Janet Spaulding

After working part time for the Indianapolis Public Library as a page and a clerk with the summer reading program while I was in college and library school at Indiana University, I joined the staff full time in 2002. In 2003, I became a children’s librarian at a branch and, three years later, in 2007, the page supervisor at the branch.


ABOUT YOUR JOB

Janet Spaulding

Since 2010, I have served as the juvenile and teen collection development librarian for the Indianapolis Public Library. I work with library staff to maintain these collections and am responsible for the selection of new materials.

What would most surprise people about your current job?

When I tell people what I do, their response it to tell me how great it must be to be able to sit and read books all day. I wish!

How do you stay current?

I am constantly reading a variety of review journals and professional journals. I have a number of websites that I look at regularly to stay up-to-date on what is popular in entertainment for youth of all ages. I follow about a hundred blogs that cover a variety of perspectives – author blogs, review blogs, pop culture blogs, blogs written by teens, and blogs written by fellow librarians. Most important is word of mouth – I love talking to kids and teens about what they are reading.

How do you measure success?

Much of my selection of materials is driven by patron demand. I spend a lot of time reading about trends and about future releases, trying to select titles that I think will appeal to my patrons. Success for me is looking in the catalog and seeing that the items that I have selected are checked out or that people have placed holds on items. I also love it when kids come and tell me about a book that they got from the library. 

[After Janet sent her responses to these questions, she shared the following anecdote on Facebook: I worked the reference desk at Central this afternoon. It absolutely made my day when I heard a little voice behind me say, "Mom, look! It's my favorite librarian!" When I turned around, I found myself receiving a big hug... I love being someone's favorite!]

JUST FOR FUN

Paper or digital?

While digital options are very popular, I still love paper. For me, the act of holding the book and feeling the paper is an important part of the reading experience.


E-mail Janet at jspaulding@indypl.org 

And if you haven't liked/followed the Blog over at our Facebook page, I hope you'll take a moment to do that too!

Betsy Bird

I've been a children's librarian with New York Public Library (NYPL) for the last nine years or so. I am currently NYPL's Youth Materials Specialist.

My blog A Fuse #8 Production is hosted by School Library Journal (SLJ). I review for Kirkus and sometimes the New York Times and I've written the ALA Editions title Children's Literature Gems: Choosing and Using Them in Your Library Career. My picture book Giant Dance Party is out with HarperCollins this April 23rd and I've a book with Candlewick in the Fall of 2013 on the true stories behind your favorite children's books.

ABOUT YOUR JOB

What would surprise most people about your current job?

Well, in my current position, I'm one of two people who purchase all the materials for kids and teens in the NYPL system. One thing that tends to surprise folks is that a system as large as NYPL has centralized ordering, but that just makes sense when you're buying for 86 branches. Other people are unaware that Brooklyn has its own library system and Queens another. I only buy for Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx, but there's more than enough to keep me busy.

What are your top three responsibilities?

I suppose those would be the actual purchasing of materials and managing requests from my librarians in the branches. I also make a lot of site visits to the aforementioned 86 branches to help with the collections, get a sense of what neighborhoods are reading, and generally support the people who work with New York's youth. Finally, I help to make the lists that make NYPL great - everything from our annual "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" (a list we've made since 1911) to the summer reading list.

Betsy Bird (Photograph by Sonya Sones)

How do you stay current?

To keep up with pop culture I subscribe to Cynopsis Kids which is a daily media newsletter which encapsulates all the wheelings and dealings in the industry (as well as a sense of what the top watched television shows are and what future shows and movies for kids will be). 

To keep up with instruction my library system does a slambang job at providing training for all its employees. Going to library conferences also helps a great deal.

Keeping up with technology is, to a certain extent, a case of letting the folks with the new projects approach us as a library system.

And keeping up with literature is a breeze when you read the best children's literary blogs out there (bookshelves of doom, 100 Scope Notes, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, etc.). I also read my SLJ and Kirkus cover to cover each month, subscribe to listservs like child_lit and ccbc-net, and when I have time I attend publisher previews provided here in NYC for the local librarians, which gives me a sense of the upcoming seasons. Plus I read and review quite a lot.

ADVICE

What's the best piece of professional advice you've been given?

Pick your battles. Granted, I got that advice from an episode of That 70s Show, but I figure it still stands. Generally speaking, you have to get the lay of the land before you start kvetching about things that are wrong here and there. Complain about a dinky little squabble and you may find yourself out in the cold when the real battle comes and is worth fighting.

