Lakehead University School of Library Technology - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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Experience Speaks A year has passed since I was preparing for my final exams and what a year it has been! Many of us have made new decisions and Dlans in our personal lives and our working hours are now occupied with a treasury of knowledge. The Librarv Technology Course can never create a full awareness of all the volumes that line your library wails and for many years you will be unaware 01 their contents. It is a fear to overcome! But, this was not the true purpose of our course, and last year I believe the administrators fulfilled their purpose, when as an experiment, we graduated and were readily accepted into the hungry world of librarianship. Most of us have put all that we were taught into practice to some degree but there are the exceptions who use very little in their different fields. A more specialized program might be the answer and yet I feel it is necessary to thor- oughly understand the basics before deciding on a particular phase. Being a reference technician has been quite difficult because of the severe crit- icism received. Some professionals are under the impression (without the experi- ence of working with one) that a Library Technologist has no place in giving an- swers to the queries of the public. It is quite true that these Questions can entail a certain amount of research but any difficulties at all are gladly aided by my superior. In this way we both find each other ' s assistance a great asset in the department and a necessary bond for accepting and accomplishing the changes in our field. Through the endeavour of the Technologist ' s hard work and interest a narrow path is being trod, only to be widened by future Technologists with identical ideals and an awareness to overcome obstacles which will most certainly block that path. All the best to the Graduates of ' 69 and may the years ahead prove fruitful and an i tilled with happiness. JOAN ZACHARY

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NORTHWESTERN REGIONAL LIBRARY SYSTEM I got Jo know the technology students that worked at the Northwestern Regional Library last summer rather quickly. It was a necessity, because there we all were starting our first day of work together, filling out forms and vying for pens and desk space so that we could complete the necessary paper work before getting on to more interesting things. I had my hands full setting up the Centralized Processing Centre, so that I mis- sed out on having an on— the— job relationship with Nancy, Ann, Lois and Lyn- da, but as people watching is a favorite pastime of mine, I observed them per- forming their various assigned tasks confidently and with cheerfulness. They were a group who mixed well with the regular staff and proved to be generally useful and pleasant to have around. We also have had two technologists on our permanent staff this year. They have proved our expectations of them and have lost none of their cheerfulness and willingness. TRUDY WERLE

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My two years in the Library Technology program were both enjoyable and know- ledgeable, but much mo re important, they gave me an intense enthusiasm for a career in library service. My summer employment and my Sunday work at the Fort William Public Library, made me realize that I most definitely wanted to work with children. On September 3, 1968, I began work in the Children ' s Department of the Fort Wil- liam Public Library. After seven months here, I find my work most enjoyable, very satisfying, and definitely rewarding . My work must indeed amuse most of my former classmates, for after two years of long and involved cataloguing, ordering and reference lectures, I am using none of it. Of course, the Library Technology course gave me an invaluable background know- ledge of the whole library process, which is certainly necessary for any semi-pro- fessional library worker. But, as ordering, cataloguing, etc., are mainly behind the scene jobs, mine on the contrary, are completely out in the open. A lot of our work here is in conjunction with the school boards. During the week buses pick up classes at their schools and bring them to the library. Miss English and myself take turns speaking to the classes and their teachers about the library. We teil them about the books that we have, how to use the catalogue, how to mark out their books, etc., and we always wind up with a story. After we have talked to them for about thirty minutes the children then have another thirty minutes to browse around, pick out books, and if they are not already members, to join the library. Before Christmas, the classes used to come Tuesdays and Thursdays , both morning and afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon, but now only four classes a week come. Every Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning I go out to the schools and talk to the younger classes who are unable to take the bus trip to the library. I hand out membership cards to the children to take home to be signed by their parents. I tell them about the books and about the services that our library offers, but most of the time is spent telling stories. In January of this year, we began having puppet groups. Miss English has two groups and I have two. We have meetings every Monday and Friday afternoons at 4:30. The children make their own puppets and rehearse for plays which they will put on from time to time at the library. I work only one in every three Saturdays and on those days I take the story hour. The children come to the library and we sit on cushions in a big circle in the auditorium. Besides the stories, we also sing songs and play games. Much of my time (especially between the hours of 4:30 and 5:30 or 6:00 and Sat- urdays) is taken up with helping the children find books that they want. Also, at least 3-4 hours a week must be spent in reading. Not just to keep up-to-date with the new children ' s books coming into the library, but also to read books of stories, folktales, song books and puppet books which will definitely be very use- ful on the job. In conclusion, I would like to bring out the fact that although I am not directly using knowledge gained during the course, it has definitely proved invaluable in understanding the behind-the-scenes process. The only amendment that I could suggest for the course is more specialization— for the students to break off into groups according to the area of library service in which they would want to work. In this way, no Library Technology graduate would start a new job without some background knowledge of the library department she has chosen for her career. DEBBY KRUPA