How time flies these days! I do not even recognized most time of the internship has passed. What I also don’t realize is my remaining hours of internship will be changed to spent in reference work at the information desk. I’m so excited and surprised because I have only sit in the library as a student, but never sit as a consultant. Based on the true experience of helping students, I learn some fundamentals of how to provide excellent consultant work as a qualified librarian. I’m very honored to be assigned this glorious task as whether or not the reference service is of high quality affects the image of the whole library.
From this work, I find the role of librarians has a change. Traditional librarians are just information providers who spend all day sitting in the middle of the library and provide services to readers. However, as a modern librarian, he/she should evaluate, collect, and distribute information more actively. Some tasks are just seemingly easy but have to be accomplished very carefully. For example, in the simple action of answering the phone and scanning the file, there are plenty of truths and mysteries waiting for us to explore. To transfer the call accurately and quickly, I have to memorize many phone numbers and their associated departments. It took me a lot of efforts to find that only when the paper is placed on the top left corner of the scanner, it can be scanned in full.
In the coming days, there are a lot I have to learn and improve. I’m expecting to learn something new everyday and enjoy feel connected with students. Happily, an increase in collaboration with colleagues also emerged as a result of seeking guidance from them.