What's worth fighting for? Why?

It comes down to two things for me: the staff and the young patrons. You fight for the staff, the ones who go above and beyond the call of duty as well as the ones who do their best and fill the necessary seats. You also have to fight for the kids, supporting them and making it clear that our child and teen patrons deserve only the rarest kind of best in their literature and the programs we provide.

What's something you wish you had known when you started out in this profession?

Find a way to remember names and faces. I had no idea it would become such a huge part of my job. Remember not only the regular patrons who come through the door, but also the other librarians, information assistants, managers, and clerks in your system. A good memory is worth its weight in gold so if you're not good at this particular skill, find ways to improve it.

How do you respond when someone asks you, "Isn't everything online?"

Oh yeah. That happened to me once. A hedge fund manager at a literary gala.

First I mentioned that even if everything was online there are huge swaths of the public that can't go there whenever they want to since they simply can't afford it. 

Then when they start to mention the death of the printed book (and they will) you point out the statistics that show that in point of fact sales of ebooks have not affected the sales of print materials any more than the arrival of television destroyed movie theaters. 

We've patrons coming into my libraries asking for library cards for the first time because they realized we had ebooks. So it's a new segment of the reading public that's benefitting the most here.

And finally, have you ever tried to read a gorgeous picture book on a tablet? Dude, until they make a juice proof bit of handheld machinery that can stand up to a sippy cup full of Welch's grape juice, children's books are in no danger of disappearing print-wise.

JUST FOR FUN

How do you defy the librarian stereotypes?

Be funny. Weirdly enough this is the number one way I end up surprising people. Apparently we are humorless old harridans without so much as a droplet of amusement in our bones. Crack a joke and it does wonders for the occupation's image, I tell ya.

Email Betsy at Fusenumber8@gmail.com


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Annette Curtis Klause

Posting this interview is a special treat for me - and I hope reading it is a treat for you. Annette Curtis Klause is one of an intrepid cadre of youth services librarians who also writes for young people (other members include Beverly Cleary, Patrick Jones, and Ellen Wittlinger). Cheers!

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I have worked for the Montgomery County Public Libraries in Maryland for thirty years, many of them as head of a children’s department. During that time I have also had four novels for young readers published, and various short stories.

ABOUT YOUR JOB

Currently I work in Collection Management. I select the children’s fiction, picture books, DVDs, and Spanish books for 21 libraries, as well as graphic novels for the children’s, young adult, and adult collections.

What would most surprise people about your current job?

I get to keep hermit crabs in my office.

How do you manage your time?


Lots and lots of Outlook pop-up reminders. LOL. Also, a written yearly plan, divided by month.

Who is your greatest ally and why?


My co-worker who buys the other children’s materials, because she makes me laugh when things get tough, and she keeps candy in her office.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?

Trying to please everyone on a limited budget.

ADVICE

What's worth fighting for?


Intellectual Freedom. Kids deserve to find the information they need without others getting in their way. Young people have the right to decide what they are ready for and find their own level. Ignorance stunts society.

What's something you wish you had known when you started out in this profession?


There’s a lot more to working in a public library than what you learn in Library School. Coping with difficult people (both the public and staff) should be a core curriculum class.

How do you respond when someone asks you, “You need a degree for that?”


I have a certain little gesture. Well, okay, I’m politer than that, but I do have a look that can stun.


How do you respond when someone asks you, “Isn’t everything online?”

I tell them no it isn’t and explain what the library can help them find in our databases and from the services we subscribe to.

JUST FOR FUN


What fictional character would you most like to be for a day?


Lucy when she was one of the queens of Narnia. I always wanted to go there and meet Reepicheep among others.

Email Annette at annette.klause@montgomerycountymd.gov

Kim Krueger

I started as a teen public library page, and then worked a few years in Circulation. After college I worked at the Ryerson Library at the Art Institute of Chicago in various capacities, including book conservation and archives.  When my kids were older, I earned my MSLIS through the UIUC LEEP program. During my graduate studies, I made the switch from the academic art library to youth services at a public library. Shortly after getting my degree, I was hired for my present position as the Head of Youth Services at the Brookfield Public Library in Brookfield, IL.

ABOUT YOUR JOB

Tell us about your current position?

As a department head, I manage 3 FTE employees and am responsible for programming and collection development for children from birth through high school. Our small but very busy library serves a suburban population of about 19,000.

