Friday, November 14, 2008

Get Ready, Get Set...

Fresh from the CAL Conference, I have been thinking a lot about professional development. Here's a question for you!

What was the non-library experience that best prepared you for working in a library? It could be anything: growing up in a reading family, working for non-profits in college, or working retail at the mall. It might not be an obvious connection--that's ok! For instance, when I applied to work at the Tattered Cover (a million years ago), one question they asked was if you ever had experience in food service. They had found that folks who had been successful as waiters and waitresses knew a lot of the basics about customer service.

Tell us what your experience was and why it has been so helpful to you now.

Thanks!

4 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Great question Melissa!

I think the job that helped me the most is when I worked summers in the office for the Forest Service fire emergency center. I saw teamwork at its best and learned how essential it is during emergencies. The library environment is completely different of course,(whew) but I still try and remember what a difference it makes to jump right in and help wherever and whenever you can (and try not to complain too much) :)

Dee said...

Oh Boy! I'm old so have worked in many situations. Before public libraries I worked in a university library, children's treatment center library and a locked facility for the state. But I have an education background and did teach elementary school so that of course, helped with working with children in libraries and storytimes. Probably the best customer service experience was working in the admissions office of a community college.

Jill Corrente said...

Food service, like health care, is great for triage skills which are so necessary when being bombarded by several people! Retail definitely prepares you--people are a little more intense when money is involved (try nicely explaining to someone that the 300 books you promised to copy and bind for their 8 am meeting are not ready--I know, I know, it's 7:30 and your business depends upon this...).

Karen H said...

Taking a different tack, what I have found to be helpful working reference is being very curious about everything. This has helped when answering patrons reference questions. I don't know everything, but I usually know a little something about many things. This helps me come up with the questions I ask as part of the reference interview.