DAY 16: Fears Resurface in ISAIS

After my nearly heart-stopping experience at the Archives reference (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration), I thought that the days of having to interact with users would be over but, as I have been told to lately, not everything we hope for comes true. That was proven once again when I had to man the information desk of the ISAIS and answer queries this afternoon but since I have already experienced this before at the Archives desk, I’m a little less terrified. Besides, I still have a couple of electronic books to catalog, I would just take my time doing these as I was already done with encoding to the LibraryThing website. 

JULY 07, 2017 – FRIDAY

Once I have prepared for work, I headed to our station with one realization: this time next week would be my last day for our internship. Upon the discovery of this fact, I was energized to start the day in order to finish this immediately. I resumed at my spot – in front of the computer – in order to begin what I have left uncataloged yesterday.

After being familiarized yesterday with the necessary tags and the necessary subfields for catalog e-books, what was tedious yesterday became an enjoyable task today because I wasn’t struggling as much than yesterday. Honestly, it was fun determining what would be the LC subject heading of the material I am cataloging and when I discover that what I’m thinking and what the LCSH suggests adds up, I feel like I have become slightly better with cataloging. 

I was able to catalog six e-books yesterday which means I have only four left to do but since I was struggling yesterday, I decided to re-check those I have already finished and continue those that has not been cataloged. It was interesting to catalog electronic versions of theses mostly made Filipinos who have studied abroad but their thesis topics are generally about the improvement of different aspects of the Philippines. Before lunchtime, I was able to catalog my remaining workload and verify those I have done yesterday and I was right, there were slight errors. 

After lunch, I had to face my biggest fear once again: being in the reference. As I have already finished two-thirds of the requirement in a day and a half, I only had one left and that is to answer queries, emails and the like. I get really nervous when I have to face or converse with other people but similar to the archives, I have to power through it. 

Back To My Biggest Fear

I was able to answer phone calls and respond to e-mails (One of them from the Rizal Library requesting for a document) at the first two hours of my shift. I can say that I have learned a lot because I even get to know what are the do’s and don’ts of responding to business correspondences. This is a life skill that all of us really have to be familiar with.  However, it is uncertain when a query will arrive so instead of being idle, Sir Arthur suggested that I do something else while waiting and I decided to write this exact journal entry you are reading. 

Until the end of my shift, I was in front of the desk, answering questions from users of the computer center. It was a good thing that I was able to respond to some e-mails and phone calls as we are required to answer four of them. It was a wonderful experience to work on the front lines of the library.

Let’s hope this experience give me the confidence I need when I begin my actual job.