Annie’s Blog

Day 10 and 10.5

On Friday I was invited to attend the staff training session for the updated version of one of SIBL’s databases.

Vault is a database that provides guides on various careers and industries, both within America and internationally. Users of the site are able to gain information about various careers, as well as inside information about companies, salaries etc, through surveyed information from employees of the companies in question.  This is a handy resource for researching industries or careers that may be of interest but also provides insight into specific companies and what it is like to be an employee of said company. The same information is available for undergraduate courses and colleges, with surveyed information from current students.

The reason we were attending a training seminar was to become familiar with the updated site, both navigation wise, and so that we are aware of what if offers patrons. It also gave the library staff a chance to give feedback to the Vault employees, about the new site and its navigation.

This session was very similar to the ones that we had at RMIT whilst learning to use databases such as ProQuest. It was also very similar to the session we were then required to run ourselves in semester two, when we picked an information guide of some description, in many cases a database, and created a tutorial session for a specific audience to demonstrate the use of the database and the information that was available.

Also available on the Vault database was information about current jobs available within the industry, similar to our job advertising website in Australia. I thought this was a great idea, because as far as I am aware there aren’t any databases or resources similar to Vault in Australia, and our job seeking websites do not offer nearly as much information about careers and industry.

Later on Friday I sat in and observed a class about retrieving journal articles, something that I felt fairly confident in already due to using such databases at uni for research purposes, but also having received training in the use of these resources in first semester of the Grad Dip of Info Management.

On Saturday I came into the library for a few hours to help with the StartUp! Business Plan Competition. The competition is only open to residents of Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx, and participants are required to attend an orientation session, and four individual work shop session, where they will create and complete a business plan for submission and judging. The winner of the competition will receive a $15,000 grant to help fund their business.

Saturday was the last of the orientation sessions, and I came in to lend a hand, because previous session had been very popular and the library was extremely busy. I assisted by handing out tickets to the seating area and answering any questions as best I could. It was definitely an enjoyable experience, mainly because it allowed me to interact with Americans without the pressure of supplying them with accurate and adequate information in an unfamiliar system/environment. There was no pressure and I was able to greet and talk to people whilst being fairly confident that I would be able to help them or answer any of their questions.

Day 8 and 9

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly standard in terms of activities. I continued to observe and help at the reference desk, and am slowly beginning to associate different topics and queries with certain databases, although I still don’t feel that I’m confident or familiar enough with the libraries resources to help someone on my own. I often refer them to one of the other librarians sitting at the desk if it isn’t busy.

I also continued working in the cage, writing down the items that John had turned down and then checking the electronic catalog and printing out the records. On Thursday I began going through a shelf listing that John had, to check for cards that might relate to the turned down items. When I found one I would put it aside, any record that didn’t have a matching card from the shelf listing was put on a separate pile.

There was a fairly amusing moment when I asked John how I would remove the cards from the draw that they were kept in. They were sitting in a draw from an old style card catalog. He said to just pull them out. I then inquired about the possibility of  ripping the cards if I did that. For a second neither of us understood one another, and then John realised that I had no idea how to remove a card from a shelf catalog, because they were phased out of libraries long before I entered the profession! He showed me how to unscrew and remove the bar that held the cards in place, and it was an enlightening experience for me. I actually felt a little embarrassed that I am so young and so new to the profession that I didn’t know how to do it already, but the last time I used a card catalog I think I was about 8 years old!

I’ve begun noticing some very famous names amongst the books in the collection, and I must admit that I get quite a thrill when I see names like Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Descartes on the spines of some of the volumes.

I think history and old books is part of why I became a librarian. I’ve always loved historical fiction and historical narratives, in movies, computer games, documentaries, so to be able to work with such a collection with so many famous names from history is really very exciting for me. I have a bit of an obsession with old things, and particularly things from the industrial era, so being able to see some of the old scientific texts and diagrams has been a fantastic experience!

I sort of don’t want to come home…

Day 7

Today I continued my work in the cage with the rare books. Having managed to group the tomes into what appeared to be their correct sections, I then changed the writing on the spines of the boxes so that they matched, and so that John was able to tell what went where. I then began to make an inventory of the books that had been ‘turned down’ on the shelves. John has a very thorough and extensive shelf listing of the items in the rare book collection, however there were a few items that he was unable to locate in the shelf listing, and these he turned down. Today I went through and wrote down a number of these items, listing details such as the author, the date, the volume etc, and then went and looked them up in the catalog. I managed to find entries relating to all the items on my list so far, and I’m hoping that they are accurate and do actually relate to the items on the shelves. These I have printed out and will give to John to look at.

