 My name is Lori. Angela and I are librarians at the Business Science and Teleogy Centre at the Ming Library. We'll be a host for this program. We'll also give a short presentation about working in a library before interviewing our guests. We have an abled close captioning. Please feel free to turn it on. Today's presentation will be recorded. A link to the recording and a copy of this slide deck will be sent to everyone later this afternoon. Angela, can you, oh, you already started recording. That's great. Thank you so much, Angela. Okay. So in today's program, you will learn what it is like to work in a library and the essential duties of librarians and support staff. Our guest will share how they got to where they are today and the path they took. And with that, you can find out the different ways you might get your food in the door in this field. You will hear a situation we encounter in our work, the stresses and the joys. You also get practical tips on how one may move forward in their library profession. We will divide today's program into three parts. In the first part, I will give a brief overview of library work. You learn about the education and training requirements of two entry-level positions in libraries. There are essential duties as well as career advancement opportunities. In the second part, our guests will share their experience and tips. And in the last part, we'll take questions from you. Please feel free to put your questions in the chat throughout the program and we will read them out loud at the Q&A session. Please note that we will not be covering how to apply for positions. We have prepared a handout about where you can find and apply for library jobs. One of our guests today, Richard Lee, has also created a separate handout with information about the professions, scholarships and grants, opportunities, book titles, you may find useful. We will attach both files in the chat here and also email them to you guys later this afternoon. Now I'd like to introduce our guest, Annie Foe, head of instruction and outreach at USF Gleason Library. Annie has a bachelor's degree in art history from SF State and a master's degree in library science from Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis. She is a, she's the co-editor for the book Pushing the Margins, as well as the Critical Race and Multiculturalism series. Welcome, Annie. Chandra Pham has been working in public libraries for about nine years. She formerly worked for SFPL as a part-time page. Currently, she works food time at the Library 8 at Oakland Public Library. She's also a library school student at San Jose State University. She is a recipient of the ALSC Spectrum Scholarship, as well as a recipient of the Friends of the Oakland Public Library MLIS Scholarship, two years in a row. Congratulations to you, Chandra, and welcome. And we have Brian Durand, Materials Manager at SFPL Ming Library. Brian has been working at libraries for 16 years. He has worked for both academic and public libraries. Brian has a bachelor's in English literature from SF State and a master's degree in library science from San Jose State University. Brian was selected to participate in the California Library Association Leadership Challenge 2020-2021. Welcome, Brian. Brian has been sick and I'm really glad that he can make it today. Ruben Quares, Circulation Supervisor at Ocean View Branch of San Francisco Public Library. Ruben has worked on the paraprofessional side for the past 34 years. Ruben has been a library technician too for the past 12 years. Welcome, Ruben. Last but not least, Richard Lee, Branch Manager of North Beach Branch. He has received his MLIS from San Jose State University. He started his library career at 16 as a youth worker. He has held many different positions in the system, including Page Library Assistant, Teen Librarian, and now Branch Manager. Richard has also worked as a reference librarian for several library systems in the Bay Area. He is a frequent speaker and presenter at professional conferences. Welcome, Richard. Before we begin our presentation, we'd like to know a little bit about you. I think it will be helpful for our guests to know our audience. Please take a moment to answer the polling questions. Let me pull them up. I lost the poll. Oh, you did. Oh, thank you. Thank you. So Angela, will you, will you share the polling results when most of them have come in? Sure. I'm sharing the results right now. Okay, thank you. For some reason, I'm not seeing it. So we have 85% are not working at the library right now. And of those 85%, 10% are working at a public library, 8% is working at an academic library, 3% is working at a special library, and 85% is not working at a library. 67% are interested in working in public libraries, 36% is interested in academic libraries, 23% is interested in working in a school library, 44% in special libraries and 26 are not sure yet. 5% of our audience have a MLIS, 67% is working towards one, 18% is considering and 10% is not interested. And 8% of our participants have a AA or certificate, 13% is working towards one, 41% is considering and 38% is not interested. Great. Thank you so much, Angela. So now we know a little bit about you. We will begin our short presentation on library work. As some of you may know, there are four types of libraries, public libraries like SFPL, Oakland Public, that serve the general public. There is academic library that serves colleges and university like USF Gleason library where our guests and you work. There's school library, sometimes called school library media center. There's in K to 12th school that serves students, faculty and staff. Then there's special libraries. There are many different types of special libraries. Here I'm just giving you a few examples. There's copper library that serves the staff and the cooperation. There's law library that serves the needs of people engaged in legal research, such as law students, lawyer, judges and legislator. There's medical library that serves health professionals, students, patients, consumers, researchers. There is museum library. There are libraries within museums. Some museum libraries main purpose is to provide educational information to the general public. And there are some museum library that are more hidden from the public eye. And they serve as research library for museum staff and professional researchers. There's also government library and the most prominent example in the most prominent example of government library is the Library of Congress, which serves as a research arm of Congress. And today we will focus on careers in public and academic libraries. Okay, now I like to talk about the education and training requirements for librarians in general. A master's degree in library science, it's required in most public, academic and special libraries. Librarian who work in specialized setting may require additional education and training. For example, academic libraries may prefer subject specialists to have a degree in a certain field. A law librarian should hold a JD degree. And for school librarians in California, a teaching credential and completion of a teacher librarian program are required. I also wanted to point out that for public libraries, depending on the system, some position require experience working with the children and youth, or that you have completed coursework relating to children and new services. So if you're interested to work as a librarian in a public library setting, it's not a bad idea to take at least one course relating to youth services, just to give yourself more options. Next I want to talk about the essential duties and responsibilities of librarians in the public library. Most librarians spend part of their day working at the reference desk. Some libraries call it the information desk. Librarians assist patron in finding books or other library materials. We show patrons how to access different library resources, including articles and databases, ebooks, streaming videos. We also assist patron at conduct research for schoolwork, business, or personal interest using reliable sources with select library materials, maintaining the collection withdrawal outdated materials. We plan and conduct library programs, class visits and outreach. These librarians typically present storytime, teen librarians, plant activities, routines, which can include both educational and recreational events. We also provide help on the computer, troubleshoot, teleology