Working at the Library

A Brief History Lesson

I’ve been working at SPL (Saskatoon Public Library) for a little more than 10 years, now. First as a Page for 3 months, then at Cliff Wright for 6 months and then 9 1/2 years in the Children’s Department at FMCL. There have been ups and downs as I took on too many responsibilities as Chief Shop Steward and then Vice President of our union (CUPE local 2669), but the work of the library has been overwhelmingly positive. If you know me even a little, it is obvious just how well suited I have been to working as a storyteller and entertainer of children.

Upheaval

Currently the library is undergoing a rather large shift from a traditional model of libraries that has existed for a very long time to the much newer concept of Community Lead. You can read all about the details on the change info page of SPL’s website. It is a very complicated process and if you don’t care enough to dive into the nitty gritty, the essence of community lead can be summed up with this paragraph taken from our website:

“Libraries operating under traditional service models serve some segments of the population better than others, namely those who are confidently able to engage in society well. For others who struggle with literacy, poverty, discrimination and social isolation, there are barriers to accessing library services. Through community consultation, these barriers can be identified and then removed.”

For me, the current result of this big change in the library system is that I had to apply for a new job within the library as my old one will no longer exist as of July 16th, 2018. Some of you are aware of this from talking to me or from seeing social media posts about it (when I was still on Facebook).

Change

To end any suspense, I have a new job—and yes, it was the one I wanted. The new job has two huge changes for me. The first is that I will no longer be based at FMCL (the downtown library). Instead I will split my time between J. S. Wood and Cliff Wright libraries. It is disappointing to leave all my friends downtown, but I have always dreamed that I could help change the way programming is done throughout the system and I think this will by my chance. The second change is that I will be able to focus all of my time on programming (previously, it was about 1/3 of how I spent my time).

There continues to be a lot of uncertainty in my days as the upcoming schedules are adjusted and new people are hired (we still need to fill 3-4 programming positions). It will certainly be a busy summer. Especially when you consider that Wendy will be starting her new job at the U of S in August and Anwyn will be leaving for Ryerson University at the end of August. Phew!