Skills of Access Services Workers

April Cunningham, MLIS, Ed.D.

1 Skills of Access Services Workers

Everything librarians and other library staff use to aid their service population to find meaning and get smarter, is a service. A collection is a service. It is not simply a pile of books or documents. It has been organized, shelved, protected, circulated…it is a service because people manipulated it in hopes of making it useful. Likewise, the building is a service. When it is open, how many seats are available, how loud it is, all designed and therefore a service.

— R. David Lankes “The Future of Libraries” November 14, 2022

Chapter Overview

The purpose of this chapter is to:

Introduce key vocabulary.
Spark your thinking about what skills you already have and what skills you would like to build.
Help you identify the type of workplace you would like to join by highlighting some key differences in how Access Services techs experience their work in different settings.

What is Library Access Services?

Access Services is an umbrella term that includes checking materials in and out, organizing books and other materials on the library shelves, managing the library building, and facilitating interlibrary loan. According to the Association of College & Research Libraries Framework for Access Services in Academic Libraries (2020), “Access Services develops and provides services that connect library users to library resources. Access Services is the primary point of contact for library users. It strives to make the library user’s experience positive and rewarding.” Access Services are usually managed by a supervisor who may or may not have a Master’s in Library Science. And the tasks of Access Services are typically carried out by library technicians. In this chapter and throughout the textbook, I will refer to library workers to include technicians, librarians, and supervisors or managers.

Some libraries use the name Circulation to refer to the department that provides Access Services, though checking books in and out is only one part of Access Services. The specific services that are included in Access Services will vary depending on the type of library because different types of libraries serve different communities and their needs will dictate the services that are emphasized. And all libraries will offer some combination of Access Services, even if they do not have a designated Access Services department.

Academic libraries primarily serve professors and students, so their Access Services mostly focus on:

Textbook and other course materials to ensure students have access to books they may not be able to afford for their classes.
Technology support to make sure students in the library can print their materials.
Building management to ensure that the space facilitates students’ studying and other work.
Interlibrary loan to provide access to specialized sources that the library does not hold locally.

School libraries primarily serve students and teachers, so their Access Services mostly focus on:

Textbook management including receiving, processing, distributing, collecting, and inventorying textbooks.
Circulation reports to keep track of where materials are.
Technology support to make sure students have a laptop or iPad tablet that works.
Stacks maintenance to make sure that materials are on the shelves and easy to find.

Public libraries primarily serve individuals and families in the community, so their Access Services mostly focus on:

Circulation procedures for registering patrons for new library cards.
Circulation reports to keep track of where materials are.
Building management to ensure that the library is as welcoming, functional, and safe as possible for the people using it.
Stacks maintenance to make sure that materials are on the shelves and easy to find.

What Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge are Required for Library Techs in Access Services?

I developed the following list by starting from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Access Services. Since their list focuses on the experience of Access Services managers, I have supplemented the list with examples for Access Services employees at all levels. My supplemental examples and explanations are below each item from ACRL’s list.

Where appropriate, I have also added notes to the text from ACRL. You will be able to notice the text I added because it is in brackets. For example, in the sentence “The ability to engage in difficult conversations and resolve stressful situations while remaining calm and composed is an essential skill for the Access Services manager.” I added the following phrase: [all Access Services employees and]. Now the sentence says, “The ability to engage in difficult conversations and resolve stressful situations while remaining calm and composed is an essential skill for [all Access Services employees and] the Access Services manager.”

The list of skills, abilities, and knowledge is organized into three broad areas of Access Services work:

1. Direct Patron Interaction (for example, staffing the service desk)
2. Behind the Scenes (for example, processing requests or working on reports)
3. Leadership (for example, supervising employees or being a solo library tech, like in a school library)

1. Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge for Direct Patron Interaction

