Over the school year and summer of 2015 I decided to intern at the Alameda Free Library. My intern program began on May 5, 2015.  I was able to go to the library all growing up and remember when the city was building the brand new building. It was such a beneficial resource to have growing up so it seemed appropriate to give back and donate my time. There were many skills I came to the job with and many more that I was able to improve on and leave with.  The most important skill that I needed during my internship was “people” skills. I had to interact with many different types of people from all background and lifestyles. Before the people did anything else in the library they would interact with me - I was there first impression and I wanted it to be a good one.  I had to handle many people from children to elderly using friendliness as well as patience. Use of technology wasn’t really important but learning how to look up current Alameda events and giving directions from the desktop computer was also part of my job. After my first initial difficulties with the desktop computer everything was smooth sailing. Luckily I have lived in Alameda all my life so I would not have to difficult of a time giving directions but that was an initial concern of mine.  My duties consisted mostly of handling the libraries guests. I had to greet all patrons of the library, ensure silence was kept in the library, and guide guests around the library. I also had to help guests check out books if they were having trouble at the self-checkout. During the slow times, I had a book I would grab from the library shelves before work started to read during work and keep me entertained. Overall, I loved working at the library, learned a lot, and felt it was a great use of my time. The other library workers were also super nice and helpful and would answer any question I had and periodically check up on me throughout work. I learned a couple of important social skills during my internship but I also learned how to help others. These skills can transfer to any job and in fact I was already able to apply my improved social skills to my other job working as a coach at Head Over Heels gymnastics. One of the social skills I learned was courtesy. I constantly had to use polite language to talk frustrated people down as well as greet patrons in a way that would make their library experience a good one. At first it felt weird and even forced to say “hello”, “good evening”, and “how are you today” to the guests but I got used to it pretty quick and learned that it was just common courtesy. I also learned to be helpful as to not waste anyone's time. If I could not help them, I needed to figure that out quickly so they would not get upset and then refer them to the senior librarian who could help them. I had to help many new patrons and answer their questions even though I barely knew about the details myself. I had to be patient and informative to whoever that had questions so that they feel respected and valued. I am not very expressive or talkative person, so it was difficult at first to give the customer impression of welcoming and courtesy. But once I got used to it, I was able to be much more expressive and friendlier to the customers. I think this internship actually helped my social skill as it was something that I lacked. I learned that it is not that hard to start a conversation and give a positive impression when meeting someone for the first time. My initial expectation was that I expected myself to do the job pretty adequately. I did not think that I had the necessary skills to do the work well enough. But in the end, I believe that I actually done the job better than I expected myself to do. Once I started to get used it, I actually think that I did it as good as good as my colleagues. I definitely enjoyed the experience of working at the library for the first time and I would enjoy doing this during my free time.

 

 

 

Journal Entries

5/5 Today was my first day of my internship at the library. I am fairly nervous as I generally am with any new experiences. At the front desk many people from the island I already Knew have come by. I find this stressful due to the fact that at any moment I could run into someone I know at my work. Overall, nothing went wrong.

5/12 This is my second day and I have met many nice people that work there. This one retired woman works right before me and is so sweet and has helped me out with any questions I have had about the job.

5/19 My third time on the job was just as fun as the previous ones. Many people came by, some I knew, some I didn't and they were all very sweet.

5/26 I set up an alarm on my phone extra early so I could be on time and get a parking spot. So far I've never been late! Let’s keep it that way.

6/2 Someone asked for directions today. I didn’t know exactly how to get to the destination the needed. I was able to learn how to use the desktop computer and get them to where they needed to go. It’s a good thing the desktop was a PC and not a Mac. 

6/9 My boss is so nice. There was a creepy person trying to get my number so I gave my boss a look and he talked to the guy. Luckily the guy didn't give my boss a hard time and he left me alone after that. My boss was very sweet and checked up on me to make sure I was ok and then I got back to work.

6/16 Today the library was fairly loud. Many children were in the library for the summer reading program (which I also did growing up) and they were screaming and running around the library. Luckily I was used to dealing with misbehaving kids from my other job and was able to quiet them down. Kids will be kids but they must be quiet kids if they want to come to the library. The poor parents seemed so happy that they were quiet after I talked to them.  

6/23 Today nothing really out of the ordinary happened but I was early to work and the lady that works before me was chatting to me about her life was such a sweetie. She was filling out a cross word puzzle like she does every week. Though she is long retired she loves to work at the library to get out and do something similar to her old working life. It seems like a great plan and I will defiantly do that after I am retired too. Got to stay busy!

6/30 Today I grabbed one of the brand new books and read through almost half of it. It was so entertaining and definitely relaxes me. It has inspired me to read more starting by finishing this book on my own time. I love reading when I get around to it so I think the library is such a good thing for me. 

7/7 For the last day of work my parents are out of town camping. Because I needed my last 2 hours for my internship I stayed on the island until work ended and then drove up to meet them. This was the first time I ever stayed home completely alone but luckily they had left on the previous Sunday so it wasn't for very long and my neighbor was nice enough to check up on me. Work was fun and all but I'm glad it's over. Maybe I will replace my Tuesday library job with an extra day of work.