Spring Break
Librarians today are more than bookkeepers
Jessica Leggin / Campus Editor
Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: News
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Stacey Davis, a librarian for reference services in Booth Library, said the study of library science has seen so much change.
"This is a profession that gets overlooked, but it has a lot to offer to everyone," she said.
Davis said librarians have the same status as professors on campus. "We do the same scholarly activities and research as the professors," she said.
Davis said one of her tasks as a librarian is to constantly change the exhibits in the various display cases.
"Aside from books, I know more than I need to know about kente cloths, Queen Elizabeth and Frankenstein," she said.
Davis said she assists many professors in workshops discussing the many changes that occur on the library's Web site in the different article databases, online catalogs, books and references.
"On average, the databases can change at least once a month," she said.
Davis said the library could also receive 1,000 to 2,000 new reference books a month.
"We have to learn how to be familiar with them enough to help people with them," she said.
Davis said the different user interfaces, such as the buttons, operating system commands and other devices provided by a program, can change in a moment's notice on the library's Web site.
"There can be a change in the layout or indexing, and we need to know these things in order to help others to use it," she said.
Booth Library's resource access on Eastern's Web site is a statewide system. Davis said the system is always being worked on for easier use.
"The changes are done by a statewide group formed by different representatives from different universities," she said. Davis said search engines have made the system much simpler for students to enter their findings.
"When it all started one had to know all of the codes in order to search for something," she said. "Now you can at least put in small increments of text."
Davis said students need to take advantage of the library sources because some information cannot simply be Googled.
"In general, you won't to be able to find some things with just a Web search, especially journals," she said. "Research journals can cost several hundred to a thousand dollars a year to access them."
Davis said the library purchases various journals in order to keep the students from paying out of pocket.
Davis said overall, the library is an important institute for students to gain information for their various classes and personal needs.
"(Librarians) are not just here to take care of the books," she said. "We are here to make sure people get the information they need. Students should always know it is a professional librarian to help them out."
Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmleggin@eiu.edu.
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