1.A. Communication with Patrons – “Access Services interacts heavily with library users and other library staff. It is essential that Access Services [staff and] managers demonstrate and model people skills and mental flexibility needed to handle complex human interactions and are able to remain calm under pressure. Access Services [staff and] managers should be able to communicate effectively using multiple methods” (ACRL FAS, p. 10). Though ACRL focuses on managers in this item and throughout their list of Access Services skills, abilities, and knowledge, what they say about communication applies to all Access Services employees, not just managers. Anyone working in the library with the public will need people skills and mental flexibility, which is a key factor for success in two important areas:
- 1.A.1. Non-verbal communication: Communication in-person happens verbally and nonverbally. If people do not seem to be understanding your verbal communication, pay close attention to how you hold your body and use your tone of voice during conversations to see if you can more clearly communicate your meaning. Also recognize that others may not be very aware of what their non-verbal communication is conveying to you, so try to be mindful of giving others the benefit of the doubt before reacting to what you may perceive as negative communication.
- 1.A.2. Teaching patrons: Although it is not part of every interaction with a patron in the library, Access Services employees often find themselves explaining how to use the library services. Many library workers choose this career because they already know and feel comfortable in libraries, so it can be a surprise when patrons struggle to figure out and remember how things in the library work. You may find that you are explaining the same concept to the same patron every time they come to the library. Even more likely, you will find that you are explaining the same set of instructions repeatedly throughout the day and week with different patrons who are each using the service for the first time. In my experience, I explain how to print in the library multiple times a day because the system is designed poorly and most students are printing in the library for the first time. It takes mental flexibility to find multiple ways to explain a service if the patron has trouble understanding the first time. And it takes mental flexibility to avoid frustration by remembering that each patron is learning about the library in their own way and at the time when they need the information, so even though you’ve explained the same procedure four times already in the past hour, it is new to the person you are talking to and you need to start from the beginning.
1.B. “Composure – Access Services staff often serve the role of library security, and must approach or interact with individuals to address policy or conduct violations, complaints, or respond to more serious issues such as theft or medical emergencies. Often these situations require decision-making or support from the Access Services manager. The ability to engage in difficult conversations and resolve stressful situations while remaining calm and composed is an essential skill for [all Access Services employees and] the Access Services manager” (ACRL FAS, p. 12). Maintaining composure often involves managing your own strong and difficult emotions.
- 1.B.1. Staying mindful of patrons’ humanity and your humanity: During difficult conversations, Access Services employees can maintain composure by trying to see the experience from the patron’s point of view. When we work with the public, it can be easy to take their mood or behavior personally, feeling like they are doing something to us if they express anger, frustration, or demands for special consideration. But by employing mental flexibility, we can practice de-personalizing challenging interactions with patrons, recognizing we are free to respond to the patron without taking on the burden of their stress or anger. Instead, we can draw upon deep reserves of empathy, stay curious about the patron by wondering what struggles they may be facing beyond their behavior in the library, and stay true to ourselves by offering the patron the standard of service that makes us feel proud to work with the public and represent the ideals of the library. Practicing these skills while also recognizing where to draw the line when challenging interactions become abusive will be a career-long process of growth for most of us who work in libraries.
- 1.B.2. Recognizing the costs of providing emotional labor: Emotions can feel overwhelming and out of our control. Learning to manage our emotions takes practice and even once we have found techniques that work for us, it still costs us energy to apply them in our work. Psychologists study emotion as a four-part process. First, something happens and you notice it. This is called “registering” a stimulus (Elfenbein, 2007). Second, you consider what happened and the context in which it happened, and this is called “appraising” the stimulus (Elfenbein, 2007). Third, you experience an emotion as a result of how you appraised the stimulus (Elfenbein. 2007). For example: did you find what happened offensive, warm, threatening, reassuring, etc.? Your judgement about what happened is actually what you respond to emotionally. That means that the thing that happened is not what causes your emotion. It is your own belief about what happened that sparks your emotional response. Fourth, you express the emotion through behaviors that include verbal and non-verbal communication (Elfenbein, 2007). You can try to consciously take control of any one or more than one of these four parts of the process of emotion (Matteson & Miller, 2012). The work you do to control one or more parts of the emotion process is what we call emotional labor (Matteson & Miller, 2012). Although you cannot be responsible for how patrons will respond to you, as an Access Services employee, you will be expected to take responsibility for your emotion-process so that your behaviors and communication are less likely to create a feedback loop that escalates challenging interactions. Emotional labor is often not as highly esteemed as quantifiable labor, like finishing reshelving all of the returned books or catching up on a backlog of library card applications that have to be processed. And so emotional labor can be especially tiring because it may feel like there is not much to show for the effort at the end of a day (Sloniowski, 2016). Knowing that is the case, it will be important for you to find ways to recognize and take pride in emotional labor successes and also to build in time for de-stressing and resting after a difficult day of emotional labor.
1.C. “Conflict Management – There are many situations that require library staff to approach or interact with individuals and that potentially involve conflict such as security-related issues, disputes between individuals, or complaints. In these situations, it is essential to utilize conflict management skills including diplomacy, negotiation, mediation, or de-escalation tactics. Access Services managers must not only possess and model conflict management skills, but also ensure they are understood and applied consistently by all Access Services staff” (ACRL FAS, p. 12).
- 1.C.1. The role of policy adherence in conflict management: When working directly with patrons, you will develop a sense for when you are unnecessarily contributing to conflict by rigidly enforcing a policy and when you are holding an important line to ensure other patrons’ access to the library and its resources. Becoming skilled at managing conflict will include knowing and understanding the purpose of policies while also developing a sense for when the library’s goals are more effectively achieved by changing or making exceptions to policies.
- 1.C.2. Conflict management can be learned: 5 Conflict Resolution Strategies by Katie Shonk of the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. (If you are reading online, click the link to read about each of these.):
  - 1.C.2.a. Recognize that all of us have biased fairness perceptions. This means that just appealing to people’s sense of fairness will not resolve conflict. Instead, you will need to first understand the patron’s sense of what resolution is fair before being able to suggest a compromise that they will accept.
  - 1.C.2.b. Avoid escalating tensions with threats and provocative moves. This means that you should not yell, whether or not the patron is yelling. And you should not raise the stakes of the situation by calling security or the police unless the patron poses a threat. A patron just not listening to a library worker is not enough reason to involve security personnel.
  - 1.C.2.c. Overcome an “us versus them” mentality. This means that you have to consciously avoid de-humanizing patrons with whom you are having a conflict. Try to avoid the temptation to gossip about challenging patrons because this can reinforce your feeling that you and the patrons are at odds with one another when, in fact, you probably both want the patron to have a satisfying experience in the library and to get the help that they need.
  - 1.C.2.d. Look beneath the surface to identify deeper issues. This will mean different things in different situations, but basically it requires you to step back from your initial assumptions about the conflict and to consider what might be causing the conflict to continue despite your best efforts to manage it. If there are deeper issues, then you may need to use different techniques for removing yourself from the conflict or addressing those deeper issues directly.
  - 1.C.2.e. Separate truly off-limits issues from issues that are only off-limits in certain contexts. This will become easier with more experience and usually depends on what the library administration allows. As I noted above about policy adherence, it is sometimes best to adjust or relax policies for the greater good. You will develop a sense of which rules should never be bent and which can be bent with little ill-effect. You will also start to have a sense for patrons’ off-limits issues. If, for example, a patron will not be moved on their refusal to pay a high replacement fee for a lost item, that is an off-limits issue for the patron. By recognizing that, you may be able to find a different acceptable solution, like allowing the patron to replace the lost item by buying an affordable used copy in good condition instead.
