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Manitoba Libraries Conference 2014

What Can I Do With a Library Technician Diploma? Panelist Notes

Panelists: Wes Bergen, Emma Durand-Wood, Brigitte L'Heureux, Risa Oldfield, Karen Sawatzky & Josh

Seeland | Convenor: Mikaela Oldenkamp

Wes Bergen

Individual introduction

Wes Bergen, Canadian Mennonite University Library, Library Assistant 3

Graduated from Red River College in 1999

CMU – 2 librarians, 3 library technicians, 1 assistant (currently on leave)

Responsibilities

o Cataloguing, both copy and original; in our first year of using RDA; currently doing

mostly audio / video cataloguing

o Running Interlibrary Loans; using a combination of paper and Word charts, since our

volume does not justify the purchase of an ILL module for our library system

o Reference, circulation, and shelving as needed

o Take minutes for both library staff meetings and university support staff meetings;

member of university Social Committee, running the staff/faculty Christmas lunch and

summer potluck BBQs

How the diploma prepared me for this job

o Taught me the importance of collaboration with fellow employees and with staff from

other libraries

o Attention to detail needed for cataloguing

o The foundation of library knowledge needed to simply start library work

Previous employment & experience

o Worked at Conservation & Environment Library in the summer of 1998; organized

vertical file collection, inventoried periodicals, covered for library staff during vacation

times

o Shelver at Elizabeth Dafoe library at U of M from September 1998 to April 1999

Prepared questions

What are the greatest challenges at your workplace?

Making do without the wealth of resources that a larger university would have; e.g. much larger

subscription databases for e-journals, automated ILL module, budget covering ILL payments for

students and faculty

Dealing with limited space; coming up with ways to maximize space

Appreciation – after hearing stories from some other techs, it is great to work with librarians

and faculty that appreciate and respect us and recognize and value our contributions to the

university

What do you see as the greatest challenges in the library field?

Dealing with the news that goes around the field regarding library cutbacks, elimination of

positions, and closure of libraries; still dealing with the attitude of some members of the public

and bureaucracy that libraries are unneeded now that we have Google

Trying to keep up with changes, especially on a budget (both institutionally and personally);

difficult to keep up with technology in spite of being in a largely tech-aware profession

Transferrable skills

What are the most important things you feel you gained from your diploma?

In addition to the points above: the introduction to much of the technology. Prior to the start of

the program, I had never used email or any MS Office program, and my only experience with

computers was a short course during my B.Ed. program at U of M and playing games on a

Commodore 64.

What are the most important things you feel you have gained from your current position?

Knowledge of the databases and resources that are available for use will come in handy for any

kind of future research

The importance of community in a workplace – camaraderie, conflict resolution, morale,

communication, pride of work.

Emma Durand-Wood


My name is Emma Durand-Wood, and I’m a web content strategist with Stem Legal Web Enterprises –

I’ll tell you more about the company and job in a minute. Because I’m representing the “not actually

working a library” faction, I’d like to share with you how I got to where I am.

I graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Library and Information Technology

program in 2003, moved to Vancouver and got my first library tech job at a law firm library. Vancouver

has a very active law libraries association – VALL – and it was through their functions that I met another

law firm librarian named Steve Matthews.

Steve was a librarian and a computer geek and was doing groundbreaking and successful things with his

firm’s website and internal knowledge management systems. He also had one of the very first law

librarian blogs in Canada. I was also a blogger, so we formed a bit of a friendship. Eventually, Steve

decided to strike out on his own and start a company where he could help other firms to increase their

business through their online activities – basically, helping lawyers be awesome online.

He called the company Stem Legal. Around the same time, he suggested to me that if I ever wanted a

change from law library work, he would love to have me work with him. And a year later, I took him up

on the offer – I was moving to Winnipeg, and I could do the job from home after I finished working

mornings at Tapper Cuddy. I’ve been working with Stem Legal since 2008.

My job title at Stem Legal is Web Content Strategist, but because we are a small company – there are

only five of us – I do a little bit of everything. As I mentioned earlier, essentially, our goal is to helping

lawyers, law firms and other law-related organizations to be found online.

