2008 Woodie Awards
Librarians see their work as labor of love
Julianna Crisalli
Issue date: 12/5/03 Section: Features
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A quiet bustle of busy students generates the comfortable atmosphere surrounding the librarians at Bakersfield College.
The reference librarians at the top floor of the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library have years of experience helping students, the public and occasionally, even local lawyers.
Anna Agenjo, library director at BC, has worked at the school for 13 years. Her time serving students and overseeing daily activities is not the full scope of her library knowledge and experience. Agenjo spent 10 years as director to a law firm library in Washington, D.C., where she was in charge of paralegals and assisted in legal research. Today she is happy to be working in a bustling college environment.
"I've enjoyed working at BC," Agenjo said. "I came from a law library in Washington, D.C., where I worked with lawyers. So working here with students has been fun for me. There's less pressure here than the places I've worked before."
According to Agenjo, due to the budget cuts that hit BC this past year, there is less money for the books, magazines and journals that students use daily for research. They also lost two classified positions due to the cutbacks and are open about 12 hours less compared to previous semesters.
"We're just trying to provide more service with less money," said Agenjo.
Nancy Guidry, reference librarian, has spent several years in the setting of public libraries, but only joined the BC team three and a half years ago. She said the questions she encounters at the college are much different compared to the inquiries she received at public libraries.
"In the public library, you get all kinds of questions from all different kinds of people," said Guidry, "whereas, here we tend to get more curriculum-related questions. The nice thing about being here is that the students really appreciate the librarians who really help them. Whereas, when you're working with the general public a lot of the time, they're more demanding and they can be kind of rude. I find the students here, for the most part, very friendly and polite."
The reference librarians at the top floor of the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library have years of experience helping students, the public and occasionally, even local lawyers.
Anna Agenjo, library director at BC, has worked at the school for 13 years. Her time serving students and overseeing daily activities is not the full scope of her library knowledge and experience. Agenjo spent 10 years as director to a law firm library in Washington, D.C., where she was in charge of paralegals and assisted in legal research. Today she is happy to be working in a bustling college environment.
"I've enjoyed working at BC," Agenjo said. "I came from a law library in Washington, D.C., where I worked with lawyers. So working here with students has been fun for me. There's less pressure here than the places I've worked before."
According to Agenjo, due to the budget cuts that hit BC this past year, there is less money for the books, magazines and journals that students use daily for research. They also lost two classified positions due to the cutbacks and are open about 12 hours less compared to previous semesters.
"We're just trying to provide more service with less money," said Agenjo.
Nancy Guidry, reference librarian, has spent several years in the setting of public libraries, but only joined the BC team three and a half years ago. She said the questions she encounters at the college are much different compared to the inquiries she received at public libraries.
"In the public library, you get all kinds of questions from all different kinds of people," said Guidry, "whereas, here we tend to get more curriculum-related questions. The nice thing about being here is that the students really appreciate the librarians who really help them. Whereas, when you're working with the general public a lot of the time, they're more demanding and they can be kind of rude. I find the students here, for the most part, very friendly and polite."