Valuing the Information Professional Whenever a person has a yearly evaluation at their workplace or when they are at a job

interview, two of the most common questions that come up are what kin of salary are you looking for in a job an what can! o you bring to this organi"ation#$ %Wang, &''()* +hese questions are esigne to see what you as an employee feel what you are worth to the organi"ation an in essence, are you worth the salary that you are being pai * ,et while the

question may be easy enough to ask, the answer is incre ibly ifficult, mostly ue to the fact that you have to attach a number to yourself an the work you o, but that number may not be the same as what the person asking you the question thinks* While the interviewer may be wanting a har number to represent your value, it is not as simple as just spitting out a number, there is so much more in etermining one-s value* +hings like what an employee brings into the organi"ation, or in the case of a library, the number of patrons brought in by a program run by an employee or the number of books circulate ue to

a s run in the paper or a preschool storytime* With that in min , the information professional that I have eci e to figure out the value for is the .hil ren-s /ibrarian for the /o i Public /ibrary* /o i, .alifornia, is locate in the heart of the 0an 1oaquin Valley between 0tockton an 2alt* With a population of 34,144, the town has evolve from being just a farming community that speciali"e in wine grapes to a growing suburban city* +he original /o i Public /ibrary was originally a .arnegie /ibrary that was foun e in 1(1' an was the town-s library up to 1(5( when the current buil ing was opene * 0ince that time, the library has grown e6ponentially to having a collection of over &'',''' items an an average of 1,''' visitors a ay* 7ne of the main raws of the library is it-s large chil ren section that houses over 48,'''

Valuing the Information Professional chil ren-s books ranging from picture books to chapter books an nonfiction titles* 9long with the books are four public computers that ki s can use to o school work or play e ucational computer games an two reference computers that are solely for homework* In or er to figure out the value for a position like this, I have to start off by fin ing out what the city of /o i has state that it pays its librarians* 9ccor ing to the city-s website, the

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starting salary for a level two librarian is :&3*'5 per hour which equals out to :8;,&1<*13 a year* +his salary is part of a la er system where it has the chance to rise each year after an annual review with the final step being :41*3< per hour an :38,('&*;; per year* 9long with the pai salary, this position also has a si"able benefits package for librarians* +his package inclu es, but is not limite to, up to twenty ays of annual vacation with the ability to carry over unuse ays,

twelve ays of sick leave, an thirteen fi6e holi ays* +hen there is the variety of health benefits, e ucational allowance for fiel relate stu y, life insurance, an %/ibrarian II,$ &'1&)* 9ll of these benefits, along with the top tier salary, bring up a total starting output of aroun :1'','''* ,et the salary an benefits are not the only thing that have to be looke at when consi ering when it comes to figuring out the output towar s an information professional, the book an event bu get will be inclu e into the output value from the organi"ation* In &'11= 1&, the book bu get for the chil ren-s collection was aroun :1&,8'' plus an :<,''' grant from 2eneral >ills %1* +in er, personal communication, 7ctober (, &'1&)* +his bu get goes into everything that the .hil ren-s /ibrarian oes in or er to bring in more people to the library* isability, an retirement

Valuing the Information Professional 0o with the output lai out for a top level librarian for the city of /o i, it is now time to

figure out what the .hil ren /ibrarian puts back into the organi"ation* 7ne of the most important aspects of a chil ren librarian?s role is events for chil ren, namely storytimes an summer rea ing clubs* With these events, the /o i Public /ibrary is able to gain an a itional 1''=18' patrons each week for storytimes* With those patrons, many are coming in not just to go to storytime, but to also return loane books an check out new ones* 9ccor ing to statistics gathere by current /o i .hil ren /ibrarian, 1im +in er, between both preschool an to storytime there are an average of 14< patrons coming to the library each week %personal communication, 7ctober (, &'1&)* @ow while the storytime is a constant bump in service numbers, other events like summer rea ing clubs an one=off events a a huge bump in the amount of customers that the library has ler

come in* +hroughout the year, the library will have ifferent special events that take place in accor ance to the holi ays, the start or en ing of the summer rea ing club, an even the start of the school year* +hese special events can involve everything from having performers like clowns an magicians to theater groups coming in to entertain the ki s an their parents* 9long with events, there are occasional craft events for holi ays like Valentine?s Aay, >other?s Aay, an many more* +he crafts woul be anything from making car s for the various holi ays as well as ifferent rawings for holi ays or making han puppets* +hese events help the library bring in an e6tra 5; people per event on average, most of whom borrow more books, pay off more fines, an get new or replacement library car s*

