It’s official! I work in a library!

Posted March 23, 2015 by Alexandra Bernson

Okay, well, I’m technically a library clerk, and a part-time one at that.  But still, it’s a start!  I started my first shift at the Boston Architectural College tonight and I am extremely excited to sit in their high stools behind the reference desk and do a whole lot of homework on the catalog computers!

To be serious though, this is my first real job in a library since I was a shelver during my freshman year in undergrad.  Throughout the night, everything felt so familiar and yet so incredibly different. For example, I worked at the humanities library at my college, which was absolutely massive and contained the bulk of their print resources.  Here, most of the stacks start with NA, and the periodicals seemingly take up half of the library’s collection.  But even with the limited amount of call number prefixes, there is so much to explore.  We have closed stacks and reserve titles that hold so much promise.  During my break I scanned the closed stacks and saw titles on theatre architecture, Japanese gardens, and ancient Rome.  If I weren’t already working full time and trying to finish my internship via LIS438, I’d want to enroll in a few classes here at the BAC.

The one part of the job that I find a little daunting could be the reference aspect, which is probably the biggest aspect of the job other than manning the check out scanner.  I have little to no architectural knowledge – I know enough to sing along to Simon and Garkfunkel’s “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” – so I’m hoping that I learn just as much as the students do here on a daily basis.  Thankfully, my fellow library clerk is a former student and current teacher so I can unabashedly hide behind her if my database searching skills fail me.  So everyone, please wish me luck and maybe I’ll include some fun architecture trivia in my next post.

As an addendum, sadly I don’t have any updates on the love triangle mystery that I discovered during my archival internship.  I’m worried that if I do research on the World War II soldier in question, I will learn something that will break my heart.  So once I find the courage, I’ll let you all know!