Will the information counters disappear from the Grande Bibliothèque (GB)? These small offices, on each floor, where a librarian is always ready to answer readers’ questions, have been put back into play. The Grande Bibliothèque is currently reflecting on the “renewal of the information and reference service. “Recoil? Progress ? Take a look at this user service.
“Everything is on the table, and the reflection continues to improve this service [d’information et de référence] so that there are even more interactions between users looking for information and the staff”, indicated to the Homework Claire-Hélène Lengellé, head of media relations at the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ), which manages the GB.
According to the information that The duty obtained, one of the scenarios envisaged is to eliminate the information counters. Clerks, recognizable by their jackets like road flaggers or employees of Renaud-Bray bookstores, navigate the floors to ask users if they need help.
Librarians, who currently man the information desks, would be relegated to offices, where they would remain available on call. “At all times, librarians will continue to be available on site,” says M.me Lengelled.
The questions asked at the Grande Bibliothèque, in figures
“We are actually studying the possibility of offering users the opportunity to make an appointment with a librarian. This new service offer is still being studied for the time being, but would not replace access to on-site librarians. »
“Changes to the layout could be made, but the plan has not been finalized and discussions are continuing. We will be inspired by experiences tried during the pandemic,” continues Ms.me Lengelled. “The actions will be deployed during 2023. In any case, these improvements would not affect the hours worked by staff already in place. »
This worries the union of BAnQ professionals a little. “During the pandemic, there were no more librarians at the counters. They were on call, in the offices. And during this time, BAnQ has stopped replacing absent librarians,” said Mathieu Mercier, labor relations and negotiation advisor at the Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnelles du gouvernement du Québec. Thus, the staff already in place kept their hours, but the number of available librarians was reduced.
Field librarians
“It is premature to predict a reduction in the number of librarians,” assures Mr. Mercier, who immediately points out that “there is now a good union-management relationship at BAnQ. It’s day and night. But there remains a concern about the quality of service of the new version.
The experience, continues Mr. Mercier, is not at all the same for a user if he finds himself immediately in front of the professional or if he has to ask for the latter to come and wait for him. And the librarians are the professionals of the recommendations and the suggestions, which do not fall within the tasks of the clerks.
It is premature to foresee a decrease in the number of librarians.
“Librarians must be more accessible, more visible, and not less so,” also believes Marie D. Martel, professor at the School of Library Science at the Université de Montréal.
“Let them be in ‘nomadic reference’ mode, she says (where the librarian travels to reach users); seated, but not behind equipment that looks like a wall; or behind a counter type arrangement where they are “sit-stand”, which gives the impression that they are more accessible and less likely to be disturbed. »
candle ends
“People’s little questions are often big opportunities for information or digital literacy,” says Ms.me Hammer. However, clerks are not trained for that. »
In addition, recalls for his part Mathieu Mercier, the librarian draws from his interrelationship with visitors the needs of these, which allows him to develop his collection in a more targeted manner on uses and desires. To be less in the field, for the librarian, is to be cut off from this knowledge.
“What is BAnQ’s vision of the production of counter librarians? This is the question that is currently at stake, sums up the trade unionist. For the answer, Mr. Mercier “turns to the Treasury Board and the government. Culture remains underfunded. This underfunding pushes BAnQ to look for penny-pinching solutions, which can reduce the quality of the service and the mandate. »
However, this Grande Bibliothèque was, when it was founded, and should, according to specialists in librarianship, be the flagship of all libraries in Quebec. Which is not the case. “BAnQ’s underfunding means that there is a really high turnover rate of specialized staff to municipal libraries,” where the salary conditions are better.