Brandywine

Saturday, December 22
10 am to 5 pm
7 hours

On my first day at the Brandywine community library, I arrived a little early and met with Brita, the assistant librarian. She was glad to have me on a Saturday because normally there is only one person working in the library that day. She gave me a tour of the collection, explaining where certain items were shelved any exceptions there might be (like children’s and young adult non fiction items were with all the adult materials). It was a busy day for the both of us of course because everything was new to me. The first thing we did was go through the items in the drop box. I checked items in and got items ready to go to other locations if they were on hold or were from another library in the county system.

I also learned how to use CafeZ. It’s a program on the main circulation computer that control the computer stations. After you scan a patron’s card to make sure they have signed an internet agreement, you start a session for the numbered computer that they’d like to use. You can input the amount of time they’d like to have, the default time being an hour, before the session ends and the computer becomes locked. It’s a newer system. They used to have a sign up sheet. The computer program better monitors how often and for how long the computers are used.

Another thing I got to do was call patrons who had items on hold. I also got to sit at the circ desk and check out patrons when they were leaving.

I really enjoyed working with Brita because she understood that I had a grasp on how things worked and what had to be done. She also knew that the point of my internship was to learn professional activities and have a chance to do a lot of different activities. It felt like she was treating me as an equal while I was learning their way about things.