After working with the books I was able to attend another class about using the databases available at the library. Each class allows me to become familiar with a new data base, or learn it better, so that I am able to determine which database might be best for a particular users needs.

After the class I got to sit in on the SAC meeting. SAC stands for the SIBL Advisory Committee, and all the various heads of department meet with the director os SIBL, Kristin McDonough, to discuss any issues with the library. I feel extremely privileged to have been allowed to attend this meeting, and it gave me great insight into the types of issues that management in libraries face when dealing with staff, funding, patrons and collections. All sorts of issues were raised, and due to the NYPL being such a large and unique collection, it was interesting to observe some of the problems that might occur in Australian libraries, but certainly occur on a much larger scale in NYPL.

Recently the library has decided to merge its circulating and reference collections, so they are no longer treated separately. This seems to have caused all sorts of hiccups in the way that things are done and the way that funding is allocated across the branches and the 4 main libraries. As far as I can tell there is no longer any separate allocation of funds for individual locations. Where branches and libraries were able to buy for their own collections, based on what their users wanted or needed, all acquisitions are now going through a main division. (This is as far as I can tell, i could be wrong). This causes all sorts of problems in regards to whether or not branches are getting materials that are desired by their patrons and will actually be used. This also causes problems for a specialist library like SIBL, that needs certain subject matter to be bought for its circulating collection, but this material would be different to what might be bought for other branch circulating collections.

Due to the financial crisis, the library has been greatly affected in terms of funding. Unlike Australian public libraries, the NYPL receives the majority of its funding from private donations. This can mean that budgets get quite tight. For this reason some things have been cut, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the library is no longer sending items out to get them bound. This also means that decisions have been made about how best to utilise space, whether or not to buy more items, or items in a particular area, and whether or not things will be placed on the shelves, the closed stacks or sent off to the libraries storage facility in Princeton. It seemed that there had been quite a few decisions that required the shifting about of large amounts of materials over the last 18 months at the library, and that people were starting to resent the lack of decision and communication. This is understandable in an organisation the size of NYPL.

The subject of weeding came up, and it seemed to be an issue that caused some uncertainty. It had been identified that some of the items in the SIBL circulating collection were beginning to appear dated, and that some attempt at weeding should be made. It was unclear as to what criteria should be used to remove items from the collection. Some of the different criteria listed included:

• Damaged items
• Certain numbers or subjects
• Books originally from other collections
• multiple copies
• Number of times borrowed

All of these are perfectly valid reasons, and criteria like this is often used at home to make decisions about removing items from a collection. What seemed to be the main point of contention was if there was any need at this point in time to weed, as a limited number of new books were coming in, in comparison to the past. The main reason for this would chiefly be funding issues due to the economic recession. Was it better to have a small collection of relevant and used items, with a large amount of empty shelf space, or a large collection where some of the items were rarely being used.

I think that if there are no or limited new items coming in, and it is not necessary to remove items from the shelves, then it is perfectly acceptable to leave them there, whether they are high circulation items or not. I think it is important that a library look like a library at this point in time. Some patrons are used to accessing information electronically or online, and are not too worried about whether or not there are books available to them, other patrons that come into a library come for the books alone. If there are empty shelves, I think this troubles patrons. At this point in time, despite our cross over audience, people expect a library to have books on the shelves. If it doesn’t then they become disconcerted.

If there isn’t a need to remove the items and not many new items are coming into the library, why trouble patrons or waste man power and time on removing them. Perhaps do a small-scale sight weed and remove any severely damaged books, but I’m not sure at this point in time it would be necessary to remove a large amount of items from the circulating collection.

I have to admit that this just one opinion, and that I have no inside or in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of the library, its budget and funding or how it is organised, but to me I think it would disturb the patrons a great deal to have a large amount of items removed, where as if they were left as they are now, no one would really notice.