problems for the public, including connecting to the library Wi-Fi, download and EBA printing, etc, etc. From time to time librarians need to handle patron issue addressing disruptive behavior. Sometimes we have to remove problem patrons, call library security, or the police for help. Once a while we'll deal with medical emergencies. Some of us are trained to administer Larkin. Not yesterday at the reference desk, a mother asked me to help find her two-year-old son in the library here. Never a dull moment in the library. Other possible duties. Within a library system, there are many different departments. In the cataloging department's main duty is cataloging, classifying library materials. A librarian who works in a smaller library, a smaller library branch would typically assist with circulation desk duties such as checking out books, issuing new library cards when it's short staff. Other possible duties include participating in committees and task forces, as well as developing community partnerships with local nonprofits or government agencies. Different library systems structured differently. Here I just want to show you the advancement opportunity for a librarian in the SFPL system. In case you're wondering if there's room for growth. Librarian 1 is an entry-level position. Librarian 1 can be part-time, full-time, or temporary as needed. Many SFPL librarians join the system as a temporary as needed librarian and later on promoted to a permanent position. Librarian 1 is classification name and depending on your work location and responsibilities assigned, your working title can be children's librarian, teen librarian, adult services librarian, cataloger, electronic resources librarian. Librarian 2 typically supervises librarian 1. Librarian 2 can be a branch manager, program manager. Librarian 3 typically supervises librarian 2. Again, depending on the division they work, Librarian 3 can be a district manager, floor manager, technical services manager, etc. Now I want to switch focus and talk about academic librarian. Academic librarian works in a college or university library that serves students, faculty, and staff. Besides providing reference services, academic librarians have other duties. Some of them might teach a one-unit library and information research class. And in many colleges, this one-unit class is a mandatory course that satisfy the graduation requirement for that college. Some librarians conduct information literacy instruction sections requested by professors to support their students. These sections are usually half an hour long, one hour long. Some academic librarians specialize in acquiring, organizing, and preserving library materials. Others manage electronic resources, troubleshoot access issues. Academic libraries in general subscribe to a lot of databases. So managing electronic resources is a big task. Academic librarians also participate in committees and other decision-making groups that benefit the overall college community. Okay, so many academic libraries hire adjunct librarians to perform reference services and information literacy instruction. They are similar to uncalled librarians or temporary as needed librarians. Adjunct librarians are non-tenured track faculty members. They are hired on a contractual basis, usually in part-time positions. Adjunct librarians also take part in projects such as creating research guides, creating online video tutorials, collection development, et cetera, et cetera. In a smaller academic library, all librarians may work under the supervision of the library director. In others, the senior reference librarian might manage a group of adjunct librarians. About salary, academic librarians' salary schedule is usually based on education and credited experience. Now I want to switch gears to a library support position. I want to focus on the library page position, also known as Library 8. Many librarians started out as a library page in their career. The library page is an entry-level paraprofessional position for SFPL, the minimum requirements, a high school diploma or equivalent, or six months of clerical or customer service experience. Some prior experience in the library, including volunteer work, it's helpful but not required. This is the opportunity of opportunity in this role for on-the-job training as the employee gains knowledge in the library operations, collections, and policies. The typical duties and responsibilities of a library page include sorting and shelving library books and other materials, providing customer service at the circulation desk or page desk, performing a broad range of tasks such as in checking out library materials, processing library cards, answering questions related to library accounts, giving direction, repairing damaged books, assisting patrons with using the sub-checkout machine, poppies, or printers. Other duties include assisting librarians with special projects such as display, program setup, etc. etc. Again, different library systems structured differently. Here, I just want to show you the advancement opportunities for a library page position in the San Francisco Public Library System. Typically, one would promote from library page to library assistant, and then from library assistant to library technical assistant one, then from library technical assistant one to technical assistant two. However, education can generally be substituted for a required experience. For example, for the library assistant position at SAPL, the minimum requirement is one year of experience performing tasks equivalent to library page or nine semester units of course work in library studies. So technically someone with nine units of library studies, it's qualified to apply for the library assistant position without having to work as a page for one year. So City College of San Francisco offers an associate degree in library information technology. They also offer an 18-unit certificate program for those who already hold a college degree. Many library staff I know completed this certificate program or in the process of completing it. Besides CCSF and other college in the Bay Area that offer a similar program as Diablo Valley College. The next part, our guests are going to share their stories and tips with us, how their typical workday looks like, how they got to where they are today and what they like or dislike about their job, et cetera, et cetera. Again, our guests today are Annie from USF Gleason Library, Chandra from Oakland Public, Brian, Richard and Ruben from SFPL. So the first question we have is, what make you go into the library profession? How did you get to where you are today? Annie, would you like to share first? Sure. So I think what inspired me to go into libraries was just having a lot of very fond memories of libraries growing up. So my parents are refugees and once my mom learned that the library was this building with a lot of free stuff, we were there all the time. And I think I learned early on that libraries were a place for discovery, for inquiry and to learn and also just like get help with my homework, to have fun. And yeah, so I think later on as I was like in college and just thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I saw a job ad for a librarian and I noticed that one of the qualifications was having a master's degree and I'd never realize that you needed a master's degree to be a librarian. So I was kind of inspired by that and just also reflecting on, you know, having a job where I felt like I could help other people. For me, I was always really interested in research and so I was interested in academic libraries as a potential place, you know, for a career. So that kind of inspired me to then go to library school. I went to library school at Indiana University. So I went out of state for that. That program is actually pretty traditional it trains you to be like a very traditional reference librarian. And I think in terms of my career that's really where I've ended up. So in terms of where I am now so now I am a fairly new department head so I oversee a department that is in charge of our library instruction program and our outreach. So it's still connected to public services but I guess my journey of getting there I mean I was a reference librarian first and so. And that kind of got my start with just working with people primarily and teaching. And then I think as my career went on I sort of found myself in more of a leadership position but