For this job, managing youth services programming, staff, and the budget are my greatest responsibilities. It's difficult to meet the needs and wants of a widely varied population. Also, our library is very small, and finding space to work and do programs so we’re not on top of each other is a challenge.

I could not function without my full-time young adult librarian. She manages the young adult programs and collection and is an invaluable sounding board.

How do you manage your time?

I plan programming 2 months ahead based on our newsletter publication schedule. Most of our programs are pretty set and rotate throughout the year. I try to take care of administrative duties well in advance, because something unexpected inevitably comes up. I order materials weekly and as needed, and also do 4 to 5 information desk shifts per week, as well as 2 storytimes and an after-school program.

How do you stay current?

I subscribe to listservs, read blogs, and read the usual professional journals. Entertainment Weekly is one of my best sources for pop culture information. I talk with my colleagues and attend local meetings and national conferences whenever possible. I listen to my clients—children and their parents—and try to meet their needs. Middle school-aged boys know everything about the latest games.

Where do you see yourself making the biggest difference?

I’d like to think I am the friendly librarian who encourages kids of all ages to read whatever they want and to find new books and other media to enjoy.  I want to make the library a place they want to be. I enjoy and value children and love to hear their opinions. They are so much fun to talk to.  I take their wants and needs very seriously and try to make our youth space welcoming.

I measure success when I get a hug from one of my clients! Also, when parents tell me they love our programming and can’t believe that it’s free to the community.

ADVICE

What’s the best (or worst) part about working with young people? 

The best: kids are honest. There are no hidden agendas, and I really appreciate that 

The worst: kids are honest! They have little or no filter, and that can be challenging, especially in a small space that is shared with all age groups.

Kim Krueger

What's a battle you wish you hadn't fought?

I don’t know if it’s a battle or not, but worrying about how many kids are on one computer at the same time is dumb. Who cares?  Kids do things in packs; it’s their nature. Library policies and procedures need to accept reality.

What's worth fighting for?

 A free and open collection filled with materials that children enjoy, and programs that appeal to kids and families – hence, a decent youth services budget.  Kids grow up, and their library experiences in youth will influence whether or not they support their local library when they become tax-paying adults.  My goal is to give them positive experiences that they will remember fondly.

How do you decide what's important?

If we’re talking about programs, I’d say what’s important is having fun programs that kids want to attend. You’ve got to give them what they want, or they won’t come.  Having food always helps. If we’re talking about collections, my opinion is the same. I do try to provide well-written books for them, but they want their superheroes, princesses and video games too, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

What's something you wish you had known when you were starting out in the profession?

 I think graduate school should offer a course in coping with compassion fatigue and burnout. So much of public librarianship is listening. It’s not just about giving people the materials or information they want. It’s a combination of counseling/consoling/cajoling/commiserating—it can be really exhausting. Public service employees really need strong boundaries.

How do you respond when someone asks you, "You need a degree for that?"

Fortunately this hasn’t happened to me, but I’d offer to let them sit at the public service desk for 4 hours, then do a storytime, run an after-school program, and attend a department head meeting and see what they had to say after that.  I’ve certainly learned a great deal through experience, but the degree provided the foundation for my work.

How do you respond when someone asks you, "Isn't everything online?"

Again, I haven’t experienced this directly, but I might say something like: “How long will it take you to sift through Google’s 785,000 possible answers to your question? How will you know which answer is reliable?”  I have seen people’s eyes pop when I tell them the Library pays for databases that offer current, reliable information. They love that!

FOR FUN

How do you defy the librarian stereotypes?

Actually, when I was a kid, my favorite librarian wore glasses on a chain and a bun with a pencil stuck in it. I loved her!  I guess I don’t worry much about it. I laugh a lot and I’m not much of a “shush-er”. I may well be a stereotype myself—I do wear comfortable shoes!

What fictional character would you most like to be for a day?

I always admired Jane Eyre. 

Where do you hope to spend your retirement?

I will be in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. I could see volunteering to work with children, either at a library or elsewhere, or making digital and print art—or both!

Paper or digital?

My preference is paper.  No doubt my years of book conservation have biased me, but for me, nothing will replace the experience of turning the pages of a book. The art of a picture book is not the same when viewed on a screen; the change of media changes the experience. That being said, I do value digital materials for their versatility, and I absolutely love playing with Photoshop.

E-mail Kim at kkrueger@brookfieldlibrary.info