Day 6

Today I started working with the rare book collection housed at SIBL. For me the collection is truly astounding, because I have never had the opportunity to see so many rare and old books in the one place at the one time. I have been lucky enough in my time to see the Book of Kells manuscript, as well as various illuminated manuscripts at the State Library of Victoria, during some of the exhibitions that they hold there. The books housed at SIBL are very different to the old books that I have seen in the past. These books are not quite so old, nor are they covered with such beautiful artwork, although some of the worn leather covers are quite beautiful.

The books at SIBL relate, obviously, to science, industry and business. Due to their age they mainly seem to relate to science, although I did notice some texts on travel. The books have been donated to the NYPL by various collectors over the years, and some date as far back as the 1500′s, so I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with such rare books. It is not an opportunity that I am likely to have again in my career.

I began by grouping a collection of works from the late 1600′s through to the early 1700′s. The series is similar to what would be an encyclopedia today. However the tricky part was that the boxes the books were stored in, to keep them from becoming damaged through prolonged exposure, were sometimes wrong. This particular part of the collection has four different sections. The work itself, the supplement to the work, the new supplement to the work (which I believe covers the second half of the main work) and the index. Unfortunately it wasn’t as straight forward as simply identifying what went where. The entire text is written in Latin, and I have no training in Latin at all. I was able to pick up on some of the terms amongst the publication details, and luckily my knowledge of roman numerals came back fairly quickly. The main issue that arose was the fact that what was written on the spine of the boxes, did not always relate to what was actually in the work, so it was necessary to group all of the texts without the boxes, and then tomorrow the plan is to relabel the boxes in some way.

The other major issue that arose was that we seemed to have 2 copies of the 3rd tome in the supplement. The numbering in both copies was slightly off, so where the first tome started at page 1 and progressed through to page 513, the second tome began at page 497 or thereabouts, and then continued on and ended somewhere in the 300′s. After carefully examining the page numbers, John Balow and I were able to determine that the first tome was not complete, and that the second tome started a few pages before the end of the first, continued to the end of the publication, and then began again. So between the two tomes there was a complete work, however it would require some flipping around through both volumes to actually have some sort of sequential reading.

Originally I began working with both a smock and a pair of cotton gloves to protect the texts. However John does not wear gloves when handling the books, and told me that he had read a document saying that the oil on your hands can actually be beneficial for the covers of the books (I do not imagine the same can be said of the actual paper pages). I was also having difficulty turning the pages of the books whilst wearing the gloves, and did not want to damage the paper further, so I think that from now on I will not wear gloves, but handle the paper pages with an even higher level of care.

After completing my two hours in the cage with the rare books, I had my picture taken for the staff newsletter and had my security pass upgraded so I can access the stack on my own, allowing me to go up there during any free time I might have, and continue working on any tasks set out for me by John.

During the afternoon I spent two hours in the Electronic Information Centre at the library, learning about two or three different databases that are commonly used by the patrons, as well as where the various handouts and photo copies for classes and tutorials are kept, and the general layout of the area. I then hung around to help any body who may have an inquiry or need some help, however it was fairly quiet for the afternoon, and I wasn’t required to do much.

I found out that it is not in SIBL’s policy to help people with things like transferring information onto a flash drive. Staff can assist patrons by giving them handouts, or advising them, but they cannot do the tasks for them, nor are they allowed to touch a laptop bought in by a patron. This is because if anything should happen to the laptop or the information whilst the staff member is using it, there si the possibility of the patron suing the library. I wasn’t aware of this when I helped a man to transfer files from his laptop to his flash drive, but now that I am aware of this policy, I will be referring these sort of inquiries to one of the computing staff, or advise them of the ‘cheat sheets’ that are available for patron use.

Day 5

Today started off with a staff meeting, which I’m glad I was able to attend, as this is one of the points on the plan that I created. It was good to be able to see a large part of the SIBL staff gathered all in one place, and I was able to see just how large the staff is in comparison to the library that I am currently working in, back in Wyndham.

The meeting was an overview of the information from a seminar a number of the staff attended. They passed on some of the key points that they had learned about ADA compliance. ADA stands for the American’s with Disabilities Act, and similar to Australian occupational health and safety, and access regulations, it deals with ensuring that public buildings are wheelchair accessable, and that measures are taken to ensure that all members of the public are able to easily access and use the services at SIBL.