yeah, that's how I got here. That's great. Thank you for sharing any. How about you Chandra. What made you go into the library profession and what. How did you get to where you are today is Chandra here with us. I don't see her. Brian, would you like to share first. Absolutely. Hey I'm Brian. So how did I get into libraries. You know, like Annie just mentioned, you know I've always seen them as places of discovery. I remember as a kid, you know, on the summer days being dropped off at the library. I don't have any discouraged parents to do in the Children's Center, but my parents dropping me and some friends off at the library and just seeing the programs and you know I remember there was a guy that would bring in you know like reptiles and stuff like that. And it was just fun and you know as somebody who, you know, really like struggled with, you know, keeping my attention on things as as a kid. You know, I thought the library was just so perfect because there was just so many things to discover in there. You know, I, you know, I'm still classified as a paraprofessional in my role. You know, and how did I get here. You know I started as a page and a library aid those entry level positions. And, you know, I just started doing that because it was a job that I enjoyed because libraries were always, you know, really special to me. But as I kind of delve deeper into the profession and you know, and I decided to actually go to school to get my library degree. You know, my whole kind of thought about libraries being places of discovery to being places where you know our communities depend on us and we're often the only resources that some folks have in our communities became really important to me so you know I think I'm here because I want to help and I want to make a difference. Thank you Brian. I think Chandra is here. I see her in the participants list. But I think she just, oh, thank you. I'm sorry I'm still learning to work the issues. No worries. No worries. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for having me here today. So yeah, I got into library school. I basically started with me as a team volunteer in high school. I discovered the library for the first time. And I thought the place was super awesome. I, I learned how to basically navigate my way through a lot of things there. I started to set my own email account and learn how to, you know, print things and learn how to look for books on my own and it was just sort of like a safe place for me back in high school and I basically helped my parents in that center as well. Like when they need something like some sort of information I would go to the library and print it out for them. And so yeah that's how I got started in the library and what really pushed me to go to library school was just, I was mentoring some Oakland youth. I was in the, I was a mentor in the Cambodian youth program at Garfield Elementary, and the kids were like super excited when I brought some like books that, you know, had like Cambodian themes like you know, characters that look like them, books about Cambodia just like story books, picture books, anything. And they were just like so thrilled to see that, and they were so like excited and they asked me if I was a librarian. And I told them I was a library aid, but they didn't really get what the library eight was they just knew that I work at the library. And I looked back and reflect on my life. When I was a kid how I didn't really have a role model and didn't even know that a librarian profession was actually possible for me and I think that what that was like the experience that really pushed me for thinking about. I want to let like my community know like yes you can do this you can become whatever you want to be. So that was like sort of the driving force for me. Thank you, Chandra. How about you, Ruben, what made you go into the library profession and how did you get to where you are today. Thank you for asking. I have. I'm from a working class background with immigrant parents. The library was the haven of imagination. It was just a wondrous place as a boy. My brothers and sisters, we would reside there and it was just a magical place. I have an interesting background in that I studied to be a Roman Catholic priest. And when I left to the seminary at 14 you had three choices when you were there to work. You either worked in the auto shop. Carpentry or the library. And this was an easy choice for me. The library was a magical place there and that's where I started working as you would say now as a page. How did I get to where I am today just application. After I realized priesthood wasn't my calling. I saw that there was an opportunity to work at the public library in San Francisco. I'm a San Francisco native. So I started as a paraprofessional track as a page and just worked myself up to my current position I think one of the questions on the chat was can you move forward absolutely in this job track. And along the way different. How do I want to say it supervisors they said hey had you ever considered doing this and I said no I hadn't so. That's how I got to where I am today by application and by a good fortune by people sharing ideas which I'm sharing with everybody on the line like all the other participants here to something potentially jar your imagination to moving forward. Thank you so much, Ruben. How about Richard. Could you share with us how you how you started. What make you. How did you get to where you are today. I guess a couple of your guest speakers, very similar background situations. I came from an immigrant family so you know my parents always believe that, you know, college is not an option. So after high school you supposed to go to work and so on. So, I guess like during my junior year in high school. I went to a career workshop whatever you know like those job fair. And then the library came and recruited a whole bunch of teenagers to work as either volunteers or interns. So I signed up to work there and then I liked it. I went back couple summer and then. So that's how I got started in working on a library and then slowly I took on and then they invited me for a real, you know, like job. So called page positions and I work as a page for three years, and then got promoted to be a library assistant. And I work as a library assistant while going to college for about maybe 15 years. So, and then until, I guess, later on, then I decided to go to library, library is good. Because I want to, you know, like get into profession, I find it really intriguing that if you know how to do searches. You can, you know, like, do a lot of stuff and then as a librarian you have more options than. So that's how I got where I'm at. The same thing is just to work hard and know what you're doing. And eventually you'll move up to rank. Thank you so much, Richard. Let's move to the second question. Tell us what you do now. And what does your typical work they look like any would you like to start what do you do as the head of instruction and outreach at USF. So as a department head, I supervise a team of librarians and library assistance. To provide leadership around our library instruction program and our student engagement. So outreach things and, I guess, yeah, like, are, are a purchase to teaching. So I also serve on the leadership team so I attend like bi weekly meetings where we also kind of discuss our policy like library policies and that's become really important in this pandemic. I make decisions around that and then I also am in charge of hiring for librarians and library assistance for my department. So a lot of that kind of administrative work. And then in terms of like the more day to day things when I'm not doing all of those more administrative things I also am still an instruction librarian so I do teach information literacy sessions for professors who have maybe an assignment. Right now we're doing those in person as well as online. We have sort of like single workshops that might be around like things like citation management tools, as well as credit bearing information literacy courses. I also work at the reference desk. We also have an online I am service answering email reference emails, and then also meeting one on one with students and faculty so those are a little bit more in depth. And then working with collections so purchasing seeing materials for faculty and graduate students in my liaison areas so at, I think a lot of academic libraries, public service librarians