Our core services are:

search engine optimization – helping websites rank higher and be easily found in the search

engine

building new websites - which can be company webpages, blogs, microsites, etc.

redesigning existing websites

helping firms to develop online marketing strategies through content development and social

media

I have a hand in all of this, and also do a lot of organizing, drafting, editing of content, as well as

research, both for the company and for our clients.

The fact that I worked in the legal industry for five years before joining Stem is a huge help. Being

familiar with the field and also the culture of our clients’ businesses is critical to this job.

You might be wondering how I’m using my library skills, though. Here are a couple of examples:

1. On a typical day, I might first do some maintenance on lawblogs.ca, the online directory of

Canadian law blogs that Stem manages – that’s basically evaluating authority, cataloguing and

classification, and database management.

2. Then I might write a post for our company blog or news feed. That’s marketing and

communications.

3. Then I might spend some time evaluating an existing website and reporting on what content is

currently working, what needs to be improved, what’s missing altogether – that’s essentially

collection development – looking for gaps, suggesting new additions, and planning for future

expansion. It also requires an understanding of user search behaviour.

Of course, I learned a lot of what I do in this role on the job, but a lot of it is also a very natural extension

of library work.

One other thing I want to mention -- people often ask me how it is working from home. I tell them that I

can go to work in my pyjamas, and that this is the best -- and the worst -- thing about my job.

But seriously, working from home can be challenging. The lack of in-person contact can be hard, even

for an introvert like me. But the flexibility of this role is a huge benefit. I can basically work from

anywhere as long as a have a computer and internet connection – which these days, is almost

everywhere.

Overall it’s a great job. It has a lot of variety and I’m always learning something new – it’s a lot like

special library work in that regard.

Prepared questions:

What would you like to do more of in your current role?

Major website overhauls. It is so satisfying to take an outdated, disjointed, incomplete and often really

unattractive website and turn it into something that looks great, is really useful and functional, is built

properly behind the scenes, and that you feel excited to promote.


The lack of peers doing the same thing is also tough. I really miss all the professional development

opportunities that I had when I worked in libraries, such as conferences & lunch-time lectures. When I

worked in Vancouver there was a large and very active group - VALL - that met for monthly

luncheons/speakers, I also had a group of fellow law lib techs I met for lunch with regularly, and was

also very active with LTAIG, the BC equivalent of MALT. I also went to the SLA conference every year,

which was a major highlight. Because I'm sort of neither here nor there -- not really library, not fully law

– I have had a hard time identifying what PD would be best for me.

Transferrable skills:


The value and importance of teamwork....appreciation of working with different stakeholders,

importance of respecting and collaborating with other "departments" such as IT, marketing,

etc.

Openness to new technology and willingness to accept change. I remember one of my

instructors used to say that working in libraries was like getting on a treadmill, only just when

you think you have the pace mastered, it speeds up. I think that I learned that attitude is

everything -- accepting that technology and culture are always changing is a key part of thriving

in the field.


Understanding how the internet really works, and how to get your content noticed -- how to

make a website that works for both users and search engines.

familiarity and experience with the legal industry itself

Brigitte L’Heureux


My current role is Bibliotechnicienne at Bibliothèque Alfred-Monnin at L'Université de Saint-Boniface. I graduated from Red River College in 1999, and got my first job at Seven Oaks School Division where I worked in two schools. Some of my responsibilities were:

o purchasing, cataloging, circulation, story times, hosting scholastic book fairs o non-library stuff, I volunteered with the volleyball team and for an overnight camping / biking

trip with the kids. In September of 2000 a term position opened up at then Collège Universitaire de Saint-Boniface. Since 2011 we’ve received University Status. As a RRC student, I had done my final field placement there and absolutely loved it, field placements are important…… I knew that that’s where I wanted to be; it would give me the opportunity to work in French, the library Technicians had a significant amount of responsibility, and the faculty and staff were extremely friendly and open. Even though the position was a one year term, I knew that I would be gaining a significant amount experience which I thought, being a fairly recent graduate, would be important to give me the edge I needed if ever something equally great came along. The one year term turned into a second year term and after that they squeezed in a position for me. The Bibliothèque Alfred-Monnin’s mission is to support research, teaching and learning at the Université de Saint-Boniface, Western Canada’s only French language University. It’s important to note that the Université is affiliated with the University of Manitoba, and because of this our library shares library system with them and our students and faculty have access to all the same resources that a UM student / faculty would have. Staff at the USB presently consists of the following full time staff members: 2 librarians 4 library technicians (non-serial acquisitions, serials and Interlibrary loans, cataloging, and myself), 1 administrative assistant, 1 clerk and 4 part-time students that work evenings and weekends. My current title, for the time being, is a little deceiving. Up until recently, my main responsibilities have been Circulation Supervisor, reference help and systems admin. Circulation supervisor