SIBL has an elevator that the public can use, and this allows patrons in wheel chairs to easily access the lower level  of the library. Some of the other ADA compliance measures at the library include services for sight and hearing impaired patrons. Software programs are available to patrons that allow them to enlarge the text on screen, or have it read aloud to them by the computer. The library uses two programs called Magic and Jaws, which can be used in conjunction with each other. I’m hoping at some point, I will have the opportunity to look at these programs and become familiar with them. The library offers a number of other services to disadvantaged patrons, and this section of the website can be found at

http://www.nypl.org/services/pwd.html

However the website is currently being updated, and so this link may not work in the future.

Having brought up the point of the website changing, it was obvious that there have been some problems with accessing information through the website lately, as even during the staff meeting, there were problems finding appropriate information relating to the discussion, and some information had been moved. Also it appeared that the search function on the site was having trouble locating desired information during the meeting. This was frustrating and disruptive for staff members involved, and a good example of the effect that change, even if it is for the better, can have on companies. Sometimes there is a break down in communication, and this can cause issues. I observed that the website is a main topic of discussion at the moment, but also that there has been an overhaul in the way that information is posted to the website. To my understanding the process has changed, and rather than having to contact the department that creates and maintains the information on the website, individuals in various departments are being trained to update and maintain information relating to their specific areas, and so changes and improvements to the website can be made much sooner, enhancing the experience for staff and patrons alike.

After the staff meeting Erminio introduced me to John Balow, who will be supervising me during my project dealing with the rare books collection at SIBL. John is in the process of making an inventory of the rare books housed at SIBL, and I will be joining him in this task. I will work on this project from 10am until 12pm each weekday, before continuing with my other scheduled tasks, such as reference desk duties. John and Erminio took me up to the cage where the rare books are housed, and I was able to see what sort of texts I would be dealing with, and get an idea of what I will be required to do. My first task will be to order and check one particular series of old books, to ensure that the boxes they are kept in are labelled correctly, and identify if we have the full set or not. These books were first published in the late 1600′s, so it is an excellent change to be able to see and work with texts that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. Some of the books in the collection go back as far as the 1500′s, and I look forward to being able to work with such rare and fragile texts. Whilst handling the books I will be wearing a smock and cotton gloves, to preserve the paper and the covers, and to ensure that any oils or grease on my hands isn’t damaging the book in anyway. It is important to take these measures to preserve the books for the longest period of time possible.

My final activity for the day was to walk around and observe a tour of the library that was being run for some students from one of the local Universities. The students were introduced to the library and given a thorough outline of the different areas, and some of the things included in the collection, before they were shown some of the databases available at the library that might be beneficial to their course.

Day 2 and 3 at NYPL

Yesterday I began observing and participating in some of the activities at SIBL. I spent several hours at the information desk located on the bottom level with the reference collection, and also 2 hours upstairs on the information desk with the circulating collection.

I was extremely thankful that I already had some experience with how to conduct a reference interview, both from some of the subjects at RMIT and from working at the Wyndham City Council Library.  I also found that being comfortable with computers and navigating websites helped, as the NYPL has a new catalog, attached to their website. This catalog is the same as the one that patrons access online. Unlike Wyndham where we have the online catalog that the users can access, and then a separate program for staff which contains borrower information and item status’ etc, the NYPL has the one catalog that is used by everyone. For any information that is not contained on the online catalog, e.g. borrower information etc, there is another program called Millenium which can be refered to. This is how things currently operate as far as I can tell.

Recently there have been some changes to the library, and the kinks are still being worked out, which comes with major changes in any organisation. This use of the same catalog by patrons and staff is new, and so there are still occasionally instances where the librarians are not sure, or the new catalog isn’t adequate, and so the old system is referred to. The other major change that has happened recently is that the circulation branches, where items are available for loan, and the research libraries used to be run by different organisations. They now have combined management, and catalogs, and so this has caused some problems and has the potential to create confusion in some circumstances.

At this point in time I am comfortable greeting and attempting to help patrons with any inquiries that they may have, and some basic questions I am able to answer. For example I can now identify whether something is from the circulation or research collection, and if it is from the circulation, where it is likely to be located. Unfortunately due to inexperience and unfamiliarity, I am unable to help patrons locate items in the libraries reference collection, unless they are looking for law items, which they will find in K! Until I become more familiar with the Library of Congress Reference System, I won’t be able to help patrons locate any reference items found in the catalog.

