5 things this library aide does at work

One of the comments I receive when I tell people that work at the library is "Oh, I would love to have a job like that -- you get to read all day!"

Granted I love the fact that I get to work with books all day, however, rare is the time that I read books at work (one exception would be children's books for storytime). So I though my five things Friday would focus on some of the things I do at my job. Keep in mind though that I do so many more things than are on this list. :-)

1. Maintain our Accelerated Reading book list.

The school district participates in a reading program that evaluates children and young adult books for reading levels based on vocabulary, length, and other criteria (I don't completely understand the process). Then the school district purchase tests that evaluates the student's comprehension of the book, vocabulary, etc. Anyway, each school year the library receives a list of the tests the school district has (for elementary and junior high level readers) and I edit the books in our collection so the record in our database reflects the level and points and also make sure the book has the correct label information.

2. Inventory our Juvenile Fiction.

This project is ongoing and will probably take me a while. I am actually touching every book in our Juvenile Fiction collection to make sure the book matches our database, the information in the database is complete (including the accelerated reading information), and all labeling information is correct.

3. Download or Create and Edit Records for New and Donated Books.

These records go into our database so patrons and staff can find, discover, and search for books. Each record has certain information in it (title, author, etc) and then has other tracing information (series, subjects, summaries, etc). Most of the records I download from other sources and then edit to fit the requirements we have for our library's database. Occasionally I have to start from scratch. This is one of my favorite parts of my jobs because it is the closest I get to reading the materials -- I do some skimming to get the correct subject headings and sometimes I have to create a summary of the item. Plus it is a constant challenge -- especially with materials with subjects I am unfamiliar with like . . . carpentry or plumbing.

4. Book Processing.

Once the books have been entered into the database we process the books -- put on labels and barcodes, put on book covers (if needed), stamp the books with our name/location, and then shelve the books.

5. Customer Service.

This is a very broad task. It can include researching a reference question, checking out books, reserving books, finding books, showing patrons how to find books, answering computer questions, answering questions about library hours, suggesting books for patrons to read, and many, many other things.

Those are some the tasks I (and my co-workers) complete daily. There are things we do that I didn't talk about because this is 5 things Friday not million things Friday (okay so a million is a little bit of an exaggeration--but only a little). :-)

State Library of Iowa