As a whole, ensure the smooth operation of the circulation desk Preparing policies and procedures manuals Interview, hire, train and schedule student employees

Prepare the academic reserve Part of the University of Manitoba’s circulation committee Preparing year end statistics

Reference Desk

Orientation and quick tours of the library Assist students and faculty with their research needs, Show them how to use the catalogue, the numerous databases, now the “Outil de découverte”

(One Stop Search) Systems administration In 2004 we migrated ILS systems for the first time with University of Manitoba. I was responsible for the systems administration on the USB side, not any of the server aspects but mostly the daily workings of the system such as

Configuring notices sent to users Changing the library Hours in the system Figuring out the proper Workflow Configuring the behind the scenes circulation rules for our USB materials Troubleshooting any problems Keeping USB staff up-to-date with any changes Preparing statistical and functional reports for the different departments.

I absolutely love the systems work. I get to work and understand in every aspect of the library workflow from acquisitions to cataloging, to processing and to finally circulation. Position change Since, September 2013, after a staff reshuffling my position has changed slightly, I am no longer responsible for the circulation desk. I will be doing more cataloging, more reference, and more systems work and what seems to be infinite learning in systems work. In January of this year, we migrated to the new Cloud system ALMA with the U of M (the first in Canada). Migration preparation started in June 2013, since then, a collegue of mine and I have been co-chairing the USB migration team and have been working closely, WEEKLY, with the Universiy of Manitoba to prepare for the big change. This new cloud system is constantly changing and improving, so most of my systems admin time has been dedicated to keeping up to date with the frequent changes and just recently I’ve finished the certification training to be able to make changes and configure the view of our Outil de découverte, the end-user discovery portal. After nearly 14 years at the University, I’m still learning and gaining experience every single day. I’m fortunate to work in this ever changing environment, it keeps things exciting. Prepared questions

What is your greatest personal accomplishment at work?

I think that my greatest accomplishment has been working through, and surviving, two systems

migration. Preparing for a migration requires a lot of data awareness. You need to know where things are in your collection to find out where it’s going to end up in the new system. You also need to be in tune with all of your current library policies, especially those that concern circulation.

Another accomplishment is planning and successfully executing a major physical collection

shift. This also required a lot of planning to ensure we could fully utilise all of our shelves.


I’d like to do more marketing projects, such as using more social media in the library, planning events, displays, and such.

Risa Oldfield


Hello, my name is Risa Oldfield. I graduated from Seneca College’s Library Technician program in

December, 2011. I also have a Print Journalism diploma that I obtained from Cambrian College in spring

2007. For the last year and a half I’ve worked as a Library Technician, specifically a Library Cataloguer, in

The Pas, Manitoba. The type of library I work in is an academic library called University College of the

North. My main role within the library consists of cataloguing resources for the one of the university’s

two main campus The Pas and its satellite campuses in Easterville, Norway House and Swan River.

Although cataloguing is my primary responsibility I also assist at the circulation desk. My duties while at

the front desk include: helping patrons conduct research using the library website’s databases, assisting

patrons in finding resources on the library catalogue such as books or DVDs, checking resources in and

out for patrons, and creating library cards whether for staff, students or members of the general

public. I also deal with technology issues such as fixing a printer that won’t print, showing a patron how

to successfully send a fax, or discovering why a document that a patron is trying to print isn’t being sent

to the printer.

Within The Pas campus there are three Library Technicians including myself. These include two full-time

and one part time. In terms of librarians there are three librarians at The Pas campus. These include a

Head Librarian, a Librarian that does the archiving for the library and a Reference Librarian. Finally, there

is one Library Clerk and one Dean of Libraries.

An aspect of my job that is different is that I make library cards. When I first began in my position I had

never had experience creating cards through school or my placements, however, this is now something

that I do as a regular part of my job and something that I have become quite proficient in.