I am able to recognise when an item is housed in the closed stacks, and whether or not a patron will be required to fill in request form or not, and where to take a completed form. I am also able to, but not confidently, navigate the library catalog and perform reference interviews, but I am struggling with some questions. Some terms used by the patrons are unfamiliar to me, as they have a different name in Australia. Official documents, exam papers, named documents etc are a  challenge because I am unable to identify exactly what sort of item the patron is looking for, and so I refer these questions to another librarian. Anything that I feel I may be able to assist with I am happy to attempt to do so, if the patron is not already being served by another librarian. Mainly I am still observing, but with basic questions and where possible, I like to try and get involved and help.

Yesterday I attempted to help a patron find an item on the shelf in the Job Search Central area, unfortunately it could not be located. Another patron asked me where he could find resources on writing resume’s and cover letters, and I was able to help him locate this section of the collection in Job Search Central. Most of the inquiries, as far as I can see, are related to careers and employment, whether it be creating a resume, or making an appointment to see a counsellor. This is due to the recession, which hit New York quite hard, and there is a high percentage of unemployed people looking to go back to work.

Today I helped a patron to save documents from his computer onto a USB drive. This may seem like a simple process for many people, but there are a large number of people who struggle with computers and their use. At Wyndham there have been several cases where I have been approached by a patron to help with printing or saving a document, and in one case I was able to assist a lady with setting up an email account and guiding her through its use and navigation. I assisted another man with scanning and emailing a resume to a prospective employer. The man who I helped today at NYPL wanted to transfer documents from his laptop to a USB drive, but was unsure how to do so. He also wanted to create a new folder where he could save any new files he created, to save onto the USB drive at a later date. I spent about half an hour with him, explaining the USB drive, the size of files, creating new folders and how to save documents to his USB. I enjoy helping people with these types of questions, and try to take the time to explain as simply and efficiently as possible, whilst still ensuring that they receive all the information they need and that they are able to complete what they set out to do by themselves.

I have observed through my own personal experiences as a patron and as a librarian, that many staff in libraries are unwilling to help or become frustrated with patrons who ask for computer related help. There are many reasons for this, the main one seems to be that the patron has been assisted several times before and still asks the same questions, or they have an aggressive or dis-agreeable personality. It can be a frustrating process to try and explain to someone over and over again the same seemingly simple steps, however I believe that if a patron is still having problems after several attempts at explanation, then there may be other issues involved beyond simple lack of comprehension.

If someone is still failing to understand, then perhaps you need to change your approach to the situation, and explain in a different manner. Maybe there is someone else, another staff member, or a service, which you can refer them to for more help. If the patron is becoming angry or upset about the situation it is important to remember that failing to understand something, or a lack of communication and understanding of the issue can be extremely frustrating for both you and the patron, and that you need to take the time to sit down and ask as many questions as possible when they first approach you, to ensure that you have understood their problem properly and it is something that you can actually help them with.

I have noticed that quite often one assumes that they know what the patron is having issues with, or what is troubling them, without actually listening, and so the patron feels patronised, or becomes angry or upset when you are unable to answer their actual query.

I have observed this both back at home and here in the states, but it seems to be more of a regular occurence here. I’m not sure if it is the size of the library and the huge numbers of patrons that come through the doors from all different types of backgrounds, or perhaps a part of American culture, but in some instances there has been an obvious lack of communication between patrons and librarians. This creates conflict in some cases, and can lead to difficult or awkward social interactions between the staff and the patrons. For example one man approached the reference desk and informed the librarian of what it was he was looking for. He was then shown the different databases that were available for his query and would most likely house the information he sought. He was then instructed that if he went to the Electronic Access Centre he would be able to approach a help person in there who could assist him further with navigation of the site.

The patron became angry and explained that he had already been in there, and that they had refered him to the information desk. It was obvious that the person in the computer lab had been unable to identify which databases would best serve his needs, and so had sent him to us for names of possible databases. Once he had identified the best databases for his need, we told him to return to the computers to find his information and receive assistance.

