[Interviews] Library Staff & Community

Becoming acquainted with members of the library staff and library community is essential to my learning experience at Neutinamu. For the past three months, I had the opportunity to spend some time with staff and community members. It was then that I realized the true value of building and maintaining relationships with all the library living parts that make it whole. A living organism.

[Interview]

Reading and Sewing Club

|Jan 30, 2018

(from the left from right ~ Ms. Park, Ms. Lee, & Ms. Song)

I was delighted to meet the members of the Reading and Sewing Club. We asked each other questions that satisfied curiosity such as traveling abroad, learning a new language, and personal experiences. I learned how important the reading and sewing club is for the humble members of three that I met. Two of the members shared a deeper story of why they cherish the club, what it means to them, and how it is major component to their daily lives. Finished crafts range from decorations hung around the library or as gifts. The reading and sewing club started in 2015 as a "learn how to sew" club led by Ms. Song then developed into a reading while sewing activity. Members of the sewing love what they do. Materials for sewing are mostly donated. They feel connected to the craft of sewing and sharing the joys of sewing not as a project with a quota or deadline to produce sewed things rather, reading and sewing is a way to bond with the craft and share the moment with other members. In addition to sewing for pleasure, in 2016, the library was experiencing financial hardship, to help as much as they could, the reading and sewing club made a variety of crafts to sell and donated the profits to the library. Currently, they are reading the Korean translation of The Craftsmen by Richard Sennett. The book was recommended to them to read by a sociology professor in Korea. In the picture above, Ms. Lee is reading a picture book called:

잠자는할머니 (Jamjaneun Halmeoni/Sleeping Grandmother)

The book resonates deep in her personal life and wanted to share that part of her life with the group and me. <3

To my surprise, during closing of our getting to know each other, they presented to me these adorable ornaments! I didn't realize it at the time that during our conversation and eating traditional Korean snacks: sweet rice cake balls (경단/Gyeongdan) they were working on the ornaments the whole time. "니콜" is my name in Korean character. <3

After the interview, I truly felt the wonderful benefits to these types of activities in Neutinamu Library, a living cultural and social space for members of the community to come together and share the joys of reading and sewing.

[Interview]

Residing Writer ~ E. H. Yeo

|Jan 30, 2018

On this day, I had the pleasure of interviewing a Children's book author, E. H. Yeo. Ms. Yeo is a resident writer for Neutinamu Library. She contributes her time documenting social-cultural information behavior of patrons of the subway libraries. Since May of 2017, Ms. Yeo visits the subway stations libraries and writes about the people she meets. She could see the passion in her eyes as she shared with me some insight of the different things she encounters while observing the social, cultural, and information behavior of visitors of the subway station libraries.

The open space of the subway library station brings together a variety of people and for many different reasons. Based on her observations, the subway station library is not just a physical space but also becomes an experience within their daily lives. People come to gather, browse the collection, to check out a book, to read the book reviews or a sharing of thoughts that written on sticky notes, to meet a lover old and new, or a place to rest. Ms. Yeo also encounters individuals eager to have conversations with her about all things as well as to satisfy a curiosity of the what she is doing and why she is doing it. She has found that people who encounter the space experience a connection with themselves and other people; a spell bounding moment for the human experience.

[Interview]

Archivists ~ Jinsun, Damn, Eunjeong, & DaYoung

|Feb 9, 2018

Jinseo, the manager of archives, leads three interns: Damn, Eunjeong, and Da Young. Meeting with this lovely group gave a new perspective on archival work, in that there is no end to archiving. There is always something that can be archived. Though archiving is not my passion, I appreciate and respect what archivist do for society. The archivists mentioned they rely on the National Archives and Records Administration to help guide their archival work.

Because of Neutinamu archives, I was able to step back in time and read through several newsletters dating back to 2005. Within those pages, I was able to discover many things about Neutinamu's past such as previous library developments and programs; collection developments, guest lectures, author visits, volunteer activities, and facts & figures.

[Interview]

Librarian ~ 김차경 Cha Gyeong Kim

|Feb 13, 2018

On this day, I interviewed Ms. Kim, a warm-hearted and passionate librarian at Neutinamu. She received her LIS degree at Kangnam University and has worked at Neutinamu since 2016. Ms. Kim among other librarians are the first people I encounter when I open the doors into the library. At the information desk, situated directly in front of the entrance, I am always greeted with a welcoming smile and an "안녕하세요!" (an-nyeong-ha-se-yo/Hello!). Because of Ms. Kim's wonderful aura, children gravitate towards her sharing stories or making jokes, and it is truly a wonderful sight to see. Not only does Ms. Kim work the information desk, she also facilitates a weekly evening reading club.

Among the hustle and bustle of working the information desk, checking in and out books to eager readers, cataloging new material, updating the library social networking sites, providing reference and directional assistance, Ms. Kim has given her time to train me on different things such as cataloging and registering books into the LMS, book labeling, answering my burning questions about the ebb and flow of Neutinamu.

Two things struck a chord with me when talking with Ms. Kim. First, I realized that not only for her but as well as myself, is that the success of providing quality library reference work relies mostly on how the patron values the information.

Will the information given to the patron truly provide value?

Librarians don't have all the answers but do their damn best to refer the patron to relevant and reliable information that also opens a gateway to research discovery allowing the patron the freedom to decide what is valuable. Second, Ms. Kim explained that information behavior is constantly changing. I will never forget her sage advice, in that, maintaining relationships with patrons is essential because as life unfolds and moves in many directions so do their interests; thus information behavior.