Library Tech Confidential

Martha Baillie, a writer and part-time storyteller with TPL, was the subject of a write-up in today’s paper that focused on her new novel The Incident Report. Set in a fictional “Allan Gardens Library” — presumably a stand-in for tthe Parliament Street branch — it deals with the odd ups and downs of working in an often-chaotic urban facility.

From Lurking in our libraries [Toronto Star]:

Confronted by [disruptive] events, the library staff in the novel are guided by compassion and library policies. The staff are supportive of one another, which Baillie says reflects the camaraderie she has found among library employees.

About 90 per cent of the incidents in the book are loosely based on Baillie’s experiences or those she was told of by other library staff. As a result, the book provides an inside look at the kind of bizarre incidents library workers sometimes encounter.

The fascinating novel also delves into some wider themes, including “the nature of urban storytelling,” Baillie says. “Whoever is sitting behind the reference desk is an ear. You play the role of a bartender a bit.” The novel asks, “Why do we so often pick strangers to tell our stories to?”

My time as a patron vastly outweighs the two weeks I logged at a public library reference desk in college, but even that short stint had me nodding my head as I read the article. Reference work in a special library just isn’t the same… the pseudo-confessional atmosphere is virtually (but not completely) absent, but I suppose that’s why social reference sites like Ask MetaFilter are popular among we library folk.

The Pajama Way of Research [Law Library Journal, Vol. 99 No. 4] :

Like pajamas, e-mail reference (or chat) can represent comfort, privacy, and flexibility. We reference librarians like to think of ourselves as friendly and welcoming, but some patrons are—despite our best efforts—uncomfortable asking questions face to face… Whatever the reason, e-mail alleviates those discomforts: patrons can ask a question, phrased just the way they want, without having to stand in the reference office in front of a librarian. It’s private, too: their classmates needn’t know they’re asking questions, and no one will overhear them saying something dumb. [read more]

I’ve been digging through the back issues of Law Library Journal lately, mainly to consume Mary Whisner’s “Practicing Reference…” column.  Although this particular piece focuses on the vagaries of providing academic legal reference services to law students, the passage above is also relevant to those of us working within large firms where ‘remote’ users are more likely to be at their desks down the hall (or down the stairs on another floor, or down the road in another city) than at home and wearing suits rather than pyjamas.

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