may be liaisons to different academic departments early disciplines on campus and so a part of those responsibilities is purchasing books or database subscriptions and things like that to support the teaching and learning in those areas. And then outreach. So lots of outreach that can be things like tabling events representing the library on campus. And then I think somebody asked in the chat about committee work. That's also a part of my job to so doing committee work with national professional organizations like the American Library Association, as well as doing committee work within my library and at the university level. So there's really no typical work date really changes like every day, which is actually something that I really like. I am never bored. Yes, that's wonderful Annie. Thank you so much. How about you, Chandra. What do you do as a library page at Oakland Public. So we, as a library aid, we help keep things functioning on a daily basis at the library so like if there are any issues or concern we would bring it up to our supervisor or immediate supervisor would be the library assistant or whoever is the librarian in charge we let them know any concerns are happening in the library. So on a routinely what I would do is in the morning I would come in, I would check in materials from the book drop or the book bins and then I would help fulfill items that were placed on holds by patrons in the morning before the doors open. And when the doors open I usually am the first person that patron see at the circulation desk. So I would help patrons with checking in checking out materials, answering basic questions they may have. And if they have sort of like a reader advisory question or a more complicated question I would guide them to the right person who can help them with that. Usually I would refer people to the reference desk, that sort of thing. And besides doing that I help with shelving materials, putting things in alpha numeric order, according to the Dewey decimal system. I help with shelf reading make sure that everything is shelved in the correct order. I help shift the collection if the collection needs to be shifted if the shelf looks too tight. I help with mending materials if a book seems like it can use a little pick me up like a new mylar, or reinforcement, I would actually help with that. I also help library assistance with processing new materials. It could be labeling materials, it could be, you know, reinforcing it, it could be changing, like, like clearing the status or whatever, fulfilling holds and such. And I also help with, you know, if with the librarians with like programs set up, like if they need help with setting up chairs, setting up tables. If they need someone to help table at an event I would be there to help or if they need someone to help put some art kits together I would be there to help as well. So that's sort of like part of my daily task and if I completed those tasks in a day. I, I have the option of just communicating with my supervisor if there's any additional projects they need help with I can help with that. So yeah so that's basically how my day goes. Very busy. Thank you, Chandra. Brian, how about you, what do you do as a materials manager and as a PL main library. Hey, so, you know, kind of in the broad sense, everything that has to do with the handling shelving and upkeep of our collection. So I do scheduling. I currently have a team of 20 assistants and pages. And, you know, I'm responsible for scheduling, ensuring our daily workflow is being done so essentially delegating tasks. I do have a service point where we do mostly directional and also retrieve items. So making sure that that desk is running efficiently, and also leading projects and assessing our collection and any needs, such as shifts, special projects. And then also communicating that to my floor manager, who's responsible for overseeing our entire floor. And also, you know, just making sure that folks have the resources that they need and also just have that support. You know, kind of on a day to day basis, I try to, you know, just work on having more of a kind of collective voice, you know, again working with such a big team. It's challenging. So I think, you know, just really trying to take a lot of ideas and, you know, we all definitely have our ways of doing things but also try to unify them as a collective team. So it's kind of like a day to day thing. Great. Thank you so much, Brian. Ruben, how about you? What do you do as a circulation supervisor? Well, I'm going to call up there because it's a lot of the same things. I think I'll just add to it by sharing that we're a small branch in the Southwest District here in San Francisco. Overseeing the circulation desk, which is where people come to check out their items, return their items. That's a central focus and supporting the staff in that scheduling is huge. I think as far as in the branch division, updating the schedules for the staff that as well as schedules for the system where people can see who's staffing where at our location so everybody knows in terms of the branch system where people are at, in case there's a, somebody calls in sick or something like that. We, I think the other daily focus is obviously customer service. We want to make sure our patrons have the best quality of service. So our focus will always be around that. And where I play my roles, I want to ensure my staff are in positions where they have success. It was mentioned earlier about how a page will do their shelving or their shelf reading their sorting their shifting. So I'm doing that to making sure that happens, but helping out where staff may need assistance. And always with the fundamental focus on customer service and making sure our patrons are well served. That's huge for our culture. So that's a very important piece. I also think obviously assisting our librarians and the work that they have need of help. So I think these are all elements in a given shift. So yeah, that's, I'll just stop there. Thank you so much, Ruben. Richard, what do you do as a branch manager. So as a branch manager of a busy branch, I would say a lot of stuff. I mean, like everything goes on your responsible point. So, I guess my main duty is to oversee the operation of the branch or the library. So I'm organizing a team of librarians and staff. Also, to, like Ruben said, ensuring public service, customer, good customer service, and make sure people have access to the collections. I would also include, like, if there's a complaint, you know, people walk in and they don't feel satisfied with the service, they come to you. Then you have to handle your complaint. And then if there's any radical emergency or any kind of emergency, my job is to resolve that and take care of that as quickly as possible. And just handle issue like the building, if it's not working, some part elevator not working. I have to deal with that. So I also on the staff side, I hire a train and evaluate people's my staff performance. And then I order, maintain, you know, like older books or maintain a good collections, and also do a lot of like community work projects, doing a lot of outreach and partnerships, going out to the community and promote the library and street fair events, community meetings and so forth, because you're representing the library on a typical days, I would, you know, come to work. Do I walk through the building to make sure that everything is, you know, good and looking or everything is working fine. And so before we open the branch, and then I would assign tasks or delegate work to the staff and then make sure they do whatever they're supposed to do. And answer question work at the reference desk, help out patient ensuring that everyone you come in is, you know, like, they're welcome and then make sure we provide an excellent service. And then, and then also the critical part is connecting the information are connecting the people to the research, whatever they need. That's the most important piece of that of library service is when people come in they expect a certain, you know, they have a certain question or they want certain information. It's our job to connect them to the right sources. And then I guess afterward, and then we close the library or the branch. So that's the overall typical work. Thank you so much Richard. Let's move on to the next question. What do you like about your job the most and what do you not like about your job. Any would