Prepared questions


One of my greatest personal accomplishments at work was when I was able to organize and

catalogue a file cabinet containing nine drawers and 290 maps. The maps were quite

disorganized, so it took some time to re-organize all of the maps. In addition, different maps

required changes to be made to the catalogue records. In the end, I re-organized all of the maps

and made all necessary changes to the map catalogue records.


One of the greatest challenges at my work place includes the library’s recent switch from the

website guide Sirsi to Sitka. This has been an adjustment for everyone in the library as we’ve had

to become familiar with new procedures for accomplishing tasks. While some parts of the

website have been easy to adjust to such as learning the procedure for checking materials in and

out other tasks have proved more difficult such as checking materials out that are on

reserve. Another challenge that I would consider one of the greatest challenges for my work

place is dealing with patrons who are frustrated or angry. While we always try to be empathetic

and resolve the issue that a patron is having working with people who are frustrated or angry

can be difficult as it’s hard to know what to say at times.


Although I find my work very fulfilling I would like to have a greater interaction with members of

the public. I always find it rewarding when I’m able to help a student find a book they were

looking for and weren’t able to find or when I’m able to assist a student in finding books for a

research topic that they’re looking for resources on. In addition, I like the variety of tasks that

I’m able to do when interacting with patrons.

Transferable skills


The ways in which my Library Technician diploma prepared me for my job include the program

providing a cataloguing course for each of the four semesters of my program. These courses

gave me a good grounding in cataloguing. I now transfer this knowledge to my role on a daily

basis through the cataloguing of the records that I do for equipment, books, and DVDs. Another

way in which my diploma prepared me for my position was through the classes I took that

taught me how to properly interact with patrons. In addition, these courses taught me how to

deal with more than one patron at a time while at the circulation desk and how to conduct a

reference interview. I was taught what questions I should ask in order to help a patron find the

resources they’re looking for. Finally, my diploma prepared me for my current position through

the program providing courses each semester which taught me how to research and help

patrons research using a range of databases from those used by nurses such as CINHAL to

databases used by the general public. Finally, I learned to use databases that are academic in

nature such as Academic OneFile.

Prior to my employment with University College of the North I gained valuable experience in my

field through volunteering, twice a week, for two years at the Mississauga Public Library. Within

my role as a volunteer I shelved DVDs, shelf read, and assisted patrons in finding DVDs that they

were looking for. In addition to volunteering I also gained experience through my placements

that I did as a student during my time in the library program. These placements included a

school library, a public library and a special library and allowed me to utilize the skills that I

gained through the program.

The top three things gained from my diploma are my ability to interact with patrons, my ability

to use databases for research, and my ability to catalogue.


The most transferable skills of my job are my ability to interact with all members of the public

from university professors to students requiring help with research for an assignment to a young

child getting their first library card. Another skill from my job that is transferable is my ability to

deal with different requests being made at the same time without becoming flustered and the

ability to go from one task to the other. For instance, I may be helping a patron print a

document when another patron will require assistance using the library catalogue to find a

book. Finally, a skill I consider transferable is my ability to instruct. I’ve instructed a number of

students who didn’t know how to search for and find a book using the Library of Congress call

number system. In addition, I’ve also instructed students on how to research a topic and find

articles using the databases provided on the library website.

Karen Sawatzky


I'm Karen Sawatzky and I graduated from the library technician program at Red River College in 2003.

After working at the University of Winnipeg, I got my first job in a law firm library.

When I was first putting my thoughts together for this panel, I thought about condensing a presentation

I did at an Ontario library conference last February, but that was going to be too general, as I talked

about all the different types of law libraries that exist, like law firm, law school, legislative, courthouse,

etc. So then I thought what about a day in the life of a law library technician? First I check my email and

make sure there aren’t any urgent requests that I need to take care of. Then I go through my daily task

list of current awareness items, sending decisions or newsletters to my lawyers, handling reference

requests. That got me thinking about what makes my job so special to me, and I realized that I needed

to talk about how my library differs from other libraries, or even from what people think of as a library.

You see, my job is all about relationship building.

Law librarianship is often not discussed in library technician or librarian programs; it is a career that law

librarians seem to fall into. We like to call it the “accidental” library career. I am a solo, that is, I work all

by myself, and I’m the only person like me in my firm. I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not an assistant. I report

to the lawyer who supervises the library, who also happens to be one of the firm’s managing partners.

