Blue-Collar Librarian: Basic Construction Skills
If you want to read the first post in this series you can find it here. It has all of the background information for this series.
The general premise, however, is that many blue-collar skills translate well into library work. That is, a general understanding of certain blue-collar skills can be beneficial to a librarian. There is no scientific evidence or any scholarly articles I can link in order to back up this theory (I guess there could be, I honestly haven't looked). I'm just going on my own lived experience for this series. My knowledge from working in the trades has served me very well in the library world.
In my first post in this series, I covered my experience working in a diesel mechanic shop and how I leveraged my skills in the parts department to land my first library job. Today, I want to talk about basic construction skills.
Waaay back in the early days of 2020, the library I work at, like so many others across the country, closed its doors to the public. I can't remember the exact timeline of events, I think I blocked most of it out, but at some point we began having discussions on what re-opening to the public would look like.
Like most places, those talks included incorporating plexiglass shields at the circulation desk- this space being one of the most heavily trafficked by the public.
Now, you could buy pre-made plexiglass shields from places like Demco, The Library Store, etc... but they were exorbitantly expensive, at least for our budget. Not to mention that they tend to be on the smaller side. We have one of those big, old school circulation desks. That's a lot of counter to cover with expensive pre-made shields from a library vendor.
Instead, I offered to make the shields. It would save the library a bit of money in the budget. This was especially helpful at this time, as every City department was on a spending freeze, except for essential items.
In addition, I opened the door to highlight a skill I have and used it to make myself useful in a difficult situation. Thankfully, my library did not have to lay anyone off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I know that was not the case for so many libraries across the country. The point I'm trying to make here is that having some non-traditional library skills at your disposal when tough times come around, coupled with a willingness to use those skills, can help insulate you from possible job loss. Again, I have no scientific evidence to back up that statement, but I feel like there is some truth in it.
Anyways, armed with a PO#, a rough sketch on scrap paper and a mask, I hit the local hardware store to secure supplies for my COVID shield project.
I brought some tools from home. My drill, a saw, etc... set up shop on the main floor and commenced to building a sneeze guard across the entire length of our circulation desk. To maintain sight-lines, I used plexiglass for the bulk of it, but the frame was made from 1x2s. That thing stayed in place for two years before we finally felt comfortable enough to take it down.
I know what you're thinking. “Why the hell are you doing that? Don't you have a maintenance guy?” Nope. We are not large enough of a library for a dedicated maintenance person. We have to contract out for most of that kind of work.
My basic construction knowledge has come in handy in other instances since then. I helped our parks department install our StoryWalk. I now have a good rapport with those guys. They didn't think that the librarian “could do that kind of work.” I have also used it to quickly repair our StoryWalk the few times it has been vandalized. Otherwise, it likely would have taken months using traditional channels.
I've pulled carpet after water damage, changed air filters, disconnected a busted water heater and a million other little related tasks. As my Director would say “other duties as assigned is on your job description for a reason.”
I don't mind it.
I know I went to library school to escape that kind of work, but sometimes it's nice to step away from the desk for a bit and use my hands instead of my brain to accomplish a task.
Anyways, I'm not sure if anyone will read this and be persuaded to pick up a hammer in order to go fix something in their library, but if you do, more power to you!
Stay tuned for the next post in this series. I'll be discussing the exciting topic of...plumbing.