You may find yourself holding a camera worth more than your paycheck with no idea how to use it

The Story:  It has been decided that the library needs a new camera, mainly for event documentation.  The one currently in use is owned by the children's department, as they take the most event photos (because let's face it--kids' programs take way more fun pictures than grown-up ones...there are only so many angles of person-talking-in-front-of-powerpoint to be shot).  However, it is the reference department that decides not only to get a camera, but which one to get, without any input from the library staff who actually use the current camera, an 8-year-old point-and-shoot that while simple to operate, has seen better days.
So, what you're left with is an expensive mystery that should be able to take the perfect shot every time, but somehow manages to fall short.  The shots are blurry, the camera takes forever to snap a picture and you've already missed about twelve shots while you're trying to get the right focus on the first one, plus what you see on the screen/through the viewfinder differ greatly from what gets uploaded to the computer.  There is a whole bunch of extra ceiling and floor space that doesn't show up on the screen or in the viewfinder, making all your pictures unnecessarily far away.  Sure, you can crop it, but who wants to sit there and do that for a hundred pictures that you're just going to dump on facebook for all the kids' parents to tag each other in the comments section of instead of hitting the share button?  Sorry, got a little off-topic there.
Not only that, but the pictures are much higher resolution than the ones your old camera used to take, which means they take up a whole lot more space on the memory card.  You'll have to buy a bigger one or else delete photos after every transfer so as not to slow down already pokey picture-taking to a crawl.  This wouldn't be a big deal if you sorted and uploaded your pictures in a timely manner, but since nobody else on your staff is presently comfortable with sorting pictures and uploading them online, this step of program documentation generally takes a backseat.
Having a staff that isn't necessarily 100% comfortable trying new technology can be a problem when something like this drops in your lap.  It can mean that they default to using the old camera, not knowing that the memory card is in the new one, and they don't notice the glaring error message popping up on the screen every time they press the shutter button telling them that the picture isn't actually being saved.  Or, it can mean that they don't like covering programs any more because they feel stressed and intimidated by the new camera.  You can solve this by having your staff practice taking pictures of displays in the library with the new camera, things that are not going anywhere, so there's nothing to "mess up".  It helps if you discover the automatic mode where it senses what kind of picture you're trying to take first, and if you discover the on-off toggle for auto-focus, and the toggle for stabilizers, and point these things out to your staff.  There is also a button to turn the screen on and off, and toggling it one way or another seems to help a little with the extra space problem, and also warn those using it to zoom in more than they think they need to, because there will be extra space on the borders regardless.


The Lesson:  If you're buying a camera or other equipment that is an upgrade and will be used by the whole library, maybe consult each department about what their plans for it are, what concerns they have, etc.  Communication here is key.  There's no reason to surprise a department with new technology.  Surprises are not always a good thing, and that department may not have the skills nor time to really develop them to actually make that surprise "upgrade" worthwhile.

The Resources:  Honestly, the user manuals, how-to camera books, online tutorials, etc., all got really damn technical.  I didn't have the time to take a whole photography class just to learn how to make the expensive new toy take a decent picture.  In an active program, which most children's programs are, I just need to point, shoot, repeat, in rapid succession.  I'm sure this camera could do that, but I didn't know how to make it.  Learning about the auto-focus and smart-shooting mode helped, but not enough.  We did have a professional photographer who said they'd come in and show us how to use the camera properly, but it wound up not being an issue.  See the aside for that story.

An Aside:  About six months after we got this camera, maybe a little more, it got stolen.  Someone from reference used it to take pictures of a program and forgot to lock it up after, leaving it sitting out on the desk.  While all librarians were distracted with helping patrons, somebody swiped it.  By this point, we had a new memory card in it so we could at least go back to the old camera with the old card for a while.  The higher-ups were so mad about the loss of camera that it looked like we'd be stuck with the 8-year-old model until it was old enough to drive.  Eventually, though, they were persuaded to replace the expensive mishap with a less-expensive, but still high-quality camera that had fewer bells and whistles.  Thankfully, this one was easier to operate, and now staff were very careful about putting it away after use.  The technophobic members of the staff were a bit more comfortable with it, and now that's the only one we use if we can help it.

You may find yourself using some strange tools

The Story:  As a librarian, you have many intellectual tools in your toolbox:  querying databases, the art of the reference interview, organizing meta-data.  However, you may be unaware of the actual physical tools you will sometimes require to do your job effectively:  hammer and nails, box cutter, canned air, various industrial-strength glues, an assortment of screwdrivers, allan wrenches, pliers, scissors, and, yes, a toothbrush.  Things break in the library, and you will be called upon to know, or learn quickly, how to fix them.  This is especially true of new technology, or slightly less-new technology for which you may not have free or in-house tech support or replacement options.  If you want to do innovative crafts, you'll have to get your hands on some innovative tools, and not be afraid to use them.  All of the tools pictured above are things I have actually used in my workday to fix toys, prepare after-school maker/craft activities, and trouble-shoot new technology (a.k.a - the 3D printer is clogged again).

