A Day in the Life of a Library Assistant
When I left education, I hadn’t considered working in a library. I had of course seen librarians in the libraries I used growing up, and I was aware that these institutions didn’t run on their own. So, how did I end up here? Well, when I needed to change jobs one time, I simply followed my love of books and reading and found myself at an interview for a library assistant at my local library.
It is a wonderful job! And one I didn’t know an awful about before I started. We do shelve books, but it is so much more than that too. If you are thinking about becoming a library assistant, or are wondering if this is the right working environment for you, I hope this blog post helps answer those questions.
At work, I spend about a third of my time processing books – shelving, shelf tidying, finding and labelling reservations – a third dealing with customer enquiries – finding books, basic IT support or booking users onto our computers, directing visitors to the appropriate resources – and a third on what I call personal projects – designing and putting up displays, and organising and facilitating events. The ‘personal projects’ aspect is where initiative comes in. At least in the library I work at, you don’t have to do these tasks. There are some members of staff who love this side of the job and do more, and some who decide it’s not the best use of their skills or they would rather focus on the other tasks.
My day starts ten minutes before the library opens. I get into the building through the staff door, pop my head into the supervisor’s office so they know I’ve arrived, and head to my designated area for the day. Each library assistant will have a computer to log into and have the system up ready for customer enquiries. I will also check all of our leaflet and information displays to make sure they are tidy and everything is still in date.
At opening time, we tend to have customers waiting to be let in at the door. Once we are up and running, the customer enquires at the desk begin. In the initial rush I will be booking computers for customers, directing people to particular sections, and registering new users. These tasks continue throughout the day - whenever a customer approaches the desk we will be around to help - but the morning rush is when there is often a queue of people to manage.
When things quieten down, the next job is going into the library system, printing off the list of reservations, and finding those reservations on the shelves. There are always more reservations than you’d expect! This is my chance to get out the librarian trolley and go around the shelves collecting the books on the list. Once found, the reservations need processing. This involves scanning them into the system – to let the system know we have found the book for the customer – and then labelling the book so it gets to the right place. Books may need to be put up on the reservation shelf in our building, or be sent out to other branches, and the labels we put on them will tell us where they need to end up.
Because we share books in this way with multiple library branches, there are library staff who drive ‘the van’, delivering and picking up books. Whenever we get a delivery, all library assistants will chip in to get the reservations processed and labelled as quickly as we can so we can get them to our customers as soon as possible.
By the time the reservations have been done, it is often time for a lunch break. I work eight-hour shifts with an hour-long unpaid lunchbreak. I tend to go to the café in the building for my lunch, taking along a book to read like the true book nerd that I am.
When I get back to work, I might be called over by a customer using a computer to talk them through how to attach a document to an email, or help them to print something out, before heading back to my desk to log in ready for the afternoon.
We have a fantastic children’s section at the library I work in. We run Storytime sessions as well as other fun events. If I’m running an event that afternoon, this will be my focus for the next few hours. I will have planned everything in advance and gathered/made all resources I need. On the day, it’s just about making sure I give myself enough time to set up before the kids begin to arrive. One of my favourite regular events to run is our book and craft sessions aimed at primary school-aged kids. The events are a lot of fun and I can see that the kids get a lot out of them too.
After the event is done, I’ll take a tea break before, once again, heading back to my desk. The library is well used and so books quickly get out of order. With one eye on the desk in case anyone needs my help, I will disappear into a particular section to do a bit of shelf tidying – rearranging the books so they are in order either alphabetically or by their Dewey decimal number. At the same time, an important part of our role is weeding. We regularly get new books, and therefore it is key that we also discard books when they become damaged or get out of date, and this makes room for the new stock.
I always like getting a delivery of new books. New books need adding to the catalogue and then will be put on the New Books display. It is crucial, I feel, to look through the books before putting them on the shelves, read some of the blurbs, and get to know the stock we are putting out. If I find something that peaks my interest, a perk of the job is getting first pick and being able to take out the book before anyone else!
As the workday nears its end, I might help a customer find our books on Impressionists in the Visual Arts section, or direct someone to the nearest toilets, but by this point, the majority of customer enquiries for the day will be done.
In the last half an hour of my shift, it’s all about closing my designated area. I will make an announcement telling visitors that we are closing soon, before switching off the self-service kiosks and making sure I’m leaving the area tidy. Once all visitors have left and the library has closed, we’ll have a five-minute de-brief as a team before we each head home.
There are certainly skills I’ve developed from my time as a library assistant and I feel there is enough opportunity to continue to grow as a worker in this role. I get along well with my colleagues – we will often collaborate on tasks or share jobs so this is key - and there is a nice working environment overall. I find the job rewarding and get to go home knowing I help keep an important service running.