My Brief Fling with Library Technical Services

This past summer I did an internship at a public library in Indiana, and part of that internship was working with a reference librarian. She was a wonderful mentor and fun to work with, but part of the deal was answering reference questions, especially the “easy” ones about the copier/scanner/printer and the computers. This terrified me. (Many things do. I am a naturally cautious person.) I was petrified that I was going to answer a question wrong, or not know what to do, and everything was going to be a DISASTER.

This turned out not to be true.

I eventually got the hang of the worryingly complicated copier/printer, and taught myself how to use the scanning feature. It turns out that mostly the patrons just wanted help figuring out e-mail, which I generally feel adequately prepared to handle. Sometimes they wanted help with something I genuinely couldn’t do (like bank accounts and credit cards), but mostly I found out that I am a lot more capable than I believed myself to be. And I even learned how to have fun with it! Helping elderly patrons print out their exciting trip itineraries? Totally awesome. Helping someone print out a photo of their son’s graduation? Very validating. I guess what I learned is that sometimes you just have to keep trying things until something works, because half the time that solves the problem. Keep pushing ahead! It’s a really simple lesson, but I guess it’s one we all need practice with sometimes.