Valuing the Information Professional +he library even hosts multiple elementary school class visits in or er to familiari"e chil ren with their local library* +he ki s get to watch a full storytime, are then given a tour of

the library, an then receive a new library car before they leave, giving them a reason to want to keep coming back* @ow while there may not seem to be a instant monetary value to these events, the statistics from the /o i /ibrary show that the circulation esk gives out aroun four replacement library car s each week uring the storytime hour which at three ollars per replacement, equals out to aroun :3&; per year* 9 to that the fines which get pai before an

after storytime, an average of :4' per week, you have an a itional :183' coming into the library %1* +in er, personal communication, 7ctober (, &'1&)* 9ll of these events en up helping the library in the long run monetarily, yet that is not the only way they help the library an the value of its employees* 9ccor ing to the article title >o el Behavior$ by Cenea 9rnol an @ell .olburn %&''(), storytime is not only beneficial to ki s, but also their parents* >o eling, as it is referre to in the article, is helpful to parents in that it emonstrates a way of oing a task that they may not un erstan fully if they were just tol how to o it* 9s state in the article, about five percent of a ults retain important information if they are tol how to o something, but thirty percent retain important information if it is emonstrate to them %9rnol D .olburn, &''()* +his becomes helpful to parents an chil care provi ers who frequent the /o i /ibrary an its storytime as many are looking for new ways to get their ki s involve with rea ing* If a parent learns more about getting involve with their chil ren learning to rea , then that in turn increases their ki s esire to rea an use the library* 9s having one some storytimes myself I can say from personal e6perience that I have

Valuing the Information Professional

ha parents come up to me afterwor s an ask me about the books I rea or the techniques that I use to tell certain stories* >any times a parent will ask if they are able to check out the same books that I ha use for storytime so that they coul rea it to their chil ren before they take a nap or go to be , especially if the ki s really got into a certain story* It is then that I reali"e how much I have affecte some of the patrons that frequent the /o i /ibrary, it becomes more apparent to me that it oes matter to them an their chil ren in concern to how they are rea to an the access that they have to the library* Even though storytimes an special events featuring a wi e variety of events usually get the most iscussion within the /o i /ibrary, where the .hil ren-s /ibrarian really shines is the annual summer rea ing club* +he way that it works at my library is ki s are given a blank activity sheet an stickers* +hey are instructe to rea as much as they want an for every fifteen minutes of rea ing, they put a sticker on the activity sheet* For every three hours of rea ing, the ki s receive a pri"e with the gran pri"e being given out after twelve hours* From the statistics that I receive from >r* +in er, the /o i /ibrary-s rea ing club sign ups have increase every year since &''(, though there was a slight ecrease from &''< to &''( ue to the /o i /ibrary being in a new, temporary location while the main buil ing was being renovate * ,et while last years number of sign ups reache over eight hun re ki s un er thirteen, the most important number for the whole event is how many complete all twelve hours* When comparing the numbers with other libraries in 0an 1oaquin county, the library has beaten their completion recor by at almost ten percent* /ast year-s completion number out of <44 sign ups was &45, almost thirty percent, where as other libraries ha completion rates aroun

