LIS 181 Journal Entry #7: Yearender (Part 1)

Christmas break is here and I have just completed 59 hours of OJT. Hooray! So here goes the first part of my final LIS 181 journal entry of the year 2012:

As I have mentioned before, I will now be working in the reference section. I was really nervous but fortunately Ma'am Iyra, our LIS 181 teacher, encouraged me. She told me that it is a privilege to work in the reference section as most institutions only give technical work to OJTs. On my first day as a reference librarian, I arrived very early to the library. I first met Ma'am Bernadette. She is the head of the reference section. The first thing she instructed me to do was to read the manual of the reference section in the Rizal Library so I spent an hour doing that. Despite doing my best understanding the manual, I still have no idea what to do. Fortunately, Ma'am Bernadette gave me an orientation on the various services they offer. She also introduced me to the other staff  in the reference section. I was able to meet Ms. Shielski, she graduated BLIS at UP SLIS and also a member of UP LISSA, and Ms. Kareen, who is already 5 years in the Rizal Library but recently just got transferred to the reference section from cataloging. She mentioned that her 4 years in cataloging really helped her in reference work today.

In the morning, all I really did was count the number of people in the reference area. They do this every hour. This is what I was only able to do at the start. I also observed the other staff on what they do. I think this is how I really learned the most. In the afternoon, around 1 PM, I was able to serve my first client! She is a cute first year student asking for remote access to the EBSCO database. I was glad when she said thank you. Reference work doesn't seem bad at all. It looks kinda fun. I also like the fact that part of being a reference means pretty girls would talk to you. Hahaha.

Other notes:
- I decided to divide this post in to two parts because making it too long might bore the reader

- I was actually sick while doing OJT and it was difficult for me. The aircon is very strong, I think I should bring a jacket next time.

- I'm really disappointed that my plan of being closer to the girl because I was doing OJT at her school didn't work as I have expected. Maybe it really is time to let go and move on.