you like to start. I'm sure. I think what I really like about my job is the things that I learned through helping other people. Again, I think it's such a great job if you're someone who doesn't like being bored because things change every day and you're kind of constantly problem solving or just thinking through different kinds of situations, especially when you do work with the public. I really enjoy the teaching component of being a librarian so really helping people. Yeah, get connected to their information needs whether that's for fun or for a class. I love observing the sort of. I don't know like those aha moments that patrons have when they have a question and you're actually able to really help them get to the thing that they're looking for. And yeah, I do think that working in the library actually can be really, really fun. In terms of what I don't like about the job. It's not really about the job itself, it's probably more related to like systemic issues around staffing and resources. And so I would say for all of those things to like help people have a fully staffed reference desk have librarians to teach classes all of those things require resources, budget, and sometimes it just depends on the library those resources are not always available. And so I would say that that's the part that I think is more challenging. I think about libraries is that sometimes that funding component or being understaffed, or under resourced that just makes it harder. But yeah, that's all I have to say about them. Thank you so much, any. How about Chandra, what do you like and dislike about your job. I think that what I like most about my job is being able to help the patron and sort of like give them that aha moment or really solving an issue, or it's like, you know, putting the puzzles together. I remember when I was first a library aid, I was at, I worked at Brookfield Library, and every branch is quite different, like, like some branches are more like very heavy reference question, and other branches are more like, oh, more like focus on computer usage and all of that. I, when I was at Brookfield for a couple of days, working there for a couple days. There was like this job fair that was happening in the community and so many people were coming in needing help with their resumes, and I was just like, this person who's just fresh out of college and got my first job out of college working in the library as a library aid. And at the time the library assistants were quite busy they had their hands full with like circulation and doing other things. So because there was not much to shelf because people don't really check books out there. I asked if it was okay for me to help patrons with their resume because it seems like so many people are coming up and asking, can you please help me. How to make an email account, how to use a flash drive, how to write a resume. So I sat down with each and every one of them and taught them how to do all of those things. And it was just the most like best experience I've ever had because they came back and they thank me because they got the job and I was just like, Oh, it was just like this one small thing that I didn't think too too much of it, but it actually made a difference for them. And I think that was like the best, the best thing about my job is just like, you know, giving that person that sort of experience like you just think that, oh you did something small it won't make that big of an impact but it actually does. And I really can't say if there's anything that I don't like about my job. So far it's kind of like when things come my way I just say oh you know I'll figure it out, you know. Great. Thank you so much. And Brian, how about you, what do you like or dislike about your job. I think in a broad sense what I really love about the profession is, you know, just really providing a vital service to our community, just really being there and and you know really providing a free resource, which is rare, especially here in San Francisco. I think on a personal level, what I really like is also my ability to advocate for both the community but also for my team and my team members to just really again just provide resources and really do what I can to either mentor, or just you know, point in a direction and just see that success, which is so great. I think what I don't like, kind of again just going back to looking at library, the library as a profession is, you know, I'm sure if we talk to a lot of our friends and relatives about what they think a library is, we'll get a lot of the similar responses, you know, like, oh, you like books you can't talk in there it's a quiet place. And we also kind of picture, you know, what a librarian might look like, but, you know, I, it's not that I don't like that I kind of see that more as an opportunity for us to kind of push ourselves. And especially everyone in attendance today, if you're interested, you know, bring a little bit of yourself to the profession, and, you know, really change those stereotypes about what it means to be a librarian or be in a library. And I can tell, you know, everybody, you know, for working here on the fourth floor the main library working with Brian. He's a wonderful, wonderful supervisor, really, really wonderful supervisor. Okay, next. Ruben. What's your thought on this. What do you like and dislike about your job. I love working with people so I really enjoy working with people. It is a social interactive occupation. I think working with the staff, working with your staff. As well as patrons I love engaging our patrons I love the aha moments like it was mentioned before I love just the conversation we're a small neighborhood branch and just the people that are part and parcel of your life. I really enjoy that. As I was saying earlier working with staff. It's a non competitive environment. You know yourself motivated in a sense if you want to move on to the next track to go from a page to an assistant to a technician to a technician to you, it's really based on your desire and ability and capacity. It's not. I saw the question earlier about the competitive dynamic. No, it's really self motivated self driven. Yeah, so I love those aspects thing I don't like about the job is enforcing the code of conduct, which is a set of rules that the library has on behaviors that patrons have to adhere to. Training writing instant reports is difficult and challenging. That's probably the element that I don't like about the job. But I think, again, like I was saying earlier, people working with people. I'm supporting your staff, helping our patrons. These are all wonderful things about this occupation. Thank you Ruben. How about Richard. What do you think. So for me what I like most about the job is the social interaction like many other panel. You know the story they tell you when they come in and, you know, how you help them. And, you know, over the year, you develop friendship with them right they come in every day and they talk to you and they share with you. You have a community, you know, like where you work and then you see them every day and then what so another thing what I like about it is the impact you make on those people. Even though it's a little thing that come in with questions about, for example, how do you, how do they get online and fill out job applications for, you know, like, photo, you know, anything. Like medical information, getting healthcare, or, you know, finding a place to live and that kind of stuff. So those are, even though to many people. I mean, those are just very simple questions, but to them. Those are really critical needs. And I think as a librarian and branch manager is our duty to help, you know, the people will come in. There are things like that. So the positive impacts that a library makes on our community is just incredible. And those are the kind of things that I really enjoy doing and helping people. And another thing is that they're learning experience, learning out of opportunity for, you know, working with our patrons and people because, you know, when they come in, they share with you this story. And you learn so much. You become, I guess, like, you're basically, you're open up to the whole world. And that's what, what's keeping me going. Even though it's sometime to be tough, like Ruben said, you know, we have to enforce the rule, we have to follow, you know, correct some of their behavior. But overall, and then as a managers, the opportunity