1.D. “Customer Service/Relations – As front-line service providers for the library, Access Services must develop proactive customer service internally and externally.” (ACRL FAS, p. 13). Proactive customer service can include:
- Greeting all patrons as they enter the library.
- Approaching patrons who appear lost or frustrated in the library, to offer assistance.
- Seeking and using suggestions from patrons about what can be improved in the library to make it more valuable to them.
- Suggesting other relevant library or community services of which the patron is not aware.
1.E. Outreach and Promotion – “Access Services [staff and] managers must […] market and promote services including interlibrary loan […]. An introduction to new [community members] concerning services provided by Access Services assists in the orientation to the library” (ACRL FAS, p. 13).
- 1.E.1. Library outreach at community events: Though it is not a daily part of most Access Services employees’ jobs, outreach can include attending community events, like street fairs and school open houses to tell people who may not have used the library what services the library offers for them. Developing your comfort with approaching strangers to tell them about the library will make you an asset to your library during these outreach opportunities.
- 1.E.2. Generating interest in and support for the library: As an Access Services employee, you may also be called upon to explain the library’s benefits to key stakeholders. For example, some library programs require donations from local businesses so that participants can receive materials or rewards for participation at no cost to the patron or the library. So an Access Services employee may need to meet with local business owners to explain the value of the library’s programs and why the business will benefit from supporting the library program. As another example, a school-site council or library board of directors may need to hear from a library media technician, an Access Services manager, or their designee about the library’s successes and challenges so that they can provide appropriate support for the library.
- 1.E.3. Social Media: In some libraries, Access Services techs may be involved in promoting the library’s services and programs through social media. Social media for libraries has to strike a delicate balance to be engaging without being controversial just for the sake of getting attention, so it is important for libraries that use social media to have clear guidelines and a process through which one person reviews all social media drafts before they are posted. School LMTs may find more value in using Peachjar electronic flyers for promoting library events.
1.F. “Technology-Informed Services – In addition to technology lending, which is now a common service of many Access Services departments, Access Services librarians must frequently develop and manage patron-driven services (e.g., self-check circulation, laptop checkout stations, room scheduling) involving technology as well as managing technology rich spaces (e.g., makerspaces, media studios, etc.). Managers [and staff] must stay abreast of technology trends and consider how to make full use of appropriate systems to strengthen and improve services” (ACRL FAS, p. 13).
- 1.F.1. How to learn to use new technologies: Some library tech jobs will require you to have specific technology experience and proven skills before being hired. But most library tech jobs require only that you are well-prepared to learn new technologies on the job. Since library technology changes rapidly and new technologies are added frequently, most people who hire library techs do not expect them to already be fully familiar with each of the specific software systems and other technologies used in Access Services. So develop your curiosity about technology and make a habit of learning about new technologies. This could be something your kids or you are using at school, something you are seeing your friends post about online, or something your local public library provides (like Overdrive, Libby, or Biblioboard). To find out about new technology, some library workers follow tech podcasts like Hard Fork or browse headlines in tech magazines like Wired. Once you have a technology in mind to learn, then use trial-and-error, free online videos and guides, and assistance from anyone you know who may have used similar technology before. If what you want to learn about involves expensive hardware, check around at libraries or technology showrooms (like Apple stores) to see if you can at least briefly get your hands on the technology. Putting yourself through the process of learning new technology will give you experiences you can describe during an interview and you will be able to apply these same skills to stay on top of the new technologies that will be added to your work life throughout your career.
- 1.F.2. How to stay current with emerging library technology: When library technology is new, not all libraries start using it at the same time. You may discover new technology that you think your library should consider adding to its services by visiting other libraries and by browsing through issues of American Libraries magazine, the official publication of the American Library Association. Even if you are not in a management position, you can be an asset to your library by understanding the possibilities of new library technology and sharing your suggestions with the library managers.
1.G. Accessibility Awareness + Action – “As specialists in access to space and services, Access Services [staff and] managers should ensure that their spaces and services are accessible to all patrons regardless of mental and physical abilities. This also includes coordinating with other [offices or] units that oversee ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and Title IX compliance to ensure that service and space is accessible in an equitable way to all users” (ACRL FAS, p. 14).
- 1.G.1. Why awareness + action?: Ensuring that the library space and services are accessible to all patrons is a constant process of growth for library workers, since no library is 100% and permanently accessible. Development of new assistive technologies and new standards for accessibility will also require the Access Services worker to continue learning throughout their career. By combining awareness, which means choosing to notice access barriers even if they do not affect all or most patrons, with action, which means taking steps to remove access barriers once you are aware of them, library workers will be responsive. This standard mentions the need for library workers to coordinate with offices that oversee ADA and Title IX compliance, but it is also vitally important that library workers learn from patrons themselves about what adjustments need to be made to library spaces and services so that they are accessible and useful. We should not make decisions about what to do to help people with specific impairments until we consult with them. By being aware, consulting with the people affected, and committing to take action, you will develop the habit of correcting accessibility barriers on an ongoing basis rather than treating accessibility as a one-time event when designing or re-designing spaces and services.
- 1.G.2. What are some resources for preparing yourself?: Becoming aware of accessibility barriers that you have not experienced first-hand can take time and is usually not something about which your employer will provide training. You can develop your sensitivity to noticing accessibility barriers and possibly get some ideas about how to reduce them by reading books or blogs or listening to podcasts by people living with physical or mental impairments and differences. You can also read the resources highlighted by the Library Accessibility Alliance in their Library Accessibility Toolkit.
1.H. Usability Awareness + Action – “As the modes of accessing services and materials change, so have the way that libraries use their spaces. As front-line staff, Access Services [staff and] managers are often very aware of how spaces are used and what issues relating to space may be happening. Maintaining this awareness is crucial in making sure that a high level of service is provided to users. Examples of this may include helping conduct space studies, choosing furniture, or helping coordinate special uses of library space” (ACRL FAS, p. 14).
- 1.H.1. Usability and accessibility: A space or service may be technically accessible, but may not function well, which would mean it is not very usable. Carolyn Radcliff, a former library director, shared these examples of solutions to usability barriers from her experience:
  - A conference room may be wheelchair accessible but not have a table or desk inside that accommodates wheelchair heights. The library would need to purchase a table that has an adjustable height.
  - A drinking fountain may be available but too high to reach. In Radcliff’s experience, instead of incurring the cost of replacing the fountain, the library made it accessible by providing cups at the drinking fountain so people could access the water in multiple ways.
  - A library may create a policy that staff will retrieve items for patrons with mobility impairments but then not have enough staff available to offer the service consistently. The library would need to either adjust its staffing or make the limits of its retrieval service clear to patrons.
  - In addition to recognizing and removing accessibility barriers, library staff should also cultivate their awareness of how spaces and services are creating unintended consequences that can be fixed with physical or policy-based changes and also stay alert for emerging library technologies that may work better than the existing solutions your library is using.
- 1.H.2. How to develop usability awareness: Make sure you have gone through the processes and spent some time in the spaces that you expect your patrons to use. You may learn new things about even long-established spaces and services by putting yourself through them. But it can be difficult to see familiar spaces and services with new eyes. So another way to sharpen your usability awareness is by visiting other libraries. Entering an unfamiliar library with a goal in mind, like finding a specific title on the shelf, can highlight what is working well and what is not usable enough in your own library. And you can bring that awareness back with you to make or suggest changes.

2. Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge for Working Behind the Scenes

Although most Access Services workers spend the majority of their time working directly with patrons at service desks or through phone and online chat services, there are a wide variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities that must be done well in order to provide seamless access and create a welcoming environment in the library. These are responsibilities that the Association of College & Research Libraries defines as well as a few responsibilities that are not specifically mentioned in the Framework but that came up during interviews I conducted with library technicians.

2.A. Communication with Colleagues – Whether you work alone in a school library or work in a large library consisting of many different departments, every library worker has colleagues. Communicating clearly and regularly is necessary to create a functional team in which everyone is aware of ongoing work and emerging issues.
- 2.A.1. In-person communication: Paying close attention to clarity and your non-verbal communication is important when communicating with co-workers. Since your relationships with co-workers are usually more long-term than your relationships with patrons, unclear communication or negative non-verbal communication can add up to misunderstandings or mistrust that grow over time. Especially when you have disagreements or you are concerned about the work being done by a co-worker, straightforward communication will be the kindest and most constructive way to build trust that will make it possible for you and your co-workers to work toward goals together (Brown, 2018).
- 2.A.2. Written communication: Often you need to communicate the same information to a group of people at the same time. Concise emails are often the preferred form of communication in organizations that consist of more than just a few people. But some organizations prefer for written communication to also be done through collaboration platforms such as Slack or Microsoft Teams so that messages that are time sensitive are pushed out to people through their feeds. When writing emails for work, make sure to write and revise your draft before sending so that you can be clear and avoid misunderstandings. Also, if the email is your response to something that has bothered you or made you angry, I recommend that you employ your composure skills (described above), draft your message and then wait 24 hours to review it before you send it. This extra time should give you a chance to re-approach the message with a fresh perspective and avoid contributing to conflict.
2.B. Valuing Differences – As I noted above in the explanation of conflict management during direct patron interaction, you will have more success if you can avoid the trap of us-versus-them thinking. When working with colleagues, respecting one another’s different approaches and challenging yourself to avoid assuming that the things you see others doing in a way that is different from your approach means they are doing them wrong will take you a long way toward effective teamwork. In fact, getting to work with colleagues who are different from you will bring the advantage of more accurately identifying problems and more effectively finding solutions. Diverse viewpoints and opinions can feel like they are causing conflict and requiring extra time to come to decisions, but by valuing differences, you can form strong bonds with your co-workers and your library will get the benefit of everyone’s contributions.
2.C. Carrying out Shifting Projects – “Collection relocation projects are a challenging yet common aspect of work at most libraries. Access Services [staff and] managers must have the spatial abilities to determine current and future collection space needs (to include special formats such as microforms, maps, or special collections), the project management skills to estimate time and staffing needs, and the problem-solving skills to revisit and recalculate variables during projects, something of particular importance to what is frequently an imprecise process. Budgeting (for staff, for supplies, etc.) also comes into play for such projects” (ACRL FAS, p. 12). Shifting projects, also called collection relocation projects, can be necessary because of library remodeling, repairs after a library disaster (like a flood), or simply because part of the collection grew faster than the rest and more space is needed to accommodate that section, which means that other sections around it need to be moved to different shelves. Some library workers will go through their whole career without experiencing a large-scale shifting project while others will experience it more than once in their career. It will depend a lot on the type and size of the library where you work.
2.D. Gathering Data – “Given the importance of circulation and acquisition trends to space planning, Access Services managers must have the ability to generate or to work with others to pull reports from an integrated library system (ILS) or other key enterprise systems as a means of supporting decision-making” (ACRL FAS, p. 10). Other data reports that Access Services workers, especially in school libraries, often have to pull from the ILS are circulation records showing overdue, missing, and lost items so that patrons can be contacted directly to track down materials. This is especially done by library media techs because students are expected to have returned all materials by the end of the school year and parents and students appreciate having plenty of notice to find the materials they have misplaced before there are severe consequences, like a delay in providing a student with their diploma because they have not returned library materials.
2.E. Carrying out Long-Term Projects – Although most Access Services workers spend the majority of their time working directly with the public, they also have to develop the ability to carry out long-term projects assigned by their managers. Often staff work on these projects while off the desk. Access Services managers will set priorities and deadlines for long-term projects but are unlikely to directly oversee each step in the process, since they do not always know when the ebb and flow of service demands in the library will give you time to work on the project. So you will need to be responsible for your role in moving the project forward and communicating with the Access Services manager if your work with the public is not leaving enough time to meet the manager’s goals for project completion.
2.F. Recognizing Legal Issues – “Access Services [staff and] managers maintain currency with the legal framework that guides this area of library services to include copyright, privacy, ADA, and other areas of relevance to providing effective, inclusive, diverse, and equitable services. Managers may also require familiarity with education-related legal issues relating to FERPA, Title IX, The Clery Act, etc.” (ACRL FAS, p. 11). The more senior you are in your library the more likely it is that you will be expected to recognize possible legal issues and also train others in your library to avoid known issues, like the fact that making a copy of a book will, in some instances, violate copyright and possibly expose the library to a lawsuit from the copyright holder. And when new technologies or services are being considered (for example, controlled digital lending of scanned books), the library may need to access the expertise of their larger organization’s legal counsel to determine if the proposed technology or service introduces any new legal issues that the staff will have to be careful to avoid.
2.G. “Training – Access Services [staff and] managers understand that new staff members require sufficient training in order to effectively perform their job duties and to ensure consistent and equitable provision of services. Additionally, they ensure that all departmental staff receive sufficient training to stay abreast of library changes, improve skills, and are fully equipped to successfully fulfill job duties. When there are personnel issues, it often falls to the responsibility of the Access Services manager to re-train, discipline, create and implement personnel improvement plans, or other effective methods of addressing such issues” (ACRL FAS, p. 11). Describing the development of Access Services as a bridge between technical services and reference services in the 1990s, Alice Allen, who was an assistant university librarian at the time, explained, “when you want to make major changes in the way your organization behaves, training is an essential activity. […] It’s how we impart those values to each other and, therefore, how we break down barriers to understanding” (1991, p. 76). As an Access Services employee, you can also request specific training that you would like to receive in order to do your current job as well as possible or to prepare to take on new responsibilities. Access Services managers may not think to suggest that you get the training you need, so be aware that you may need to advocate for yourself.
2.H. “Mentoring – Access Services [staff and] managers share knowledge and experience with less experienced staff, [volunteers, interns,] and student employees, as well as peers. In addition, managers dedicate time to one-on-one mentoring and support” (ACRL FAS, p. 12). I recommend seeking out a mentor or two as you start your work in libraries or when you are preparing to seek a new role in libraries. It is completely acceptable to contact someone who has experience in the field you want to enter and ask them if they will meet with you to answer your questions about the work they do. If the meeting goes well, you can ask if they would be open to meeting with you regularly so you can ask them for advice. And you can ask them if they would be willing to suggest professional development or other trainings that they think will prepare you for the work you want to do. A mentor you trust very much can also be someone you share your struggles with and receive their advice based on what they have experienced in their work life. But remember that the library world is a small world in which many library workers know each other even though they do not work in the same organization or even in the same city. So take time before deciding whom to trust if you have conflicts with co-workers that you want help processing.
2.I. Pursuing Professional Development – “Access Services managers actively seek professional development opportunities for staff. They encourage and assist staff to share their experiences and ideas with professional colleagues at conferences and other opportunities. They help staff prepare for professional advancement through expanding their skill sets and other methods” (ACRL FAS, p. 12). In the sub-section of this chapter called Setting Performance Goals and Professional Development I have provided some suggestions for local opportunities for professional development.
2.J. Maintaining the Materials – “Maintaining a library’s collections is often the responsibility of Access Services[…]. This may involve shelf reading to confirm items are in their correct location, as well as scanning for and attending to damaged materials (e.g., mold, pests). Maintenance also entails attending to the condition of shelving for the purpose of supporting both access to and preservation of collections” (ACRL FAS, p. 9).
- 2.J.1. Shelving books: When you are shelving, notice if there are books that are too tightly squeezed on the shelf or too big to be shelved upright. Speak with your supervisor if you think that books are sustaining damage because of the way they are being shelved.
- 2.J.2. Repairing books: Many libraries do not take the time to repair books because they have a budget for replacement and replacing the books costs less than the staff time it takes to make repairs. But some school library media technicians (LMTs) find that repairing books is necessary because their budget for buying replacement books is so small or non-existent, and books get damaged so frequently. School LMTs I interviewed for this textbook reported that they can rarely find the time to repair damaged books and so they pile up. Book repair is not a topic of this course, but you might find the book repair resources listed in Recommended Training Sources at the end of this chapter useful if you are responsible for repairing books in order to maintain your collection.
2.K. Implementing Changes – If you work in a library where you are not the solo tech, then Access Services managers or librarians are usually the ones responsible for deciding to change procedures or add new services. The library techs are responsible for implementing the changes that managers and librarians come up with. Working through changes that affect your daily work can be stressful and can even make some library workers feel their jobs are threatened or they are not valued by the library’s leadership. Ideally, library techs will be consulted before decisions are made about changes, since library techs tend to have the most direct experience with the procedures and patrons and can provide valuable perspectives. But even if the library techs are not consulted and you expect or find that a new procedure is not an immediate improvement over the old procedure, it is still expected that you will implement the new procedure as directed. If, after a while of doing things the new way, you notice areas for improvement or unexpected negative consequences from the new procedure, document what you’re seeing and meet with your supervisor to share your suggestions for improvements.
2.L. Documenting Workflows – “Access Services managers ensure that workflow procedures are in place for core services such as circulation, ILL, course reserves, and document delivery” (ACRL FAS, p. 13). In your position as a library tech, your supervisor may ask you to review existing procedure manuals after you have experience in your position so that you can note differences between the ways that workflows are described in the manual and what is actually being done. Small changes in staff or technology can cause big changes in workflows, so it is important to keep track of how you do your work so that you can contribute suggestions for updates to the procedures manual when it is reviewed. Library technicians who spoke with me for this textbook described using procedure manuals to learn how to do their jobs and contributing to procedure manuals to help strengthen their colleagues’ and their own abilities to provide consistent, effective service. Ideally, Access Services procedure manuals are reviewed at least every two years and after any significant changes in staffing or technology.
2.M. Handling Equipment and Technology – “As libraries move many services to a digital environment, effectively managing physical equipment and technology is essential. […] This also extends to spaces dedicated to technology such as makerspaces and computer labs” (ACRL FAS, p. 14). As mentioned in item 1.F. Technology-Informed Services above, you are likely to receive some training on handling equipment and technology on the job, but you will be well-served if you have already practiced teaching yourself about library hardware on your own. Common equipment you are likely to have to handle includes keeping photocopiers stocked with paper, clearing jams, and knowing when a problem requires calling a photocopier repair-person; doing basic troubleshooting for Chromebooks that are not responding or are giving students error messages; effectively using and doing basic troubleshooting for the circulation computer, optical scanner, and receipt printer; and rebooting patrons’ self-check-out stations or helping them to work through system glitches.
2.N. Maintaining the Facilities – “As front-line service staff, responsible for maintaining the physical space of the library, Access Services managers must be able to monitor and coordinate all aspects related to maintaining library space from mitigating and reporting plumbing and electrical issues to maintaining and coordinating technology support and maintenance. This often involves coordinating with other departments[…]. Facilities management also involves creating documentation and contingency plans for staff on duty if facilities issues arise” (ACRL FAS, p. 13-14). As a library tech, you are not likely to have the ultimate responsibility for contacting maintenance offices to arrange for repairs, but you should contribute to efforts to maintain the library’s facilities by alerting your supervisor to any damage you notice in the library so that they can arrange for maintenance when needed.

3. Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge Required for Leadership

This course is intended to be an introduction to library Access Services and to public services more broadly. Because it is an introduction rather than an advanced course, we do not focus much time on leadership, management, or supervision. Nevertheless, I am providing the following list of leadership responsibilities for three reasons:

You should have some understanding of the work your supervisors do so that you can recognize when they are effectively fulfilling their responsibilities, even if you disagree with them, and when they are not fulfilling their responsibilities, even if you find them to be nice and easy to work with. Understanding what management positions require can make you more empathetic to your supervisor and create a more trusting relationship that benefits your work life.
Everyone who works in the library is working toward the same goal, so you can also take on leadership roles even if you do not work in a management position. “Leading from the middle” is the phrase commonly used to describe when an experienced employee who does not work as a manager is nevertheless providing support to co-workers, modeling ingenuity and problem-solving, and gently suggesting improvements to spaces and services.
During your career in libraries, you may decide you want to advance into management positions and this list will give you a sense of how supervisory positions in a library differ from front-line staff positions.

These are the leadership-related responsibilities that the Association of College & Research Libraries define in their Framework for Access Services.

3.A. Long Term Planning for Facilities – “have the ability to anticipate and plan for complex projects, which may include offsite facilities, transitional or swing space, and considerations involving everything from preservation needs to access and retrieval strategies” (ACRL FAS, p. 10).
3.B. “Budget – Access Services budget responsibility varies with institutional setting and may involve funds for collections, staffing, facilities, or projects. Overall, Access Services managers administer the departmental budget, using funds in a manner consistent with the department’s goals, following appropriate procedures, and monitoring expenditures. Skills involve the ability to communicate the mission and functions of the department and its budgetary needs, as well as to negotiate, defend, and stay within budget. Proficiency with spreadsheet and budgeting software or other tools is also key” (ACRL FAS, p. 10).
3.C. “Visionary, Solution-Focused Creative Thinking – […] maintain currency with new approaches to service delivery, emerging technologies, workflows, and developments within libraries and [the community]. […] [S]eek opportunities to improve practice and to address, solve, or mitigate problems [and] recognize and respond to changes in the organization that impact the library” (ACRL FAS, p. 10).
3.D. “Service Assessment and Impact Measurement – […] advocate for the importance and value of the services they provide. […] [R]egularly review services for the purpose of identifying areas for improvement or enhancement. […] [P]rovide data on Access Services as required by professional organizations, accrediting agencies, and other bodies. […] [A]ssess the impact of services on institutional mission and user experience” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.E. “Employee Engagement – […] use various leadership styles to motivate and guide staff to meet organizational goals. […] [D]elegate responsibility and encourage risk-taking and creativity among staff. […] [I]mplement team-building techniques” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.F. “Scheduling – […] ensure that critical service points are fully staffed during library’s open hours, during extended and holiday hours, and to include opening and closing the building” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.G. “Hiring – […] recruitment, training, evaluating, and managing performance [of employees]. [Lead] hiring committees responsible for vetting, interviewing, and selecting new staff” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.H. “Evaluating Staff – […] evaluate and provide constructive feedback to departmental staff on a regular basis. This ensures staff are continuing to meet service expectations and standards, are made aware of any performance issues that need to be improved upon, and encouraged to develop and continue excellent job performance” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.I. Job Descriptions – “develop and review departmental positions to ensure they are accurate, thorough, and up-to-date. As library collections evolve, and as services change or expand, managers must have the ability to evaluate the changing needs of the department and library users in order to rethink and re-design position descriptions when necessary” (ACRL FAS, p. 11).
3.J. “Defining and Delegating Tasks – […] articulate expected job performance/tasks/duties clearly and effectively to library staff[,] create onboarding processes and documentation to define expectations [and] maintain awareness of individual staff strengths in order to effectively delegate tasks and ensure service and workflow continuity” (ACRL FAS, p. 12).
3.K. “Change Management – Access Services managers ensure that their staff are prepared and supported in making changes within a dynamic service environment. This may include changes to policies, procedures, workflows, services, or organizational structure” (ACRL FAS, p. 12).
3.L. “Response/Contingency Planning – […] lead the library’s response to emergency situations. […] Emergency procedures are recommended to be reviewed and practiced on a regular basis, perhaps monthly” (ACRL FAS, p. 12).
3.M. “Managing Core Access Services Functions – […] This may include circulation, ILL, document delivery, course reserves, and stacks maintenance. Managers must be confident in providing direction, oversight, and support to staff who provide these services, as well as drawing from both staff knowledge and user experiences to consider how services might best be delivered” (ACRL FAS, p. 13).
3.N. “Policies and Procedures – […] ensure that policies and procedures provide clear guidance to staff and patrons and are reviewed, revised, and made available as needed” (ACRL FAS, p. 13).

One thing that stands out to me as I look at these lists is that the competencies for Direct Patron Interaction are a lot about being—meaning that they are about how people experience you in the library. The competencies for Behind the Scenes Access Services are a lot about doing—meaning they focus on tasks that have to be done rather than on how the work is done. And the competencies for Leading Access Services are a lot about how to get others into the positions where they can effectively be and do. Thinking about your own strengths and areas for growth in how you engage with the public, how you manage your time, and how you value others’ success can help you to prepare for each of these facets of Access Services and find the right fit between your strengths and your job.

What is the difference between a librarian and a library tech in Access Services?

The Access Services duties that librarians have and that library techs have often overlap. In libraries where a Master’s of Library Science is required in order to be a manager, the librarians in Access Services will probably have all of the leadership responsibilities of setting the strategic vision for the services and assessing the services to ensure that the outcomes are aligned with the vision, communicating the library’s value to the people who decide about its funding, supervising staff, and making final decisions about policies and procedures. A lot of their work goes on behind the scenes away from the public spaces of the library. For the library techs who work in libraries where a Master’s of Library Science is required to be a manager, their Access Services work is carrying out the policies and procedures, working almost constantly in direct contact with patrons and library materials, and supporting the department’s efforts to communicate its value and assess its services. Only a little bit of their work goes on behind the scenes—most of the time they are in the public spaces of the library.

For library techs who work in libraries where a Master’s of Library Science is not required to run the library, for example in school libraries, the library media tech will be responsible for all aspects of Access Services.

How do Library Techs Who Work in Access Services Experience Their Jobs?

Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction

Surveys of library workers suggest that library employees who work with the public are generally positive and satisfied with their jobs (Sorondo, 2017). Library employees tend to score highly on scales of agreeability, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experiences (Sorondo, 2017). Earlier surveys showed that most library Access Services staff are satisfied with their jobs (Sewell & Gilbert, 2015). And they rate personal fulfillment, job opportunities, and relationships with coworkers as the three most important factors affecting their job satisfaction (Sewell & Gilbert, 2015).

When you are considering what type of library work would be a good fit for you, think about whether you prefer to work directly with the public for most of your day, or whether you prefer the behind the scenes work of planning, emailing, preparing materials, etc. Also consider whether you prefer to be the one making all of the decisions (as most school library media techs have to do) or whether you prefer to follow or rely on the decisions of others (as most public library and academic library techs have to do). And also try to visit the library where you want to work so that you can get a sense for the workers’ morale, the feeling of the environment, and the amount of interaction that the workers at the service desks are having with patrons. Summaries of my interviews with library techs are included in this section to give you a glimpse into the experience of working in access and public services.

Libraries are Part of Larger Organizations

Libraries rarely stand-alone but instead are almost always part of a larger organization. School libraries serve the needs of their school, academic libraries serve the needs of their college or university, special libraries are often part of corporations like Qualcomm or cultural heritage institutions like the Natural History Museum. Even public libraries are usually part of the city or county government and may have a board of directors that is elected or appointed to establish the strategic direction of the library and oversee how the community’s money is being allocated to provide various library services.

Values May Conflict or Align

Most library workers can confidently outline the core values of libraries. These include:

the protection of people’s right to read what they want to read.
the inclusion of all people in library services regardless of their abilities, social status, etc.
the recognition that libraries bring value to communities despite the fact that they cost money instead of generating revenue.
and the belief that free access to high-quality information and entertainment empowers people.

But just because an organization includes a library and may even consider the library to be vitally important to the success of the organization, that does not mean that the organization fundamentally shares the library’s values.

It is this mismatch in values that often leads to libraries being underfunded. The parent organization may choose to allocate money elsewhere for services it values more. Underfunding often requires libraries to reduce their services because tight budgets require a narrowed focus. For example, instead of being able to be open during the day to serve families with young children as well as during the evening to serve adults after they get off work, some libraries can only afford to pay enough staff for one or the other, so the library leadership has to decide which service is more fundamental for the library and more valued by the community.

Underfunding can also lead to low salaries which not only affect staff morale but can also cause a lot of staff turnover, meaning that people do not stay in their jobs for long. As Danielle Davis, Lead Library Programming Technician at Patrick J. Carney Library on the US Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton explained, after working under five different library directors in less than five years, “It’s allowed us [as library workers] to have more trust in ourselves to be able to get the job done, but I feel that we then take on more and are not paid enough to represent the additional responsibilities we take on.” Library workers and patrons all experience the negative effects of turnover because it creates an unhealthy environment of over-working and also stagnation. In libraries where workers and leaders do not stay long, new projects and services cannot be sustained because there is little continuity to determine what the community needs, try something new in a pilot project, observe the outcomes of the pilot project and make adjustments, implement the new service, and evaluate the service over time to make sure it is having the positive outcomes for patrons that it was designed to achieve.

A mismatch in values between the library’s organization and the library itself can also create a professional conflict for library workers. A library worker who values being able to provide high-quality personalized service for each library patron may instead have to rush some patrons through their interactions because staff levels are so low and other responsibilities besides patron assistance have to be prioritized in order to keep the library running. Or a library worker who recognizes a need in the community to provide library services in a language besides English may have to withstand the disappointment and frustration of leaving some people under-served because the budget will not be increased to hire workers to provide services in other languages. Danielle Davis, Lead Library Programming Technician, describes the effects of the cultural conflicts between libraries and the organization they serve this way, “Translating library needs to leadership, it gets lost in translation because there’s not really a black and white way of explaining who we are, what our purpose is, and how we’re really greatly affecting our community and helping them. […] And sometimes leadership assumes that we know the standard and I think that they don’t understand that our way of viewing things is one way and they’re viewing things in a completely different way.” To try to bridge this cultural gap, Davis learned to mine the Marine Corps’ policy documents to find areas where the library’s goals intersect with the Marine Corps’ goals, for example she got support to offer an LGBTQ+ program during Pride Month by referring to Marine Corps memos about the importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion for cohesion and morale.

The mismatch between a library worker’s professional values and the values of the larger organization within which their library is located can lead to low morale experiences and burnout (Kendrick, n.d.). On the other hand, library workers who find a tight match between their values and the values of their organization will often find deep meaning in their work and will be highly satisfied with their work life. And if you find yourself in an organization that seems not to highly value its library, I recommend trying to see the library from an outsider’s perspective, imaginatively empathize with the multiple competing priorities that leaders have to juggle, and seek out evidence of shared goals, as Davis did in her library, to be part of the strengthening the bridge between your library and your parent organization.

Working Directly with the Public or Working Behind the Scenes

For people who like working with the public, Access Services positions can provide personal fulfillment even if they are sometimes stressful. Often Access Services staff spend most of their working hours at a service desk helping patrons directly and a few hours a day (and sometimes just a few hours a week) working on projects behind the scenes. This behind the scenes work, including maintaining the stacks and the materials, troubleshooting technology, assisting with the organization of data that has been gathered for library assessments, and working on interlibrary loan requests, often feels like a welcome break from the stress of doing emotional labor at the service desk. But satisfied Access Services workers still prefer to spend most of their time working with the public because that is where they feel the most fulfillment. Having patrons express appreciation and gratitude is fulfilling as is seeing the positive outcomes of your work. Some people who work in technical services in libraries become dissatisfied with their work because they do not get this frequent reinforcement that their work is valued and so they have to find their own meaning. So there are a lot of benefits to working directly with the public, even if it can often be stressful because of the barriers that library policies create.

Although all of the library techs I interviewed for this textbook work with the public, about half reported that they spend most of their time helping the public directly, while others spend most of their time doing the behind-the-scenes work that makes patrons’ access possible.

In public libraries and academic libraries, the Access Services techs in more senior positions work directly with the public less often and work often more behind the scenes on administrative tasks, like collecting and analyzing statistics, streamlining processes, communicating with other departments, and planning for the future. Public library and academic library techs who do not have supervisor responsibilities are more likely to spend most of their day working directly with the public at service desks, providing direct assistance to patrons through online chat, or talking with patrons on the phone to answer their technical problems or alert them to overdue materials.

Elementary school library media techs spend most of their time working directly with students, with almost no time left over for behind the scenes work like repairing books and planning lessons for the classes that will come in. In recent years, elementary school librarians’ jobs have changed a lot and now include several hours each week managing the school’s Chromebooks or iPads with a corresponding decrease in time spent on other behind the scenes tasks that prepare the library for students, like re-shelving and creating displays.

High school library media techs (LMT) at large campuses often work with clerks who can provide direct assistance to students while the LMT manages textbooks and Chromebooks, develops the collection, tracks down missing items, and plans for the future behind the scenes.

All of the responsibilities of the library techs I interviewed for this textbook are vitally important to the smooth functioning of the library, create a positive environment for the library patrons, and support the larger organization of which the library is a part.

Working With the Public Requires Cultural Humility. What Does that Mean in Libraries?

An upcoming chapter will go in-depth about the work that library employees are doing and need to do to create organizations that offer equitable services and reduce the disproportionate negative effects that some policies, procedures, and assumptions have on historically marginalized populations of library patrons. People who find it unpleasant to rise to the challenge of making meaningful collaborative relationships with people who are different from them should not seek work in libraries.

Even for people who value diversity, working with patrons in a library will present humbling growth opportunities that can challenge how you see yourself. For example, because of systemic racism and the cultural whiteness of traditional library policies, library director, Carrie Valdes (2023), notes that “libraries often provide some library services to all community members, but full library services only to those who are willing and able to deal with the barriers we put in place” to make the library work best for us as workers rather than best for patrons (p. 134). Whiteness has a significant influence on the way libraries have developed in the United States and how they continue to function. “Whiteness and white racialized identity refer to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of people are compared” (NMAAHC, 2021, para. 3). It will take practice and reflection to realize that for some of us, our unconscious biases and our library culture, despite our best intentions, are guiding us to treat some patrons differently than others, ignore some patrons’ complaints while responding quickly to others, and generally maintaining the status quo of our libraries even when they are not serving some members of our community well.

Some typical approaches to addressing libraries’ problems, like diversity initiatives, are unfortunately not transformative enough to make a big difference for marginalized library patrons and workers. For example, Kẏra, the founder of Empowermentors Collective, “a skillshare, discussion, and support network for trans, disabled, and queer people of color who share a critical interest in race, gender, and technology” advises that diversity is “consistently promoted as being beneficial to everyone, disregarding who benefits most from various arrangements of diversity” (Kẏra, 2014, para. 5). Most often the people already in power or the people close to those in power are more likely to benefit from diversity initiatives the way they are typically carried out in libraries (Kẏra, 2014). If our organizations “profit from the increases in efficiency and productivity associated with more diversity” (Kẏra, 2014, para. 10) but still do not make changes to reduce outdated standards that treat cultural whiteness as the norm and the goal, then our work in libraries is selfish and cynical. Instead, we can challenge ourselves to make the difficult changes that will make our libraries as valuable as we say they are.

Although it is our role to help people learn how to use the library to achieve their goals, patrons should not have to assimilate to the library’s culture in order to deserve services. And we should also assume that patrons know better than we do what is in their own best interests.

“When we talk about diversity and inclusion, we necessarily position marginalized groups as naturally needing to assimilate into dominant ones, rather than to undermine said structures of domination. Yes, we need jobs; we need education; we need to access various resources. What we don’t need is to relegate ourselves to the position of depending on someone else to offer us inclusion and access to those resources. Inclusion is something they must give, but our liberation is something we will take. The cost of assimilation is always in the well-being and lives of those who are not close enough to power to be able to assimilate” (Kẏra, 2014, para. 12).

Our libraries should strive to adapt our best values to the most valued traditions, beliefs, and behaviors of the community we serve, which may initially conflict with what some think of as the core of libraries. Braiding library values with community values usually does not make working in libraries easier, but it does make it more worthwhile.

To guard against using diversity efforts to make our organizations look better without actually improving services and better matching the interests and goals of library patrons, library workers should develop their cultural humility. According to the American Library Association, “Cultural humility offers a potentially transformative framework of compassionate accountability; it asks us to recognize the limits to our knowledge, reckon with our ongoing fallibility, educate ourselves about the power imbalances in our organizations, and commit to making change” (Christopher, 2022, para. 1). While all library workers will benefit from applying cultural humility in their work, Xan Goodman, a health sciences librarian at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, emphasizes the value of cultural humility for improving the work of those who identify with the dominant white culture of libraries, defining the three pillars of cultural humility as:

Pillar 1: “A commitment to being a lifelong learner who deliberately and bravely establishes a practice of rigorous self-reflection and critique.” This means recognizing that we may need to make changes in our own perceptions and behaviors rather than expecting others to change to be more like what we consider to be good library workers and patrons.

Pillar 2: “A willingness to acknowledge and dismantle power differentials or imbalances based on authority or position.” This means that we recognize that no matter how much we know and how much patrons may look to us for our expertise, patrons themselves are the best experts about what they need and how the library can best support them to achieve their goals.

Pillar 3: “A commitment to connecting to the community you support.” This means that we intentionally participate in the community in which we work. Most Americans are somewhat segregated in our social interactions, mostly socializing and engaging in civic and religious activities with people who share our racial, ethnic, linguistic, education, gender, sexual, and class background. Without intentionally seeking out opportunities to engage with the rest of the community we support, we are likely to never see the ways that the library is failing to meet some needs and may even be perceived negatively by some people because of antagonistic policies or cultural assumptions (Valdes, 2023).

Cultural humility means that even people who have extensive or longstanding experience working with people from all backgrounds will recognize that they are always learning new skills for building bridges between the library and its community and that learning has to be pursued actively, not assumed to happen passively just by coming to work every day.

Watch the 1-hour video “Cultural Humility in Public Libraries: Colleagues & Customers” by Xan Goodman, sponsored by the California State Library Mental Health Initiative and Infopeople.

For Black, Indigenous and other library workers of color as well as for LGBTQ+ library workers, library workers from working class backgrounds or library workers who experience visible or invisible impairments, libraries’ rhetoric of valuing diversity, pursuing inclusion, and striving to achieve equity is often revealed to be aspirational rather than actually achieved. The faith that their colleagues have in the positive impact of libraries makes it harder to discuss what needs to change because people who think the library is working well can become defensive when their intentions and effectiveness are questioned. Meanwhile, for many white library workers and library workers from well-to-do backgrounds, libraries seem like powerful engines for social change that are doing the best they can to empower patrons to achieve their own goals. To them, new library workers or library workers who are perceived to be outsiders because of their background may seem to be stoking dissatisfaction, tearing down what is precious about the library without having practical ways to build it back up. Communicating across these differences for the purpose of improving libraries requires humility, risk, and, when possible, trust. Difficult conversations about how to achieve the library’s goals of equity, diversity and inclusion are more likely to have positive outcomes for patrons if library workers have developed deep knowledge of the community the library serves and center real patrons’ needs rather than generalizing about patrons or relying on professional traditions.

In an upcoming chapter, you will read more about how to recognize and work against unconscious biases that can undermine your goals of providing excellent service.

Working in Teams or Working Alone

As I noted above, one of the factors that heavily influences library techs’ job satisfaction is their relationship with co-workers. The type of library as well as the size of the library affects the number of coworkers you will be likely to have as well as how closely you will be working with them. In small public and academic libraries, tech and librarians are often cross-trained, meaning that although each position has assigned tasks, when things get busy or the library is short-staffed, whoever is there can provide most services, like checking out books, shelving books, answering directional or technical questions, etc. Larger libraries are more likely to have very specialized positions, meaning that staff in one department (for example, Textbook Reserves) are not likely to be called upon to fill in for another area (for example, Circulation) and people are likely to work more independently or in small teams.

School LMTs are almost always the only person doing that job at their site. And although everyone at the site is working toward the same goal of creating an enriching learning environment for students, the LMT cannot expect anyone outside of the library to have time or interest in helping to carry out library tasks or even to smooth the way for the LMT to carry out their own tasks. But LMTs do often find that their LMT counterparts at other libraries in the district can provide basic supports like brief trainings, resource sharing, and commiseration about the difficulties of the job. Special attention has to be paid to finding times for the LMTs within a district to meet to discuss issues facing everyone, including for example, how to manage the Chromebooks, how to prepare for possible book challenges by people who want to censor or ban specific books, and how to use the circulation software effectively to protect the privacy of students’ check-out records.

When discussing their work, most techs I interviewed feel that they primarily work on their own whether they are mostly working directly with the public or mostly working behind the scenes. Nevertheless, all of the techs I interviewed value being part of a team and the ones who are highly satisfied with their work expressed how much they benefit from the knowledge and support of their co-workers. One academic library specialist described how much he learns from his colleagues when he reviews the transcripts of online reference service chats that detail the help they provided to students doing research. One school LMT explained what a positive difference it has made in her work now that they have a new principal who everyone thinks is fair—even though in her day-to-day work she rarely needs to interact with him. Two public library techs described how much it means to them to know that they can ask co-workers for help if they run into problems and they also describe how often they are called upon to help their coworkers to learn something new, to troubleshoot technology, or to track down missing materials. These techs explained that they and their co-workers all help each other even when it pulls them away from other responsibilities because they are all working toward the same goal of creating a great experience for library users.

Overall, library workers described needing to be self-directed to carry out their responsibilities on their own without oversight or assistance, but they also all recognized that there will be times when co-workers are called upon to help one another. Good libraries are the ones where communication and collaboration are part of the culture.

Meeting Workplace Expectations

Every workplace has its own culture, which includes the behaviors and values that are openly discussed—like how to fill out a timesheet, how staff birthdays are celebrated, and what to do if a patron asks a question you do not know how to answer—as well as the behaviors and values that can be observed but are rarely talked about—like how to greet patrons when they enter the library or when it is appropriate for staff to swap shifts with each other. Being satisfied with your work and feeling comfortable in your workplace often depends on finding a library where either the culture matches yours, the culture is one you want to adapt yourself to, or the culture values differences and does not require assimilation—though this last option is rare to find.

The behaviors and values that are observable but not directly discussed by supervisors or explained in written policies are called unspoken expectations. Unspoken expectations are part of every organization’s culture, but if there are too many and if staff and supervisors hold onto them too rigidly, they can make it almost impossible for a new library worker from a different culture to successfully join the organization. If a new library worker does not know the unspoken expectations of the library, they can seem to be rude, unmotivated, or untrustworthy even though they have only transgressed their colleagues’ cultural assumptions, not any official policies. Librarian and scholar Xan Goodman provides a useful contrast between typical library leaders who leave expectations unspoken and inclusive library leaders who explain the library’s values and make their expectations known:

While many of my library-worker colleagues were diverse, supervisors were mostly white. Two supervisors […] in my library career practiced cultural humility in ways that addressed power imbalances by being fair. This was refreshing. One supervisor was patient and explained expectations for work without being punitive or passive-aggressive. Another supervisor also acted with fairness to create an environment without inequity. Cultural humility with colleagues might look like an environment where a supervisor is patient rather than punitive and acknowledges their power while acting to create an equitable environment. […] Power misuse or power imbalances were most often on display with white supervisors who were sometimes capricious with rules and not applying work expectations fairly while insisting on white-supremacy standards of dress, comportment, staying in one’s place. […] Using cultural humility as a framework to dismantle power imbalances and to encourage reflection might have improved workplaces where power was an issue and reflection was not a usual practice. (Goodman & Hodge, 2023, pp. 26-27)

As Goodman recommends, self-reflection is a necessary skill for library workers so that when there is a conflict at work we recognize the role we played and can see the patterns that make conflict more likely. By reflecting on the unspoken expectations that you have for your colleagues, you can start to explain your expectations clearly rather than through passive-aggressive punishment. And if you are the co-worker receiving the passive-aggressive punishment, you can use reflection to become aware of the way that your colleagues and supervisors are misusing their power and develop strategies to manage them or to find a new job at a library that better aligns with your values.

I interviewed several library techs for this book and here are some examples of the unspoken expectations and values that conflict with their own values:

At a public library, a library tech revealed how it was common for circulation staff to ask patrons personal health-related questions to connect with them. The tech explained that she would prefer a culture of maintaining stronger personal boundaries between staff and patrons and that she feels the library leadership should explicitly explain to new staff and volunteers why they should uphold this value.

At a public library on the Marine Corps base, patrons who are military personnel enforce the standards of military hierarchy among one another (for example, senior personnel command junior personnel to move aside) and, despite working there several years, the library tech finds she is unwilling to adapt to the unspoken expectation that she should also be enforcing these types of power imbalances by reminding patrons about them.

At a school library, a tech is looking for opportunities to grow beyond her minimum duties. But, the culture at her school considers anything beyond the minimum of keeping the library open to be her problem alone. So, while she would like help from coworkers, such as teachers, administrators, office staff, and parent organization leaders, she is left on her own, with no help to advance issues she sees as important. Though it has never been stated directly, asking for help or collaboration is frowned upon and this culture is frustrating the LMT’s potential for growth.

At a school library, LMTs are overwhelmed by added responsibilities for maintaining students’ Chromebooks. The LMTs feel that there’s an unspoken assumption among administrators and teachers that more library-focused responsibilities, like developing students’ interest in reading and teaching students how to use the library, are not as valued because the Chromebook responsibilities have superseded some traditional library work and now there is not enough time to do it all.

At an academic library, staff often blow off steam and form bonds with one another by gossiping about difficult interactions they have had with students and faculty, for example, quoting things patrons have said and talking about frustrating things patrons have done. The library tech I spoke with sometimes finds it difficult to feel included in group settings because he is uncomfortable joking about patrons with his co-workers. But he noted that his supervisor tries to change this behavior. She leads by example by not engaging in the gossip and jokes, which makes the library tech feel supported to challenge the culture by not engaging in the behavior, too.

Not all unspoken expectations lead to conflict. Here are some examples of the unspoken expectations that the library techs I interviewed find comfortable and positive:

At a high school library, the standard for professional attire is different than at other libraries. Appearing approachable to students and being able to perform physical tasks like crawling under tables to reach plugs and lifting and moving library materials require more casual and functional clothes than library workers in other settings are expected to wear and this LMT appreciates the flexibility.

At a school library, staff are expected to show school spirit by wearing school colors and participating in special events, like ugly holiday sweaters day, to show students that you are excited to be part of the campus community. The LMT appreciates the way these events build team cohesion.

At a school library, the LMT values that her colleagues are aware of and sensitive to the difficult things students may be going through so that they foster a safe space and avoid embarrassing or alienating students who are exploring gender identities, experiencing homelessness, managing health issues, etc.

At an academic library, the tech appreciates the unspoken understanding that a library worker’s absence could cause more work for others and so they all make sure to let affected co-workers know when they are going to arrive late or be out so that others can prepare.

At a public library, the library assistant appreciates the unspoken assumption that after initial training staff will ask for assistance with things they do not yet know how to do so that they can gain the skills they need to effectively carry out their responsibilities. The library tech described that asking for help is respected and it is not acceptable to avoid a task just because you do not yet know how to do it.

At a public library that serves a minoritized linguistic community, the library assistant values creating personal relationships with patrons by knowing about their families, for example, following up on new births, recognizing children’s accomplishments, acknowledging losses, etc. But the library tech who described this also acknowledged that it can feel like the culture at her library branch does not fit with the culture of the rest of the library system, which can lead to feeling scrutinized and misunderstood and sometimes feeling the need to go above and beyond to prove their worth.

At an academic library, a library tech described how important it is to him that there is a cultural value of empathy for underrepresented groups and they all share the unspoken expectation that techs will be able to work with all kinds of people.

At an elementary school library, the LMT values working hard with her colleague to build a collection that represents a wide variety of students’ backgrounds and experiences despite a very small budget for buying books. She appreciates the unspoken expectation that LMTs should be willing to overcome their own bias in order to respectfully address issues that are important to students even if they may be uncomfortable.

An organization’s culture typically doesn’t change very quickly because it is made up of so many different behaviors, procedures, and values. And the fact that so much of an organization’s culture consists of unspoken assumptions means that it is rare for one leader or one library worker to be able to alter it intentionally. So you may find that it is important to you to work in a library that has a culture that you respect and where you will find co-workers who appreciate the value of your contributions.

Setting Performance Goals and Professional Development

Annual performance reviews are a library tech’s opportunity to find out how well they are meeting their supervisor’s standards and what, if anything, their supervisor would like them to work on improving in the coming year. Most annual reviews also include a self-evaluation element, which means that the library tech has to also reflect on how well they have met their own goals over the past year and what goals they would like to achieve in the future. Ideally, this discussion between the library tech and their supervisor creates a trusting relationship that makes it easier for the library tech to get the support they need to pursue new opportunities or to continue to grow in their current role.

Sometimes the annual review is the only formal meeting between a supervisor and a library tech in the whole year. This is most common in school settings where the LMT’s supervisor is usually an assistant principal. Most assistant principals spend the majority of their time solving problems, so if the library does not seem like a problem to them, they may not be speaking with the LMT very often. In these cases, an annual review may be the only time that the library tech gets a chance to tell their supervisor about the successes they have had and to explain what they would like to change in the library or in their role. It may also be the only time when the LMT gets to hear that their supervisor thinks they’re doing a good job or would like to see changes made. Library techs I interviewed in all types of libraries appreciated the chance to have an annual review and some who work in organizations without a formal review process or in organizations where annual reviews are often de-prioritized and delayed have even sought out meetings with their supervisors so that they can discuss their self-evaluation and goals and find out if their supervisor supports their plans for the future of the library and their role in the library.

Most library techs I interviewed set goals for themselves whether or not that is part of a formal annual review process at their library. The goals techs are setting for themselves include:

Increasing patron engagement.
Receiving cross-training in other library departments.
Streamlining and documenting existing policies and procedures.
Balancing their direct patron interactions and their behind-the-scenes duties to avoid burnout.
Developing effective classroom management techniques (for example, redirecting students’ disruptive behavior when they are in the library).
Changing procedures in order to reduce the amount of paper records that are required and increasing students’ access to electronic reserves.
More systematically communicating to co-workers what projects they are working on and what they are achieving.
Keeping on top of changes that take a long time to implement, like adding furniture in a space where shelves were removed and getting the fire code capacity updated now that the library’s space can safely hold more occupants.

In order to achieve these goals, library techs are taking steps to be more mindful and reflective during their work, collecting statistics to gauge whether they have achieved their goals, and reaching out to supervisors and co-workers for support. To be ready for an annual review, whether formal or informal, keep a written list of your accomplishments throughout the year, include times when patrons or colleagues acknowledged the value of your work, and ask a trusted colleague or friend to let you practice explaining your accomplishments to them so that you can overcome some of the discomfort that may come from speaking highly of yourself.

Library techs also often have access to and are sometimes required to go through professional development trainings that are offered by the larger institution that their library serves. For example, the clerk at a community college library is required to complete anti-discrimination and harassment trainings offered by the college. The LMT at a high school is receiving training from the school district about how to support the learning and social needs of students experiencing homelessness. The public library associate received conflict resolution and emergency readiness training that was provided for and by the city police force.

None of the library techs I interviewed described attending professional conferences to either learn from others’ experiences as an audience member or to share about their experiences as a presenter. But these are also professional development opportunities that library techs can seek out if they want to participate in the larger discussions going on in our profession. The California Library Association and Special Libraries Association, San Diego Chapter are great options for hearing about work being done in a wide variety of libraries. The California School Library Association is an excellent option for anyone working in or interested to work in school libraries. When you are ready to share the successful work that you have done in your library, you can also propose a presentation for these organizations and become part of the conferences and seminars.

Recommended Training Sources

OCLC Webjunction (offers a wide range of library-related online training)
CopyrightX (watch online lectures about copyright law)
Northeast Document Conservation Center (training for disaster response planning for cultural heritage institutions including libraries)
California Library Association (consider becoming a student-member)
California School Library Association (consider becoming a student-member)
Special Libraries Association – San Diego Community or Southern California Community
Book Repair:
- Book Repair Basics for Libraries recorded webinar from the American Library Association.
- Basic Book Repair for Libraries written guide from South Central Kansas Library System includes key terms and a list of the tools you will need.

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Working in Library Access Services Copyright © 2023 by April Cunningham, MLIS, Ed.D. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.