Peter Verheyen does not fit the image of a stereotypical librarian. Besides the fact that he is not an old, bespectacled, gray-haired lady, Verheyen wears a full-length lab coat to work, considers razor-sharp knives to be common tools of the trade and on some days does not even pick up a book.

As head of E.S. Bird Library’s department of preservation and conservation at Syracuse University, Verheyen is to books what doctors are to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. He and his team of preservationists are the frontline of care to library materials in need of an emergency repair and fixing.

‘Preservation is an essential part of making sure collections continue to be used,’ Verheyen said. ‘It’s not just people sitting in front of a computer.’

But few SU students are aware of the impromptu surgery that some librarians perform in the basement of Bird Library. ‘A librarian is homely, old, wears sweaters and comfy shoes, and sits behind a desk,’ said Jeannie Grecco, a junior biology major.

The college-age perception of librarians is generally the same tired cliché.

Several other students sitting on the first floor of Bird Library admitted that they had never actually interacted with a university librarian. ‘They’re helpful, but you have to seek them out,’ said sophomore nutrition major Lindsey Adams.

‘Students don’t analyze the role of librarians,’ said access services librarian Robert Capuano. ‘They just want help.’

On a typical day, Capuano can be found behind the first-floor circulation desk managing the steady in-and-out flow of collections, addressing access or lost item issues, and helping students locate different departments.

In contrast to the role of many of his co-workers, Capuano’s public post requires him to interact with students on a regular basis.

‘My desk serves as an invitation to students to ask for help,’ he said.

Still, it is the behind-the-scenes operations that ensure floor staff like Capuano can provide students with a product — in this case, library resources like books, manuscripts, maps, prints, photographs and video.

Most of what students don’t see takes place on the fifth floor of Bird Library in the acquisitions and cataloging department — a busy, stockroom-sized space discreetly hidden behind an innocent-looking wooden door labeled ‘Library Staff Only’ in small letters.

Here is the main port for all library materials being received. Collections generally start out in boxes and are then sorted, catalogued (put into the computer and marked with a bar code) and finally sent to end processing, where they are prepared for public access.

Despite involving many steps, the entire procedure usually takes a little more than one day.
 

‘We are kind of like little worker bees,’ said Marianne Hanley, a supervising librarian who splits her time between the cataloguing and preservation departments.

Hanley isn’t kidding about the hustle and bustle that takes place inside the library’s central operating station. On any given day, visitors to the department can expect to see the station buzzing with activity, with librarians speedily moving from one end of the room to the other. Pushing carts piled high with books, they weave in and out of rows of metal bookshelves filled to the max with stacks of paper and abandoned cardboard delivery boxes.

Even though the changing influence of technology has made repairs and organization more efficient, it has done little to slow down the pace of the library workers.
‘I’d say it’s made our jobs easier, Capuano said as he simultaneously swiped books in and out of their shelves, looked into the whereabouts of a student’s missing laptop charger and directed a young lady to a photo scanner. ‘But there’s also more to do.’

dlspecto@syr.edu 

 

Published on March 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm