Summer is drawing to a close while June is fast approaching. In the country, June marks the beginning of another school year. The library where I work is showing signs of welcoming the month because it starts getting crowded... well, not with people, but with textbooks. (Aside from the usual library work, I am also in charge of ordering and distributing textbooks to students.) Piles and piles of them are now barricading my office table -that you have to climb on them in order to reach me. =)
For two years of handling textbooks, I learned how to deal with suppliers and publishers (local and international), haggle for discounts, AND I now have an idea how many hands the books have to go through before it finally lands on your door. (I used to think it's that easy.) This also gave me an opportunity to work more with teachers, cluster heads, students and even housekeeping personnel and many others. This demanding but wonderful experience has also enhanced my decision making skills, communication and leadership skills.
It has been my goal to learn the various facets of library work - from technical to reference to selection and acquisition, etc. I am particularly thankful for this 'non-library' work because I learned so much! And I guess the most important learning is : Do not say NO to assignments given to you -- at least not at once. You should though, if you are 100% sure you have no capacity to do it or if it will only adversely affect your performance of your primary duties. I'm just glad I didn't because If I insisted that ordering and selling textbooks are definitely not part of my job description, I guess I would have missed a lot. Now, I can only say -- I learned a lot.
