{"id":78522,"date":"2014-08-05T11:30:53","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T16:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78522"},"modified":"2014-08-04T20:00:26","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T01:00:26","slug":"what-i-learned-from-working-in-a-special-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78522","title":{"rendered":"What I Learned from Working in a Special Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Kluberdanz, Senior Editor,\u00a0INALJ\u00a0<\/span>Montana<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Nebraska<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Nevada<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>New Hampshire<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>New Jersey<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>New Mexico<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Wyoming<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What I Learned from Working in a Special Library<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"REBECCA_KLUBERDANZ_NYS\"<\/a>I\u2019m sure everyone has an image in their head of their ideal job. Honestly, the job I have right\u00a0doesn\u2019t fit that image but I\u2019m loving it anyway! I currently work in what I would consider a special library. I am the only librarian and archivist in a small creative design agency. We\u00a0specialize in creating materials for high-end fashion brands. I may not have pictured working as\u00a0the ONLY librarian anywhere but the experience has been very cool and I have definitely learned\u00a0a lot.<\/p>\n

Although I don\u2019t have much to compare this experience too, I imagine that my role in this\u00a0position is a lot different from that of someone who is working in a traditional library setting. I\u00a0find myself doing a little bit of everything and jumping in wherever I can. So this may not be the\u00a0traditional job I envisioned for myself but let me share with you some of things I learned here\u00a0that I believe will definitely help me in future endeavors:<\/p>\n

1. Never say no!<\/strong>
\nSure, just like any job, there are times when someone asks me to do something and I REALLY\u00a0don\u2019t want to do it (removing all the books from the shelves and dusting….no thank you). BUT\u00a0when I started this job I wanted to get the most out of the experience so even if I truly did not\u00a0want to do something I threw myself into anyway. And I didn\u2019t just half-heartedly complete\u00a0a job…I worked HARD! This might not seem like a big deal but trust me when I say people\u00a0definitely noticed. Other employees would comment on the work I was doing, how fast it was\u00a0getting done and how great it looked! That validation felt so good in a new job where I was\u00a0still trying to gain footing. Not only that but when a manager notices how hard your working\u00a0they are more likely to include you in important discussions, which, to me, shows your worth! I\u00a0definitely feel great when I\u2019m approached to help solve a problem. I think it shows respect and\u00a0trust.<\/p>\n

2. Look twice at everything.<\/strong>
\nAs I mentioned before, I work at a creative design agency. That means my boss, the creative\u00a0director, is all about aesthetics. Although I enjoy when things are neat, orderly and pretty, he\u00a0takes it to a new level. This means that whenever I do something I have to consider not only\u00a0if I think it\u2019s functional and organized, but how it looks. Does it fit the office aesthetics? It may\u00a0seem silly but it has taught be something important. When I spend that much time looking\u00a0over my work and observing my surroundings I\u2019m not only considering the aesthetics, but I am\u00a0considering the functionality of space more and more. So although this was originally about\u00a0how pretty something was it turned into something completely different! I am constantly seeing\u00a0things I can change to make the library space more usable for my co-workers.<\/p>\n

3. Consider your audience.<\/strong>
\nUnlike some other libraries, the library that I\u2019m currently working only really services between\u00a020 and 25 people at a time. And of those 20 to 25 people there are probably only about 5 that\u00a0use the library on a regular basis. Because of this we took to the opportunity to create a more\u00a0simplified cataloging system. My co-workers are really look for visual inspiration fast so the\u00a0library is broken down into super simply subjects like Photography and Art and we just label\u00a0the books using the subject and the last name of the artist or author. I know this would be a\u00a0huge \u201cno-no\u201d in a larger library but the truth is it works for this space! Why make things more\u00a0complicated if they don\u2019t have to be?<\/p>\n

4. Never stop evolving.<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m sure everyone has had a boss like mine at some point meaning when he wants something\u00a0change, he wants it immediately. That is why I\u2019m trying to constantly evolve my library space. I\u00a0want to stay one step ahead of the game at all times so I\u2019m there with a solution before he ever\u00a0thinks of problem. This is relatively new school of thought for me. Before I was relatively happy\u00a0to maintain the status quo and avoid change but not anymore! To keep my boss happy I\u2019ve had\u00a0to change my way of thinking and I am definitely glad I did. Looking ahead has definitely has had\u00a0some advantages and I think I am making a better impression because of it!<\/p>\n

So there you go! I may not have landed in the traditional library spot of my dreams but I am sort\u00a0of loving this unique opportunity and I can\u2019t wait to see what I else I can learn there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Kluberdanz, Senior Editor,\u00a0INALJ\u00a0Montana,\u00a0Nebraska,\u00a0Nevada,\u00a0New Hampshire,\u00a0New Jersey,\u00a0\u00a0New Mexico, and\u00a0Wyoming What I Learned from Working in a Special Library I\u2019m sure everyone has an image in their head of their ideal job. Honestly, the job I have right\u00a0doesn\u2019t fit that image but I\u2019m loving it anyway! I currently work in what I would consider a special…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":74188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[146,69,3592,3625,3787,3610,3599,3632,3635,3631,6255,388,6437,111],"class_list":["post-78522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-advice","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-montana","tag-inalj-nebraska","tag-inalj-nevada","tag-inalj-new-hampshire","tag-inalj-new-jersey","tag-inalj-new-mexico","tag-inalj-wyoming","tag-rebecca-kluberdanz","tag-special-libraries","tag-special-library-advice","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/REBECCA_KLUBERDANZ_NYS.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-kqu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}