is more or greater. The reason is you can set, you can do many different things. Like, for example, you can have different programs, you can hold different events at your library, you can invite guest speaker or you can do zooms. Meeting or program like this. So the possibility to explore different ideas. How do you partner with different businesses? How do you, you know, like, hold big events to promote your library. So there's a lot more opportunity if you're at maybe like a management level or something like that. So I really enjoyed that aspect of that. The social interaction, the things that you can impact people's life, simple things, and it makes a really different. And then what I just liked about or can be challenging at time, it's that it comes with a responsibility as a manager. So everything falls on you. You make tough decision every day coming in like. And then in the success of the library or your staff, it really falls on you. So those can be challenging part. But nevertheless, you have a network of people, a colleague who can help you and we work together on that part. And sometimes dealing with difficult people can be challenging as well, because you never know who's going to walk into your library. And then sometimes it could be, you know, like, yeah, so we had so many situations, but it's just that part of the job. And if at one time give you treat people, you know, in a way that they should be treated a low respect, then it's okay. I mean, it's just part of the day. And then the last part about it is the admin work just, you know, there are a lot of paperwork as a manager, everything, you know, like, it falls on you. So whether it's like injuries or writing report, just a lot of those are the kind of things that I it's a bit of challenge, because there's a lot of work and responsibility falls on. Thank you, Richard. I have a question. Do you have any advice for someone interested in this field on how one may get their food in the door or for someone already in this field and how they can advance in their career. Would you like to start? Sure. And I think I want to address one of the questions in the chat about, you know, bringing your poll self to work and if previous experience comes into play and I think that's one of part of my advice which is, yes, I do think that you can definitely bring your past skills, you know, even if it's customer service, you know, a lot of that, those skill sets are really relevant and important. In terms of like just getting your foot in or trying to move up, I do think if you don't have really, if you're really like brand new, you know, information interviews, just contacting people who have positions that you're interested in just seeing if they're willing to either answer questions via email or even have a phone call or a video call, that can go a long way. Asking a lot of questions, being curious about the, about the profession. If you can get a part time job just to get a little bit of experience. I feel like that's how you end up working your way up. If you're in library school and you're able to do internships, I think that's another way to again make those connections and just get more experience. Yeah, I feel like that's the advice that I have. Thank you, Annie. Chandra, do you have any advice for our audience. Sure. So, hiring has changed quite a bit since I was first a library aid. So, some of the advice I can give is probably if become a library goer or a library patron, so you can become familiar with the library system and how what are their policies. You can even look up their website and see and get and check out their fax page that would help. If you have any volunteer experience, customer service experience is applicable. And if you really don't have any job experience, you can think of the imagine the scenarios like what would you do in that sort of situation. How would you respond. How would you communicate that kind of stuff would help with interviews. One of the things that I did for to land a job as a library page in San Francisco was I, I checked out a couple of civil service exam books from SFPL. I even borrowed the library clerk test prep books, although the exam will not have these questions exactly, but it sort of gives you a mindset of like, what might be on the test, what might not be on the test. So I started just like a little, a little, a little bit of what it might be like. And then they learned how to navigate the library by being a library patron. So I think that would greatly help. Thank you so much, Andrea. Brian. What's your thought on this. Yeah, no, absolutely. I think Chandra brought up a good point about civil service exams. Good to do your homework. Make sure you're reading the job descriptions, you know what, you know, the hiring committee or what's expected of you to kind of, you know, get your foot in the door. I really like how Annie mentioned, you know, don't underestimate the, you know, experience you already have so if you've never worked at a library before but you've worked at Baskin Robbins. I mean, that's like, you know, great, great customer service use that I mean the majority of what we do in our institutions has to do with some level of customer service. And I think, you know, nothing kind of can be said enough about just a passion and a drive to kind of, you know, know where you want to go, and you know what's going to take you to get there. You know, if you're really smart about your goals and you know if you have the capacity, you know, push yourself to be successful. Yeah. Thank you Brian Rubin. Do you have any advice for our audience. Yes. Thank you. I think the first step is just applying to fill out the application to apply. There's whatever exam books that you might need in preparation for the test you have to take. But I think this is the biggest the biggest piece here is checking your mindset. I think Brian was saying about the passion or, or that drive is to push yourself to learn. If you get your foot in the door. And you're at the parapro at the page position. Learn everything about that position. Learn the craft of that the shelving the shifting the shelf reading the sorting, answering the telephone. Like it was mentioned drawing on your customer service experience but the hunger biggest misconception about the library is it's passive. It's sort of sitting there reading a book. No, no, no, no, no. It's, it's labor, it's working. And then you go into the technician position, then into a supervisor track, or if you move into the librarian classification. It's about engaging people. It's a people related profession in that way. I think applying yourself is the critical piece checking your mindset. I think I'll finish with this we had a few years back they asked what's the biggest quality that they're looking for in workers coach ability that is being able to take instruction and executing. So, I think these are all qualities that will behoove you in your course of your career. So I'll stop there. Thank you. Thank you Ruben. Richard, any advice for our audience. So, as Ruben said, I mean, this is a people professions, you have to have the people scale and be able to engage people and communicate with people. Another thing is that you have to have an open mind be flexible and compassionate to those two people walk in the library. Also, as a librarians bar with a supervisor, you have to be able to find information quickly as possible. So picking up your search skills and so forth. And then another thing about it is, keep up with the emerging technology. That's really critical because people will come in and they'll ask you question about that. One tips or advice is a lot of librarians or they tend to memorize stuff like the source. I, in my opinion, I think that you should use the tool. I mean, there are so many to because it's very hard to memorize everything. So for me, I just use the tool to help me to find information that I need. And, you know, the last thing is the myth. You don't know. I mean, it's okay. It's okay to say, you know, to someone who asked for information. I don't know. Maybe we can find it together. I'll find it for you. Thank you so much Richard. And now we will move on to the last part question from all of you. Angela, do you have questions from the audience in the chat. Yes, there's one question we had, what kind of communities do you all join, how do you think about and propose program ideas. Does anyone want to answer that like work community