Unfortunately the patron felt as though he were being shuffled back and forth, without gaining any actual assistance. It is important to be able to communicate and explain information and processes with patrons so that they understand exactly what services are available to them. Unfortunately this is not always possible, and there will always be situations where there is conflict, but I try to minimise this as much as possible.

The New York Public Library

To complete the Graduate Diploma of Information Management at RMIT University we are required to engage in an industry placement that is the equivalent of 3 weeks full-time work. I am completing my placement at the New York Public Library Science, Industry and Business Library on 34th Street, between Madison and 5th Avenue.

Recently I gained a position as a part-time Children’s and Youth Services Librarian in Melbourne, and I enjoy the position a great deal. My placement at the New York Public Library will be a great opportunity not only to experience a much larger public library environment, and the way that a library operates in a different culture, but also give me an insight into the research library and working with specialist collections.

Yesterday I began at SIBL. My orientation session started with a meeting with Emily Nelson, the Assistant Recruiting Manager. Emily gave me a staff I.D. card and briefly ran me through the libraries policies and procedures for unpaid interns. I was required to read and sign three forms before starting my internship. These were:

• Ethics and Conflicts Policy For Non-Salaried Employees
• Policy Regarding Financial and Ethical Misconduct
• New York Public Library Unpaid Intern Handbook

Once this was complete I was passed on to Erminio D’Onofrio, Head of Information Services at SIBL. Erminio gave me an extensive tour of the library, explaining the different areas. The library was created about fifteen years ago when the main branch on 42nd Street could no longer house such a vast collection. As a result the main reference collection consisting of science, industry, technology and business based materials was moved to  a new location on 34th Street. This became the SIBL.

The entire building is several stories high, and the library takes up two of these levels. The top-level of the library is a circulation collection, available for borrowing and shelved according to the Dewey Decimal System. The bottom level houses a reference collection, which is shelved using the Library of Congress Reference System.

Through out the library there are various computer terminals with different access levels. Some computers allow access to the internet and word processing, others to the databases subscribed to by the library, some are purely for searching the catalogue. The internet and word processing computers are available for only one hour at a time. Once this hour is up patrons will no longer be able to access a computer with the internet at ANY of the NYPL branches, which are scattered throughout Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx. Queens and Brooklyn have their own library services, separate from the NYPL.

The lock out on computers not only includes the metropolitan branches, but also the main branch on 42nd Street, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture. This lock system ensures that there is a high turnover in computer users, allowing for a larger number of patrons to access the computers on a daily basis. There is no limit on either the database or catalogue computers scattered throughout the library. There are also three computers with an advanced financial program, donated to the library, and available for patron use.

In April of this year the SIBL launched the Job Search Central program, which provides New Yorker’s with resources, counselling and workshops to improve their job skills and employment opportunities. At this point in time the library is running the New York StartUp! Business Plan Competition, which invites residents of Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx to enter the competition and win $15,000 to help start their own business. the competition includes an orientation session and several workshops. Entrants are required to submit a business plan to the judges.

During my tour I was introduced to Kristin McDonough, the Robert and Joyce Menschel Director. She suggested that I help staff some of the StartUp! orientation sessions during my time at the library, and I look forward to participating in them.

At this point as far as I can understand, my time here will match fairly closely to the plan I constructed for the course assessment. I am to perform and observe duties all over the library, including reference and circulation, as well as working on a project involving the rare books collection, which houses text published as early as the 1600′s. This will be a fantastic opportunity to see items that I would otherwise never have access to, and will hopefully give me some insight into archival processes as well.

I have recently received an email detailing some fo the classes I will be observing during my internship. These include:

• Statistics
• Job Seekers Contact Research
• NYPL’s New Catalog
• Market Research
• Articles
• Advertising
• Job Seekers Career Resources Vault and Wet Feet
• Small Business

I am hoping that observing these classes will give me insight into the way the NYPL educates their patrons, the services they offer, and the results that they are trying to achieve. I will also be able to gain some insight into how to organise and run classes and training programs myself, should I ever be required to do so.

After the completion of the tour I spent some time browsing the NYPL and SIBL websites, as well as their staff page, to try and familiarise myself with its content and basic navigation of the sites. The catalog is accessed via the NYPL webpage, and so it was important that I feel comfortable using this software.

Whilst browsing I noticed that there was a preschool storytime scheduled at the main branch of the library on 42nd Street. I inquired as to whether or not it would be possible to go and observe the session, and compare a children’s storytime in a public library in New York with my own experiences in Melbourne.

