The view from the front desk: Reflections of a library assistant
I've been a library assistant (in lending and document supply) at a university library for quite a long time, along with a couple of secondments as a liaison librarian in between. As I look at ways to develop my career, writing in this issue of Library Life has been a good opportunity to reflect on my journey in this job. Working as a client services assistant (as we are now called) has its fair share of repetitive tasks such as discharging returned items, shelf checking, shelving high demand items, processing library fines and so on. Thankfully more services are becoming self-service such as collecting and issuing holds and we have been encouraging students to use the self check-out machines and place requests themselves. One service our library still desperately needs however is an online payment system for fines. What I have found most rewarding has been my interactions with patrons. Helping them find what they need and seeing a smile of appreciation gi...