school community committees outside of school and work. Probably all the above. Unless they're talking about the ALA committees, but they didn't elaborate on that. Okay, I, I'm part of the Apollo organization, the Asian Pacific American Library Association. I was also part of their mentor mentee program so I was a mentee, which was a very like wonderful experience. I got matched with a Cambodian librarian from LA so it was a really great experience. And work group wise I was part of one of the work groups that we were talking about dealing with like the digital literacy and digital divide in our community. So I'm part of that work group as well. Thank you for that Tantra we did another question I guess for any one of our guests. How has the library service differed from before the pandemic during the pandemic and right now in its trans history stage. I could take a stab at that one. This is Brian. You know, again, I do work on a paraprofessional level. So librarians please step in and add to this but I think the biggest thing is kind of looking at the program we're doing right now. That's, you know, based on zoom it's you know our, you know, our reliance on technology has, you know, really increased. But in that, you know, the services we provide have also increased in the way that we're able to reach so many more people and you know, both in our community and outside of our community. And in that way it's it's also you know it's it's highlighted some issues, you know, because we all have the benefit to be on zoom right now. You know, and a lot of the communities we serve, you know, members of those communities don't have that luxury so you know it's really been a big drive and push to be virtual and you know rely on technology, but also a drive to return to us as educators and, you know, and the just vital resources that we provide to our communities. And, you know, yeah. Thank you for that Brian. This is a question for all the librarians. How do you bring your backgrounds and experience into your service as a, as a Filipino former restaurant hostess and community organizer. How can I bring and apply the talents I've picked up in my librarianship. I can go first. So like Chandra mentioned, I'm also a member of Apollo, which is the Asian Pacific American Librarian Association. I consider that one of my professional homes. I think, when I was in library school, well, I went to library school in Indiana so I would say it wasn't the most diverse program. And I think I didn't know that there were other people who looked like me in the profession, you know I just felt a little bit disconnected in that way so I think that seeking out communities where you see yourself represented in libraries like I feel like it definitely exists. I think that's one way that you can bring that into your work. And then I don't know kind of like what others have said like your past experience can, and your interest overall, you'll be really surprised how those things can come in handy so like my bachelor's degrees and art history and I ended up, you know in my previous job when I came in my current position at USF I ran a lot of public programming and events, and I also had to coordinate a lot of exhibits and so having an arts background really helped me in my day to day job there. And I never expected to use my art background. So I think for again it was just like, well I got this degree. Well what am I going to do now I guess I'll go work in libraries. But yeah it turns out it was really helpful. So, yeah, I think in a lot of ways you can be surprised at how your previous experiences or, you know, your interests or who you are like you can really find spaces in this profession. But my interest is always in research so I, the way how I tied up my own background is just basically create a lot of programming and talks or even display at the library to feature my community. And because I know a lot of people and I grew up in the community and I know a lot of people and I usually like both authors, new stations to to perform at the library. So, in another word, using my great create diverse programming and maybe orders to create around it to build. So there's so much I mean that's why it's so interesting everything. It's the ability to be able to make a difference or create something. Yeah, for, for your community. So, I really encourage people will have this different skills that you join the libraries and use those backgrounds. There's so much more. Yeah. Thank you Richard thank you any for that. I guess this is for anyone. What do you people think when you tell them you work in the library. I guess I'll go first. I, I'm not a guest but I am a librarian at the Center for Public Library but when I first told my cousins that I was working in the library, the immediate response was, Oh, you must read a lot of books. That's not always the case. I'm working as a children's librarian, my cousins who have younger kids will ask me for recommendations, but mind you I just started not that long ago. So I didn't have a wide breach of experience in terms of reading all those kids books because there are thousands of kids books to read. It's kind of making me on the spot for recommendations was pretty hard. But a lot of them actually don't realize that in order to be a librarian. You need a master's degree. So a lot of them get really surprised they're like, Oh, you need a master's degree. Why. It's kind of hard to tell them why you need a master's degree to be a librarian but yeah, I just get surprised. I get a lot of questions from people when I tell them I work in the library. Does anyone else want to. Well, that's all the questions I have from our participants does anyone have any questions feel free to put in the chat. I have a question from Laura about school I bear this is a librarian needs a master's degree for California, you don't. In California you have to have what if you work in the public school. I think what you need is teaching credential, and you need to complete the teacher librarian program. Not a master's degree, but the teacher librarian program. There's a question from David it's as a PR looking for library pages at this time. I'm not sure, but we are going to send you a handout with with links to position links to websites where you can find positions and say for example, if at this time as appeal is not hiring library pages, you can set up an alert. And as soon as you know, the position becomes open, you will get an email and then you can apply. Yeah, so to look at the handout refer to the handout that we're going to email you. Okay. So I just want to briefly say that as you, you know, attend this session and learn more about library, you know, work. What I want to point out is that there are, you know, like scholarships grants available for you, and so that it can help you to support your study. So there's a lot of, you know, like money out there. So just all you need to do just find out and search and you see if you're qualified. So I think on the PDF that I created has a link to the al a you can search for scholarship grants and so forth so that will save you a lot of money. Because certain schools are professional association give out grants. Those are free money to you to go to school. Thank you for that Richard, someone had asked. Is there anything you wished someone had told you when you were starting out in the libraries. I can start since I'm currently in library school. I think that I took a long break from college because I graduated with my bachelors in sociology social service and then I didn't pursue higher education right away. I was still like struggling with the thought of, if I wanted to go into social work counseling, or keep working for the library because at the time I started to have great interest in working in the library. And at some point I really thought that I wasn't going to pursue higher education until during the pandemic, when I really thought about how I wanted to serve my community and all of that. I think that at some point I didn't want it to give up. And I wish that at the time someone told me it's never too late that you can still do it because I felt like at the time I was at a stalemate like oh I might not do it I might not and I waited until the pandemic to actually decide that I actually want to go to grad school. So at the time I felt like I might have needed to hear somebody at work or, you know, someone in my life that says oh just do it pursue