From the University Librarian: Our Student Workers

Walking around the Library this summer has reminded me how much we owe to our student workers over the course of the academic year.

Students come to us through two programs: the Federal Work-Study (FWS), a need-based federal financial aid program that provides eligible students the opportunity to earn a portion of their financial aid package through part-time employment; and the On Campus Employment Program, department-funded jobs which are available for students who are not eligible for the FWS program. At Georgetown, the FWS program pays 75% of the student's wages and the Library pays the remainder. On Campus Employment Program jobs are funded 100% by the Library.

Students say they like working at the Library because of flexible scheduling. Hours can be fit in between classes, in the evening, and on the weekends in convenient increments. The Library also offers them a range of jobs to meet their interests. Access Services depends on students to serve patrons at the Circulation desk and answer the main telephone line. Students shelve books (usually with headphones to provide musical accompaniment for the task), shift books, and search for missing books. They prepare and process reserve materials for professors, including books, photocopies, and electronic materials. They assist the InterLibrary Loan department to search for requested material and pack and unpack it. CETS (Classroom Educational Technology Services) gives students the opportunity to gain experience with A-V in classrooms and around the campus. The Gelardin New Media Center, which employs between 12 and 15 students during the academic year, encourages them to take all of Gelardin's workshops and gain hands-on experience with the Center's software and equipment.

A number of you may have worked in this or other University libraries during your student years. If so, you would have consciously or subconsciously learned many skills that have been helpful in your careers. If you shelved books, you would get to see the literature of your field, perhaps occasionally being distracted from your job by browsing through an interesting title. If you shifted whole collections, you received a valuable lesson in space planning and organization. If you served the public at one of our access desks, you honed your ability to maintain composure under occasionally difficult circumstances and to learn when to "delegate up" to a supervisor if necessary.

We love to have students work in the library because we hope to impart to them our own appreciation of books and technology. We hope also that some student workers may become interested enough to consider library and information science as a viable and vital career, in today's information-driven world. Soon, a new opportunity for skilled students will be available: the Elizabeth M. Wood F'76 Library Scholar Fund, which will provide a two-semester assistantship for a graduate or undergraduate student to do research and perform special projects under the guidance of one of our professional staff.

If some of you, our Alumni Associates, have reminiscences of working in the Riggs, Lauinger or Blommer libraries, we would be happy to hear from you. Your experiences just may be recounted in a future issue of this newsletter.