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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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Working for a Vendor: a Lesser-Known Way to
Enter the Business by Karin Kugel |
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My title is Customer Service Bibliographer, but I
like to think of myself as a detective. I don’t think you can work in a
customer service-related field if you aren’t able to approach
incongruities and anomalies as puzzles rather than problems. While my
line of work is not the sort where a life is on the line, we deal with
panicked acquisitions librarians who, hard as it may be to believe, are
not always the most rational people after a long day of having selectors
breathing down their necks. Often you’ll hear an incredulous cry from a
nearby cubicle, “It’s a book! Only a book!” as a bibliographer reacts to
an anxiety-ridden email about the last pre-pub offer from Oxford. We
have a saying at YBP that consoles us in time of crisis: “There is no
such thing as bibliographic emergency.” I cannot speak for all vendors, having only limited experience, so I won’t try. My experience at YBP Library Services has been an education and an initiation into the world of library science. I have had the unique opportunity to work directly with librarians all over the country, and my work has been varied, challenging and inspiring. My job has allowed me to contribute creatively to new product development and even write for our online magazine. In my position, it has been possible to leave my work at the office at the end of the day, though the politics and the gossip occasionally come home. One of most exciting benefits of my job has been the hefty discount on books, music and DVDs (which I certainly have abused). I came to YBP fresh out of college, having just reached the unfortunate conclusion that while playwriting had been a fabulous major in school, there were few, if any, job openings for playwrights, and certainly none that offered health insurance. Somehow I’d missed that part of freshmen orientation. I had never considered being a librarian, but my student loans were knocking at my door and my parents’ health insurance company had begun sending me scary letters about COBRA. I scanned the newspaper looking for something that didn’t involve a uniform and fast food, and the next thing I knew I was drafting a cover letter to YBP. “Sure, I know all about libraries,” I told them. After all, I had worked in NYU’s Bobst Library Circulation as a work study student. Furthermore, being an avid reader, I had used libraries my entire life. I loved libraries. I loved books. It was a paycheck. It seemed like a perfect match. It was a good match for me, but it was not until much later that I realized how good. I came to YBP not knowing that book vendors existed, much less what they did, but after my first year of learning, stumbling and growing, I had found my niche. I found myself able to express my opinion, make changes and actually be heard. There were days that I was excited about my job, and just like any job, there were days when five o’clock would never come. My experience at YBP has inspired me to pursue my MLIS. As I write this article, I am about to leave my position to attend the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences. My colleagues have been very supportive, and while I know I have a place here should I want to return, I also feel that the knowledge I’ve gained would make me an asset to any academic library acquisitions department should I choose to go that route. I now know most of the jobs in acquisitions inside and out. Having that sense of the big picture and having worked with everyone from directors to student assistants are things I would not have had the opportunity to do had I worked in a single library. Working in one library at a specific job would have taught me one way of doing things. Working with over 60 libraries, each with different budgets, workflows, and collection needs, has prepared me for almost anything. My Job One of the major pieces of my job is working with approval plans. YBP’s approval plans are essentially a set of computer rules or descriptors that define a library’s collection parameters. For instance, a rule may be: “Give me every book about dogs, except I don’t want books about beagles or anything with a legal aspect. If it’s a book about dogs in a country other than the US just send me a notification slip because we are more selective about those.” Every book that YBP handles on approval is “profiled” or described in a database by a person who is holding the book in his or her hand. Because the book is in front of him, the profiler can follow very specific instructions and also make judgment calls as to the quality of the book and which audience would find it most useful. For instance, one of our customers has a very specific interest in all publications with any relation to gambling. By actually perusing the book, the profiler can determine if the book has any mention of gambling, even if it is only a small piece that might not get mentioned in a publisher’s blurb. This can be a very interesting job if you love books and enjoy solitary work. In my job, I handle customers in four states. Because I deal with the same libraries over and over, I am able to form relationships with them and also anticipate their needs. I enjoy that our territories are assigned geographically because it allows an interesting mix of libraries. I work with law schools and universities, community colleges and art museums, seminaries and liberal arts colleges. I also work with libraries with big budgets and large staffs at the same time that I am working with small one-person libraries. A Typical Day On a daily basis, the first thing I do when I come to work is check is my email. Various messages infiltrate my inbox, and every day is different, but on a typical day, I may have the following emails and reminders:
Once I’ve checked my email and phone messages, it’s up to me to determine how and when I want to deal with it all. My phone will keep ringing and my email will keep coming in throughout the day, but that’s what makes my job interesting. Advantages What I enjoy most about my job is communicating with the same group of clients and developing relationships with them. I’m a social person, and I wouldn’t be happy in a call center environment. I also enjoy my coworkers. People who are drawn to work with books are often a little bit quirky, but they’re also an intelligent, interesting crowd. I really enjoy being involved in new development initiatives and working on a project from the ground up. Some people can’t stand meetings, but I thrive on the collaboration and creative thinking a meeting requires. Disadvantages Working for a vendor has its downfalls. After all, if I loved my job completely, I wouldn’t be leaving. One of the things that drives me the craziest is the number of levels of management. Trying to get something changed for the better can be really frustrating as I must go through my team leader and then through my manager and then through the vice president of operations at which points the sales department might get involved… you get the picture. This applies to both little and big things, and sometimes bad decisions and policies are made as a result. Another thing that grates on me is office politics, and they are alive and thriving at my company (as they are at most). Navigating these waters can be treacherous, but I’ve found things will go smoothly enough if you are considerate and cautious. Working as the customer’s advocate means I’m often the bearer of bad news, and no one likes the person who always finds the problems and mistakes. This works both ways. I’m also the person who has to say no to a customer when we can’t fix something. If you’re not someone who can be really diplomatic and charming, or if you’re really sensitive, customer service may not be the position for you. My job requires a lot of patience, especially when I am training customers on our online database. It’s hard enough to teach computer-phobic people how to use a program in person, but it’s really tricky to do it over the phone. I’ve had wonderful customers who make smile every time I hear their voice on the phone, and I’ve had customers demand the impossible. In general, librarians are good people to work with, but everyone has their bad days. As a customer myself I’ve certainly taken my frustration out on customer service people before. That’s part of the job. For the most part, I’ve found the people I work with to be interesting, understanding and very polite. I do miss working with patrons. There is something very satisfying about helping someone locate information that they are really intrigued by. It is easier to lose sight of who the books are actually for and what they contain when I spend so much time dealing with them as physical objects. Conclusion To be the best librarian, a person must know a little about a lot of things. Working for a book vendor can round out a librarian’s prior work experience and give insight into acquisitions processes. Vendors have larger budgets to invest in new initiatives and in employees than many libraries do. Working for a vendor can be a valuable learning experience for a librarian who is looking for something different or for a new librarian who wants to break into the field. Karin Kugel worked at YBP Library Services for two and half years before leaving this past August to attend the School Library Certification Program full time. This is part of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh where she was offered a graduate assistantship. In addition to full-time study, Karin has the amazing opportunity to be working as an intern with St. Vincent College and Family Communications, Inc. helping to prepare and index Fred Rogers’ archives for the Fred M. Rogers Center. She currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and rambunctious dog, Hadley. Article published Nov 2005 Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors.
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Page last updated
11/12/2005
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