Starrlett recently blogged about one reason why she loves her job.
Here's one reason why I (sometimes) love mine. My story isn't nearly as succinct or interesting as Starrlett's, but I need the reminder even if you don't care to read it, so here goes:
A student asked me why when she tried to browse an issue of a journal in OmniFile database in order to find the inclusive page numbers for a particular article, the only visible record was the table of contents. I figured out that 1) the database was doing weird stuff, and there was a way to make it show you every article in the issue if you knew where to look and 2) the article in question wasn't in that issue anyway, because it was an "online only" extra.
I was able to email the student back with the solution to the problem, and I haven't heard a reply yet, but it's satisfying to know I have the ability to connect someone with the information they need. It only took me about 10 minutes to figure out.
One reason I only love my job some of the time: the student asked the question at 10 am, and it was 5 pm before I had ten minutes to sit down and find the solution. Or eat breakfast or lunch, or check email, or breathe...
2 comments:
oh boy, do i hear you there!
that's part of why i posted that story, was to remind myself. i've only recently been able to push away most of my extra professional development activities and get back to--surprise!--my real job. and even then, the sheer volume of email to keep up with is ridiculous.
but there are those wondrous moments...
Did I tell you my next door neighbor is a librarian? Yep, she is. She must be reading some very good books because I never see her.
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