I found the session to be very similar to those conducted by myself and the other children’s librarians at Wyndham City Council, with a few small differences.  There seemed to be a lot of focus on the singing of nursery rhymes and hand eye co-ordination activities, and there was no craft activity after the completion of the storytime. At Wyndham we start the sessions with a greeting and a song, and then introduce the theme for the week. We then read around three or four books, stopping to sing nursery rhymes in between.

There seemed to be a reversal of this at the storytime I observed in NY. Four or five nursery rhymes would be sung, or perhaps two quite long ones such as  ‘ We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, and then a brief story. The songs and rhymes involved a great deal of repetition, and were sometimes sung two or three times in a row. Songs such as ‘ Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes ‘ involved pace change to engage and challenge the children.

I think that due to the age of the children, around 12 months to 4 or 5 years, the stories and rhymes chosen were aimed at engaging the children, without being beyond their comprehension. The books chosen were quite simplistic, with repetition, counting, colours etc, rather than actual narrative. One example of the stories read was ‘ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? ‘ a book that introduces colours and animals to children, but does not involve any sort of complex narrative. Instead the story is driven by the repetition of the line ‘ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? ‘. The librarian also sang this book to the tune of ‘ Baa Baa Black Sheep ‘, which I thought worked quite well and was a different approach. Some of the rhymes sung included:

• Little Rabbit Fu Fu
• We’re Going On A Bear Hunt
• Where Is Thumbkin
• Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
• I’m A Little Teapot
• The Hokey Pokey

I found it interesting that, whilst all of these rhymes were familiar to me, the way that they were sung or acted out was not. In Australia we have a second part to the Hokey Pokey after introducing the body parts (Oh! The Hokey Pokey…etc). Also the tune to ‘ Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes ‘ was very different to the one that we use here in Australia.

The other main difference that I observed was that the group at the NYPL session was much smaller than the crowds we tend to get at Wyndham. Due to the nature of Wyndham and its rapidly expanding population, we often see between 30 and 50 children at each of our storytime sessions, and they vary in age from around 2 years up to 5 or 6 years of age. There was a maximum of about 20 or so children at the session I observed. Also we hold our sessions at 10.30 in the morning, the NYPL sessions are usually held in the afternoon around 4 pm, but some do occur around 11 am.

I found the entire experience to be extremely interesting and was fascinated that it could be so similar to the storytimes that I myself have conducted, and yet have such obvious differences as well. I think that the differences cannot be put down to culture alone, and the preference of the librarian conducting the session should be taken into account. For example I prefer to spend more time on the stories and trying to engage the children with the books, than I do on the nursery rhymes during my sessions. I also try to use games or activities that encourage children to listen or concentrate, such as ‘Simon Says’ or getting them to pat their heads and rub their tummies at the same time. I think that the amount of focus put into the various aspects of a storytime is completely dependant upon the librarian, however it is important that there is some sort of balance of stories and rhymes, and that both should be present in the session. The librarian conducting the NYPL session focused strongly on the singing side of storytime, and this may have been due to personal preference, cultural differences, and I think in a large part due to the age of the children in attendance.

I found that the group was better able to engage with the session at the NYPL, both because of the smaller size, but also due to the interaction and engagement of the parents. At Wyndham we have a large number of parents attending our sessions, but quite often they choose not to engage in the storytime with their children, and sit apart on the couches. At the NYPL, there were no couches available, and so parents had to sit on the floor with their children. This meant that there was less adult social interaction and more engagement with both the librarian and their children. This also resulted in the children being better behaved.

This has made me wonder if perhaps there is some way of attempting to get the parents more engaged during storytimes at Wyndham. I have noticed at our rhyme time session, which consist purely of nursery rhymes and songs, the adults sit with their children and interact, where as storytime they tend to hang back. Perhaps it is worth considering moving the couches further away from the storytime area so that observing parents are inclined to sit with their children? Alternatively I could attempt to focus more on the rhyming and singing activities, in an attempt to get the parents involved.

I hope that I will get another chance to observe a storytime at the library, hopefully with some older children, and see whether or not their is more of a focus on the books in a session involving children of an age who are better able to comprehend narrative and engage with more complex stories.