Patron service is the main focus in my work-life library. Everyone on the team–including student assistants and the technology guru–really work at helping our patrons. This attitude comes from the top; our head librarian is service-focused and supports and encourages our efforts to go the extra mile.
Many times I have walked a lost student to their class. The end of the semester means I am sitting panicking students, polishing citations and formatting final papers. I greet students as they come in, and everyone is treated in a welcoming, respectful way in my library. Many students are suprised at this.
I see my role NOT as the lion at the gate, but as the facilitator, the connector. I share, not just distribute information. Questions are not an interruption in my work, they are the reason I am working.
I smile. Its part of the job.
This attitude has recently been codified by the Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians (found on Kathryn Greenhill’s Librarians Matter.) I hope that this will become the defining statement for the next generations of libraries and librarians.
I know it is mine.
I sometimes need to know that my own kids are not the only crazy people on the planet. Jon Scieszka and his brothers were crazy too–maybe even crazier! Setting fire to the basement, playing MURDERBALL, the six Scieszka did it all.