Valuing the Information Professional nineteen an twenty percent* +hat kin of completion rate en s up helping the library more than many think as it shows that both the parents an their chil ren are willing to visit the library an use its services* While they may be rawn in by having something for their ki s to o in the summer or by

winning a pri"e for rea ing, they continue to come back long after the rea ing club is over* 9fter seeing what the library has to offer, many continue to use their car s to check out more books an their parents are more than willing to take them to the library an get them out of the house* +he success of the rea ing club can have a lot of thanks given to the parents as well as the .hil ren-s /ibrarian* 9s state in the article >i6 It GpH 3 Ways to Cethink +ire 0ummer Cea ing Programs$ by Barbara, Barstow, .erney, Iinney, /ee, >arkey, an Pottle %1((5), parents who became notifie of events an activities going on at the library were more likely to get their ki s involve with those activities* +he /o i /ibrary is no ifferent in trying to get ki s involve through their parents* Parents are notifie of the rea ing club almost a month before sign ups start as a way to buil the ki s- interest while at the same time letting the parents know of what is happening at the library an that their ki s may want to participate* 9n the benefits of a goo summer program aren-t just for the library, but the ki s who participate benefit as well* 9ccor ing to an article written by .arole Fiore an 0usan Coman %&'1'), ki s who regularly participate in the summer rea ing club have improve rea ing skills an retain more information in school, accor ing to the results of a three year stu y* 0o while many have trie to argue that summer rea ing clubs only benefit libraries an parents by keeping ki s busy in the library uring summer, it has more of an impact on the participants- lives than

Valuing the Information Professional previously thought* 0o when a person asks how much is the .hil ren-s /ibrarian for the /o i Public /ibrary worth, I can say with relative ease that they are worth every penny of the :1'',''' salary!benefits package* With the amount of patrons that come into the library on a aily basis, many of whom are chil ren, the .hil ren-s /ibrarian plays an integral part to a chil -s rea ing evelopment an ability to learn in school* From storytime to special guests to the summer rea ing club, all of these activities are esigne to keep people intereste in coming to the library* 9n while the book bu get may have been cut rastically in the past few years, own

almost to a thir of what it was three years ago, >r* +in er has been able to stretch that bu get as far as he can in or er to benefit the ki s who frequent the library* 0o if someone thinks that :1'',''' is too much for a .hil ren-s /ibrarian in a small suburban library, just reali"e that there is more to the job than just fin ing the right books for the collection* It-s about making sure that the patrons remain happy with what they are getting from the library an that they take away more from their e6periences than just a book to rea * Whether it is improve rea ing skills, better gra es in school, or even a han ma e >other-s ay car , the ki s an parents gain the e6perience from visiting the ki -s section of the /o i Public /ibrary* 0o if after seeing the evi ence of how beneficial this .hil ren-s /ibrarian or any .hil ren-s /ibrarian in general is to the growth of chil ren you still won er if a librarian is worth a :1'',''' in pai salary an benefits, just reali"e that money is cheap in comparison to what they give back to the community at large*

Valuing the Information Professional Ceferences 9rnol , C*, D .olburn, @* %1uly &''()* >o el behavior* School Library Journal, 55, 1;* Barstow, B*, .erney, C*, Iinney, >*0*, /ee, >*, >arkey, P*0*, D Pottle, .* %@ovember 1((5)* >i6 it upH 3 ways to rethink tire summer rea ing programs* School Library Journal, 43, 4'* Fiore, .,* D Coman, 0* %@ovember 1', &'1')0ummer rea ing programs boost stu ent achievement, stu y says* Cetrieve 7ctober (, &'1&, from httpJ!!www*schoollibraryjournal*com!slj!home!<<54'3== 41&!proofKpositiveKaKnewKstu y*html*csp* /ibrarian II* %&'1&)* Cetrieve 7ctober (, &'1&, from httpJ!!agency*governmentjobs*com!lo i! efault*cfm# actionLviewclassspecDclass0pecIAL8&8<1DagencyL113;Dview7nlyLyes Wang, 1* %&''(, @ovember 1()* Mow to answer the 1' most common interview questions*

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Cetrieve 7ctober <, &'1&, from httpJ!!www*bargaineering*com!articles!how=to=answer= the=1'=most=common=interview=questions*html**