Fifteen things you need to know as an academic help-desk librarian

Based on my own experience…

Where the paper for the printers is kept
How to remove paper jams
That Google doesn’t access the deep web
How to search Google effectively
How to use your OPAC properly
What the added value in different databases is
How to accept being berated by customers without losing it
CQL (once in a while it will save your pants)
How to explain things without using library jargon
The value of a smile
That re-Googling a search that a user has already performed is rude
The classification system used in your library off pat (in broad strokes, for commonly requested items)
Why it rains, whether there is a God, and if the library can supply a copy of §40 of Straffeloven (of course Sir, can I get you a printout of that?)
How to get USB memory sticks to appear in the file manager on the computers
How to read minds (and fix computers by virtue of your sheer presence)

This entry was posted on 2008-04-7 at 19:28 and is filed under Library 2.0, NTNU Library, UBiT, bibliotek, bibliotek 2.0, library. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Fifteen Things « First Person Narrative Says:
2008-04-13 at 11:21
[...] that was not a principle motivator in accepting the job, it is proving to be a major side benefit. This post from Infonatives sums up fifteen reasons [...]

Infonatives