’d love to see more such photosets crop up on Flickr or elsewhere.  Folks, let’s shed light on technical services in libraries of all sorts!  Bring “the back room” out into the open!  I think a lot of people, including our library users, would find such exposure fascinating and insightful.

The terminally overcommitted

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Only recently have I begun to read the T. Scott blog. It’s well worth the time. A recent posting describes the author’s experience attending his first meeting of the board of the Medical Library Association. In particular I just about cracked up over the following statement he made:

“Volunteer organizations are strange creatures. They run off the drive and energy of the terminally overcommitted, so there are never really enough resources to bring to bear.”

This tickled my funny bone because I’ve been there, done that. The time I spent on the board of NASIG was incredibly worthwhile and I will be forever grateful for that experience. Yet I can say that T. Scott’s observations are spot on. I remember attending my first NASIG board meeting as a visitor (newly elected vice-president/president-elect) at the NASIG annual conference at the University of Michigan. Like T. Scott at the MLA board meeting, this was an illuminating experience.

I don’t care what anyone tells you, being president of NASIG is no less work than a full time job (or in some leadership capacity in whatever volunteer organization). It was incredibly stressful and required that a lot of time be devoted to the organization. As an aside, it’s interesting to note the similarities between NASIG and the Medical Library Association given the huge disparity in membership dues between the two volunteer organizations. NASIG charges $75 (and there are variations on dues depending on your status, e.g. students get a lower rate, and location, e.g. those who live in Canada or Mexico pay less in US dollars) whereas the Medical Library Association charges $165 for regular members. And NASIG used to charge $20-25 from its inception in 1985 ’til last year, when the dues were raised significantly for the first time.
Anyway, getting back to the workload issue for volunteer organizations… Given the fact that we all have “real” jobs, T. Scott writes:

“Frankly, it’s a wonder we get anything done at all.”

Still, it is worth it. My NASIG involvement has been incredibly important to my growth as a librarian. Friends I made 15 years ago remain friends to this day, and many new ones have been made along the way. I particularly agree with T. Scott’s closing statement in his post, and it holds true for most volunteer organizations that I know of:

“It is, after all, an association. A gathering of people committed to working together to achieve some things they can’t achieve on their own. Sometimes we’re successful, sometimes we fail. Always our reach exceeds our grasp. I like it that way.”

I like it that way, too.