8B: Reflection on Readings

The ALA Code of Ethics was created in 1939 and has only been amended 3 times since then (in 1981, 1995 and 2008). I am slightly surprised that it has not been amended more times than that. At work, we are always editing policies and documents. And every year, clubs on campus have to edit their constitutions.

Some of the principles of the code are pretty much related to customer service: “We provide the highest level of service…through…courteous responses to all requests” and “We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere…” Unfortunately, because these relate to customer service, I see them get violated every once in a while.  

There are also rules about how to treat one’s coworkers: “We strive for excellence in the profession by…encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.” I see this rule in play all the time. For years, when I was still writing my undergrad thesis, the librarians would constantly ask me if and when I was going to go to grad school to become a librarian. They have done the same with the student workers if they know the students have interest in becoming a librarian. Almost all my coworkers are very supportive in this and always tell us if we need help with something related to school, to just ask them. They also take interest in our education and ask us how our library classes are going every so often.

In chapter 12 of our textbook, there is a section called “reference services to the homeless and impoverished.” At my work, we have a very high homeless population that comes into the library every day (earlier on in the semester one weekend, they outnumbered the students). For the most part, none of them cause problems. Some of them we know by name, others just by sight. The sections talks about how they “have strong body odor, carry all of their belongings with them, [and] stay in the library during all open hours” (page 346). These are all true (though some are very cleanly). It also mentions how they are usually problematic or troublesome. Now whereas a few of them sometimes like to give us attitude (one has a fit if the daily newspaper is not out at 8am sharp while another gets angry that the computer automatically kicked him off after 30 minutes), we do not have too many problems. A big part of that is that if they continually give us trouble, they know that we will call campus safety on them. Therefore, I do not feel threatened because I could always threaten to call safety. I just get annoyed with their attitude, especially if they are not polite (some act entitled to whatever they want), and the smell sometimes gets really bad. I cannot imagine having to deal with this population in a public library setting. I think if I were in the public library setting, I would not feel safe. The textbook says that “there is much overlap between librarianship and social work” (page 347). I never thought of that before. That as a librarian, one could provide information to the homeless patrons to help them better themselves. We do not really do this (usually we just get questions on how to use email and the other day someone asked me how to look up bus and train tickets). The problem is that some people just do not want help. But they also do not really ask us for information. They just come in and go to their favorite spot where they hang out all day long. I wish there were more that we could do for them.