There’s a lot of hierarchy involved in law firms, and I’m sort of in the middle - I’m self-managed, yet I

take instructions from everyone.

When I talk about my job being about relationship building, you need to understand that this is not a

task driven position. A lot of library technician positions are: if you work in technical services, you

catalogue books. Someone says here are the books and you catalogue them. If you work in acquisitions,

someone gives you a list of books to buy. If you’re really lucky, you get to decide which ones to buy as

well.

In my position, I do everything. While I do have specific tasks, like those just mentioned, those get

completed around my reference work. Basically, I’m on call, waiting for reference assignments. But

rather than just sitting at my desk waiting for an email or for the phone to ring, I connect with my

lawyers in many different ways. That’s where relationship building comes in. I think of myself as a seller

of information services. Marketing research will tell you it takes 6-8 touches before you make a sale. I

make those touches in my firm to sell my services. I hand deliver material, so my lawyers put a face to

the product. I drop into people’s office for a brief word, either on something I think is relevant to them

professionally, or on a personal note. I grow any sort of connection I’ve made with anyone. For instance,

one of my senior partners was asking me about LinkedIn. His daughter wanted to connect with him, and

he wondered if he should bother. I told him it was a great idea, that it was a way to grow his business,

and he did. So now, every time I see him, we have a quick chat about LinkedIn. We’ve even made it into

an impromptu competition - I recently got a paying job out of my presence on LinkedIn, so I told him

about it. It prompted him to connect with an old business colleague, and take it a step further by having

lunch with him. That was a win for me - I now have one of my lawyers (and an influential one at that)

thinking of me when it comes to building his business.

Sometimes people say they want to work in a library because they like to read. Well, they sure weren’t

thinking of a law library! I do read a lot, but most of the time it isn’t very enthralling. I read and

summarize cases, legislation, newsletters on cases and legislation. While some judges have very

entertaining writing styles, a lot of times it can be a bit of a slog.

I also have a lot of creative reference work that requires some interesting problem solving skills. Legal

research means finding an answer to a client’s question. Sometimes there isn’t an answer, so you have

to kind of make it up, or draw analogies from other situations.

Working in a law library can be exciting and ground breaking, as well as repetitive. It helps if you have an

entrepreneurial personality.

Prepared questions

What is the biggest challenge to this field?

I believe that the greatest challenge to the field of law librarianship is that our clients who are

also our employers, don’t recognize the value of our services and so are willing to sacrifice us in

the name of cost saving. This is why the relationship building portion of my job is so important - I

have to step in and tell my clients, that is, my lawyers, all the time what I can do to help them

make money. I am constantly trying to innovate in my service offerings so that I reach them. If

I’m not effective, I could potentially lose my job. The other side of this there are not a lot of

opportunities for library technicians here in Winnipeg. There are only five firms in Winnipeg with

dedicated library staff, yet there could easily be more. The difficulty is finding potential

employees with the right skill set. Anyone who has law library skills is already employed, and if

you’re looking to start up a law library, you need experience in the field. Plus firms that don’t

have a librarian don’t know what they’re missing, or they’re fixated on the old idea of a librarian

as a gatekeeper of the books. Getting them to think of the library as a service and not a place is

my biggest challenge.


Several years ago, I studied the potential of the lawyers at my old firm, and found one who

should have been close to making partner, so I approached him and asked him if he wanted my

help to grow his business. He asked what I thought he should do and I suggested he start

blogging. I helped him get started and even drafted some posts for him. It got him more

exposure and he did indeed get offered partnership.

Transferable skills


organization, using dedicated terminology, analogy to document management systems

teaching and instruction


marketing

communication

customer service

Josh Seeland


Graduated from Red River College; 2003

Work at an academic library: Library Technician II at Assiniboine Community College

Job responsibilities: cataloguing, ILL, orientations/presentations, reference, some circulation

Number of technicians/librarians/other: 1 library manager, 1 lib tech, 3 clerks

Prepared questions


bringing the library to the patron rather than letting people accept misconceptions about

libraries and decline in research quality


ongoing budget and staffing cuts; misconceptions about nature and price of electronic resources

Transferable skills


cataloguing fundamentals; reference knowledge


soft skills

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