it, you know. Thank you Chandra. Let's see, we have some questions here I don't know if I'll guess I'm able to answer. Does anyone know anything about the online MLIS degree at San Jose State? Is it considered a good program? I graduated from San Jose State a while back. I cannot tell you how is it now. Did any of you have any opinion about the San Jose State MLIS program? Currently a San Jose State University student. So I can tell you that you have to manage your time well and prioritize because I work full time and I go to school part time. So no sort of like understand yourself know your boundaries and your limits like what can you handle what can you not handle. I tried full time my first semester and it was it was brutal like I was struggling like I didn't get sleep. And you know I had to work on site at the same time and it was very exhausting so I decided after my first two semesters to go part time instead and just like keep working full time so in between like whenever I have time I would try to do my homework or whenever at work like during my break or my lunch or whatever. So it's really important to like manage your time well. Because everything's online. Yeah, thank you Chandra. Are pages provided training when they first start out on the job. Ruan would you like to address that question. Our pages provided training when they first start. Yes, I'd love to address that yes they are provided training. Most definitely. When you get the position and you're in the probationary phase of your employment. And, and you'll be well in the case of me as a trainer, it's been a lot of time, just going over the basics. The essentials of the classification and the training is done and I cross the board supervisors will go over there is a sheet of the different job duties that encompass the position. And, yeah, so training is provided and that's part of the process. Thank you Ruben. What are. Oh, Richard, would you like to add. I heard. No, no, no. No, it wasn't you. Okay, another question. What are some trends that you see forecasted for libraries and librarianship. Any of us have any idea on this question. I can answer. I think something that Brian mentioned earlier about like post pandemic programming is maybe a trend or a focus more on like accessibility, as well as diversity equity and inclusion and anti racism. I think that the profession is turning a much more critical eye to the ways that we've always been doing things and really asking critical questions around whether that really includes everyone like the people in our communities. So, I feel like that's a, I don't know, I guess it feels weird to call it a trend but I definitely feel like it's a movement that I see happening in libraries. Thank you, Annie. For those of us who have graduated already with an MLIS. Do you have any advice for current students. Are there anything you would have done differently in hindsight. One question I graduated about three and a half years ago so I'm a pretty recent graduate. One thing I recommend is if you have the opportunity to do an internship and one of your electives are highly highly recommend it. It gives you one and a chance to kind of see what being a librarian is at different levels. You can do academic libraries you can do private libraries. There's some museums I believe and, and there's also public libraries for a wide range you could be a children's library and you can be an adult library and you can be. I highly recommend doing internship for one second is save all your work. I don't know if you guys know but save all your class works every little thing discussion post. Take a screenshot of it save everything it'll help you if you are doing your portfolio. If you choose to go that route at the San Jose State University. I, I kind of messed up on that. So I highly recommend everyone to save all your work even like this discussion post that you might think oh I don't need this. Save it because it might be your best example for your portfolio. Thank you Angela. I think for me, I, I think it took me a long time to decide to go to library school, but I think I should have gone a little bit earlier. But I guess afterward, it opens up a lot of opportunity. When I was a library as a library. Assistance for a page is very limited on how much you can do. So as a managers or as a librarian, you can do a lot more meaning like you can try different things and work with different peoples and so far. Ordering books. So you can do a lot more. I agree. Thank you Richard. Are those of you who are studying for MLS degree online, able to squeeze in full time jobs at the same time. How much time does the degree require. When I, when I started my school, I was working full time. So it was part online learning and also in person. So, you know, it's hard, it's tough because I would get off work at six o'clock, and I would drive, you know, to San Jose State, and then come home around 11 o'clock. You know, like two classes, nine classes. And that went on for three and a half year. So it's hard. It's just like Angela was saying just, you know, organize your schedule, keep everything. Yeah. And I know it's hard. It's hard going to school full time doing, you know, yeah, going to full time and then you're working full time. But they'll pay off. So I, I was working full time when I went to library school, but I was studying part time I only took two classes per semester. I think it's, I think it's impossible that you work with time and study. I mean, it's impossible that you work with time and study full time. You have to do part time on one of those. Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's manageable. Let's see, do we have others? Oh, yes, we have a question from Sarah. What is your favorite part about being a librarian? Oh, I guess the interaction again with people, people you come in, they come into the library and they, they ask for information, whatever, and they've told you their stories. And then, yeah, it's just listening to your story and knowing that you make a different in their life, whatever that you provide could be a book, or it could be just connecting them to informations or anything. Yeah. Thank you, Richard. See, I don't see another question in the chat. I got a question from Jessica. Can someone talk about care logging? I don't know any of our guests have experienced working in the care logging department. Probably not. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jessica. Let's see. Oh, question from Christie. Can you join a library association, even if you don't have a library job yet. I don't know, but I think you can join. Yeah, I don't think I don't. Yeah, I think you can join as a student. I remember, you know, when I was in library school, the fee to join as a student it's low. I'm pretty sure yeah you can join as a student you don't have to have a job in a library yet. Let's see. Oh, I'm sorry. Chad is jumping. Let's see if we miss any questions. Did I miss any questions? Oh, I think that's it. I don't see any other questions in the chat. Oh, question Pooja. I have done my masters in finance and doing library, technology certification. What position can I get in the library. So, so as I said in the presentation in the beginning, the entry level position for staff without a MLIS degree is page position. So once you are doing a library, technology certification, I think if you have completed nine units of library studies, you can apply for the library assistant position, at least for as a PL. I don't know about other library system. So, yeah, if you have done nine units of library, technology classes, then you can apply for library assistant you qualify to apply. You can also apply for the page position. Don't see other questions in the chat. With that, I'd like to take this time to thank our guests, any Chandra, Brian, Ruben and Richard, we really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to share with us your experience. Thank you for all the advice, encouragement and tips for our audience. And I want to thank everyone for joining the program. I hope you find the program informative helpful to you. We will send out an evaluation survey together with the slide deck. The handouts and a link to the recording later this afternoon, please give us your feedback. If you have further questions, please feel free to email us at this site at srpl.org that is BUS SCI tgh at srpl.org. Thank you again and have a wonderful rest of your day. Bye bye now. Thank you.