When I read this, I just knew I had to throw in my 2 cents because, goodness knows, there are a lot of things that I work on that have very little to do with what I learned in library school. 

1.  Paper Jam Clearer – One of the first classes potential librarians should take should be How to Clear a Paper Jam from the Friggin Printer because that is what you will spend most of your time doing.  We’re not talking just open up the panels and pull out some papers that somehow got all crinkly…we’re talking about massive paper jams that bring down the whole system causing a backlog of print jobs that have to be cleared and resent.

2.  Hole Punch Maintenance – Yes, I’m serious.  No matter how many times I tell people they cannot stick more than 5 or 6 sheets of paper in the hole punch, they insist upon sticking 20 in there and then being absolutely stunned that the hole punch got stuck. 

3.  Tech Support – Um, yeah.  The computers never seem to go down until the evening shift.  After IT has gone home.  And turned off their cell phones.

4.  Social Networking/Web 2.0/Mobile Platform Guru – Ok.  I have to admit, I LOVE this part of my job.  I remember the first time I tried to use a computer (thank you, Mr. Engbrecht), I looked at my teacher and said “No one’s going to use these things.”  Seriously.  Now my BlackBerry Storm is never more than an arm’s reach away.  And I am in the process of trying to learn how to use RefWorks on my phone so I can show the Reference Staff.  Not a difficult process, I just want to be sure I can do everything before I attempt to teach.

5.  Cruise Director – There are times when I feel a bit like Julie McCoy on “The Love Boat”, directing people to where the “magic happens.”  Whenever there’s an event, people always come to the library wanting to know where to go…Yay!  We provide information so that’s what we’re here for….Boo!  Whoever’s putting on the program sometimes forgets to tell us what’s happening, which leaves us in the dark.  But, hey, we’re information professionals, we find the answers and point people in the right direction.

One thing I can honestly say about being a librarian, every day is different.  And I love it….even if it doesn’t fall in line with what I learned in library school.