Reference Desk Interview

On Wednesday, June 3, 2009 I interviewed Regina Reitzel, Professional Reference Librarian, at the Newton Library. She has been with the library for five years and stated that she loves it. She graduated from UNC-G with her MLS degree.

As for collection development, Regina stated that their budget was $2.4 million dollars. While most of that is for salaries, the library gets $400,000.00 for book money. (How awesome would that be?!!) She informed me that the Catawba County Library System (7 branches) is only 1% of the total county budget. Due to the state budget problems, she said that next year the State will keep about 10% and the County will keep about 5%. She specifically works on the fiction, nonfiction, and the AV collection. Orders have to be made every month to ensure that the allottment is spent. I asked Regina if she has ever had a book challenged that she ordered and she said, "Yes, two books, but not by patrons, by staff." One of the books the director allowed to be on the shelf (she couldn't remember the name), but the other book regarding sex was pulled by the director. Regina said she was not happy about this because she felt it was censorship. She continued to state that as librarians, we have to be careful to NOT let our feelings determine what should/should not be on the shelves - and she feels that this is what happened with this particular book. While she says that the Library Director is very good, she feels that she is conservative as well. The cataloging system used is ILS which costs $36,000.00/year. Luckily that doesn't come out of her book money. There are 200,000 books in the Catawba County Library System with 100,000 of them in the Newton branch alone. Weeding is done on a quarterly schedule using the CREW method. She uses Amazon, Baker & Taylor (discount books), and Alibris (used books).

***Regina gave me a copy of the Catawba County Library System Collection Development Plan, the ALA Library Bill of Rights, Weeding information, as well as a May 2009 list of the new non-fiction added to the collection. She went over each one with me.

I asked Regina what was the most bizarre reference question she has had and she just smiled. She said that she has had many over the years, but at the moment the only one she could come up with was a lady who needed help finding information about how to become a surrogate mother. (The Service Specialist Librarian stated her most bizarre was that a lady came in and asked for information on "where she could sell her eggs." After probing questions, Wanda found out that the lady was looking to sell her biological eggs.) The most commonly asked for information is for divorce forms - although there had been less requests made in the last couple of months. The busiest time of the day is Monday and Tuesday afternoons, after school, and during the summer.

When someone approaches the desk, Regina stated that it is important to greet the person and make eye contact. While some patrons will ask for their needs directly, others have to be asked more probing questions to find out exactly what is being looked for. Sometimes she is approached by a patron that is very frustated or agitated, and she tries conflict resolution to calm the person down and try to help them. It works for some, but not all. Regina's favorite resource that she uses time and time again to help patrons is the World Almanac (she loves World Almanac) and online databases. She said that technology has totally changed the reference library - and she likes it. I asked her if anyone uses the encyclopedias anymore - as the encyclopedias were sitting on the shelf where we were sitting - and she said, "No, everyone looks for their information online." Some of the older encyclopedias are sold by the Friends organization.

The most stressful part of her job is theft and debts (paying fines). Regina said that a section of her 500s is always having books stolen. It is the section on dreams, psychics, the supernatural, etc. She said the Sylvia Brown books cannot be kept on the shelf. The books are either stolen, or they are checked out but never returned (and not paid for). Another stressful part of her job is dealing with "crazy people" and their outbursts and poor interactions with other patrons.

I asked Regina if there was competition between the County Library and Patrick Beaver and she said, "Yes." She stated that a lot of people feel that the county library is not as good as the city library. Contrary to popular belief, the county library is better that the city library per Regina. The city library does not have nearly the monetary support as the county, which means their collection is not as developed as the county's. I asked how the county library was trying to change this notion and she said by participating in the Big Read. This has been a joint venture with CVCC, LRU, and the Patrick Beaver Library for about 4 years. Regina feels that the message is getting out there that the county library is not in any way inferior to the city library.

Another piece of information that Regina shared with me was that there is a State Library in Raleigh (I did not know this). It provides services for the blind, AV equipment, and resources to public libraries and community college libraries. She also provided me with a brochure about nclive.org with a password.

This was a wonderful interview. Regina talked so openly about everything - so much so that I couldn't write, I had to just sit and listen. She wished me well and good luck to find a media coordinator position and stated that she thought I would make a good librarian. That made my day!!!! I was so pleased to hear that.