Finally, an interesting prompt.
I work at an academic library. I began my library career as a student worker assisting other students with their research in the reference department late into the night. The reference department was filled with non-circulating books, things like encyclopedias, dictionaries, government documents, and all of those books you see on the shelves behind lawyers’ desks on TV. You know the ones. We had every print reference book you could think of and plenty you wouldn’t even consider. A small part of the department was dedicated to computers and printers. We had microfilm and microfiche readers, a document scanner, and a couple standard office scanners. We had an accessible station with large monitors, a webcam, and a magnifier for the visually impaired. I remember having to ask giggly teenagers to get off whatever webcam chat was current at the time and vacate the one working accessible station. We had student employees, staff, and librarians ready and able to assist as needed, whether that was something complicated like guided research or something as simple as printing a document. I loved my role as a student worker so much that I jumped at the opportunity for a full time position.
When I had my child, it was time to move to a daytime position. I moved to the acquisitions department and have been working behind the scenes at my library ever since. As the name of the department implies, my duties in that position involved purchasing books. The procedures in place were a stark contrast to my previous department. Reference had up to date technology and materials. Acquisitions had staff who’d been in their positions for 20 years and had just continued to do things the way they were taught when they were hired. Records were created manually. I was taught to create a paper order slip for every book I ordered, which had to be filed into cardboard boxes and pulled when the books arrived. I was taught to print invoices (sometimes in multiple copies) and create paper vouchers to prepare for payment. There was so much paper and filing involved in a process that didn’t really require it. I eventually went over the LA4’s head and asked the department head if I could streamline the process. He was reluctant to let go of the paper, but he trusted me enough to start making changes. It wasn’t until he retired and I got a new supervisor that I was really able to overhaul the process. By the time I moved on from that department, everything was digital.
My current department was also a bit dependent on print, which is odd considering my position specifically relates to digital content. Fortunately my supervisor is all for streamlining things and doing away with unnecessary steps that people do because it’s always been done that way. Extremely fortunate because there was a point in my transition between positions where I was doing the work for both due to vacancies and the fact that I was the only one who had cross trained enough to be able to perform all duties. I have feelings about this, but that’s a whole other essay. I have long since moved on and consider that period a learning experience.
These days, the reference department looks very different than I remember. All books have been removed, either moved to stacks or discarded. Whatever government documents we had have been digitized and print has been discarded. The department is now a study space filled with computers and work spaces. There is no longer a front desk with staff waiting to help students. You might run into the occasional student worker refilling printers or taking a headcount, but they are not trained to help with research. Instead, there are signs directing you to chat with or arrange appointments with our public serving librarians. I have feelings about that, but again, that’s a whole other essay.
Some of the things I had eliminated in my acquisitions position returned after I’d finished training my replacement. The less tech savvy people in that department just can’t seem to give up their paper. But due to a shift from print to digital resources, their workload is still far lighter and less complicated than mine was all those years ago. Our ebooks and digital serials collections have grown while print subscriptions have shrunk. I remember building walls with the boxes of books in my office. I remember people racing to submit leave requests for the week after winter break so that someone else would have to deal with the mountain of mail that had accumulated. That hasn’t been a thing for a very long time. And in my current position, I no longer have a file cabinet full of invoices and vouchers. Everything that used to be in those file cabinets now resides in three different digital locations. Most of my work can be done remotely, which really worked out for us in 2020. I still work from home two days a week.
None of this means that there is less work to do. In fact, with technological advances come new job duties. They’re just far less tedious. This streamlining has given me time for things like professional development training, committees, and Staff Senate. Again, I have feelings about some of these things, but that’s a whole other essay.
Cool Ghouls Book Club 
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