The Lesson:  Always be willing to learn, try, and fail before you succeed at fixing something physical.  Also, never underestimate the power of google.  There are so many how-tos and fix-it/DIY websites and forums out there, that you can learn to fix, replace, or take apart just about anything.  Don't be afraid to look beyond the manufacturer's website for help if your problem doesn't come up in their FAQ.  Also, if something is broken enough that you have been called upon to fix it, it's likely that you can't break it much worse if you're actually following some kind of directions rather than just tinkering and hoping for the best.  And once you do actually manage to fix the darn thing, it can be kind of fun and empowering, knowing that you were able to do this thing yourself.

The Resources:  Youtube, Instructables, WikiHow, Lifehacker, and iFixit (one of my personal favorites).  There are a ton more out there, too, devoted to any specific problems you might have.

You may wind up playing the role of tech support for your boss

The Story:  There isn't really just one story here, so I'm going to share a few of them.  Now, I'm not saying that everyone has to be an expert at all technology all the time.  I'm not even saying that everyone has to know all the basics, because even those change just often enough to be confusing (thanks, Windows 8 & 10).  However, it is still kind of funny when the person signing your time sheet calls you into their office, and you're starting to do that what-could-I-possibly-be-in-trouble-for thought process, and they ask you for help with their computer.  Relief washes over you, but just temporarily, because you have no idea what they're going to ask you and if you'll actually be able to answer it.  So, you just buck up and do your best, and if you can't answer it offhand, you mess around with the program until you do, or else you google it.  It can be tough to keep your cool when your supervisor is looking over your shoulder, expecting you to be a computer wiz and you don't really know what you're doing, but you don't really have a choice -- fake it 'til you make it.  Here are some questions we've answered for our various bosses over the years:

• How do I print the attachment to this email?  It's asking me to sign in, but I thought I already was.
• Here are the answers to my security questions and my iPad.  Can you sit at my email and reset my password for this app?
• (To an actual technical support agent on the phone)  I don't understand what it is you're telling me to do, so hold on.  I'm going to get one of my more technical employees to talk to you.
• How do I share this? (on facebook)
• Do we get YouTube here? (as if it's a premium channel or something)
• I want these in alphabetical order but I don't want to type them all again.  (in Excel)
• How do people still get on our website when the power is out?
• What's a hashtag?
• Okay, this is already getting too technical.  Just tell me if we can do it and how much time it will take.  I don't need to understand the problem; I just need to know if there's a solution.
• I'm trying to save this attachment on my phone, but I can't find the folder to put it in.
• This picture is way too small.  Can you blow it up or do I have to call them and tell them to send me a bigger one?  (when looking at a thumbnail at the bottom of an email)
• What is even the point of twitter?
• Why won't this print?
• The internet is broken.

The Lesson:  While we all respect our bosses and generally presume they know more about most things than we do, it's nice to be reminded sometimes that everyone's human, and that nobody can possibly know everything.  The best thing to do in this case is to not act like it's weird, even if you feel weird giving technical advice to your superior, and if possible, explain the problem so that they can understand it themselves next time. Just be prepared to be unprepared to answer questions in the future.

The Resources:  Google.  Long gone are the days when librarians think google is the devil (despite some of their more questionable monitoring practices and algorithms).  Sure, it's not the answer for everything, but for easy reference questions and technological advice, any internet search engine (Even Bing and Yahoo) is going to probably get you a short answer to an acute problem.  For learning whole subjects, I think books are still the way to go, but web searches have saved my butt on a number of occasions.

You may experience a terrible Xbox fail

The Story:  There you are, setting up for a brand new video game program where you are debuting the library's new Xbox One. You're excited. You think this is going to be awesome. The teens are going to think this is the coolest thing ever. You plug in the Xbox and hook everything up to the projector and sound system. You turn on the Xbox and then you see it:

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

Why. Why does a brand new Xbox need to update itself? Why is this taking so long? What is life? These are the things you start asking yourself in that pre-program crisis mode. The update ended up taking up a lot of the program time. When everything was finally all set and updated, I put in Fallout 4 just to have none of the teens want to play because it's a single player game. They are shutting off each others controllers. They are calling each other names. They aren't having fun, you aren't having fun, and you feel like the whole thing is a disaster. You think about throwing the Xbox out the window, but decide against it because a. you want to keep your job and b. your library spent good money on that Xbox and you want to keep your job.

One of my ex-supervisors would always tell me "This is a library. It's not brain surgery. No one is going to die if something goes wrong". It is days like these when I have to remind myself of that.

The Lesson: If you purchase any sort of game system for your library and are planning to do a program, make sure any updates that might occur are already taken care of before the program...even if you had already turned it on and done a trial run of the setup a few days beforehand. Choose a multi-player game even if it's not one of the latest and greatest titles. I was under the impression that the teens would want to see one of the newer games and watch each other play as I've witnessed a lot of my own friends do but that's not what these teens wanted at all. They probably wanted to play each other in some violent game where they can kill each other and laugh at each others failures. You know, the way friends do. :)

Resources: Xbox's support website is useful in troubleshooting issues.