Renewals should be automatic if your shit arrives late

 Renewals should be automatic and unquestioned if your material arrives late to my library and vice versa.  It's neither library's fault the courier or USPS somehow delayed the delivery, and the patron should not suffer because of it.  Don't be a jerk and refuse to renew just because the item now has a hold back home.  The book does nobody any good in transit between libraries, either coming or going.  If you couldn't spare your copy and holds build up, you shouldn't have lent it in the first place.

I'm only asking for a renewal as a courtesy.  If you stiff me, screw you.  I have the book and you don't.  It's here now and by god it's gonna circulate one way or another, whether you like it or not.  If you invoice me, fine.  But my patron is going to get a normal circ out of the title you sent.  We don't pay overdue fines, only replacement costs.  If you don't like that, don't do business with us.  Answer my renewal requests promptly and don't waste my user's time.  If you dilly-dally, I'm taking matters into my own hands and circulating the material for a month no matter what you say.  If you come back belatedly and want to give MORE time than that, great, I'll take it.  But the material doesn't do anyone any good sitting on my desk over multiple days waiting on you to get around to answering my renewal request.

If we're both in the TAE courier system but I marked delivery method "postal" it's because there are also non-Texas or non-TAE Texas libraries also further down the lender string.  I leave it to your best judgement to use the courier or not.  Just seems obvious to me you'd use the courier, why would you bother calling to confirm?  Just pop it in a purple bag and get it out the door.  End of ILL rant.

Deprofessionalization STILL SUCKS

 So subsequent to and concurrent with my petition to have my position upgraded formally to that of Librarian I, I have since encountered job postings for Interlibrary Loan managerial type positions in two separate Academic Libraries, one in Texas, one out of state, and both positions list the educational requirement as Bachelor's Degree, and decidedly NOT an American Library Association accredited Master of Library Science (or Information Science, what have you).

This is very depressing because I feel like this kind of work requires a myriad set of skills that one does indeed sometimes pick up in Library School, especially cataloging courses and database design.  You can learn to ILL on the job, for sure, but Library School is an actual help here.

If you are in charge of an entire Document Delivery Unit or Interlibrary Loan staff then you should be a Librarian I.  Period.  It's clearly a managerial role if you have underlings, and regardless it is a very demanding and multifaceted job that deserves compensation on par with other Librarian professionals.

I deplore and lament the merciless march of deprofessionalization according to neoliberal economic logic that eats away at the heart of our profession like a corrosive acid.

We deserve fair pay not hyper-explotation.

Yeah, if I'm not getting extra help imma need some extra pay.

So had a open and honest discussion with my Support Services manager just before lunch today and she let it be known that it looks as though instead of filling the Clerk II position that I vacated to fill the Paraprofessional position I currently hold after my workplace partner abruptly quit instead of taking ordered medical leave and time off to retool and de-stress and come back ready to work would not be filled after all but eliminated.

Since I'm able to run all of ILL operations so efficiently by myself at present there's no need to hire a Clerk II that can even do ILL just part time to help me out.

Reminder that I have an ALA-accredited Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas (2004) and have work experience as a professional librarian, too.

I told my boss that as complex and multi-layered a job it is running ILL operations for the ENTIRE library system BY MYSELF, I should at least be promoted to Librarian I if no additional help is forthcoming, if I am to be denied a formal cross-trained back-up person as my assistant.  I would be a lot more flexible as a Salaried librarian than an hourly Paraprofessional.  I could stay past 5pm, I could come in on weekends, all kinds of stuff to get caught up than an hourly worker cannot.

I was fine being the Paraprofessional running everything in ILL as a temporary thing, with the promise of future help arriving sometime.  But no future help?  No, I'm gonna need another promotion to feel right about that.

Also, according to our library's Public Information Office, we had to make our email signatures uniform system wide.  And according to their own requirements, Interlibrary Loan Department is where I work.  And in a Library, a Department Head should be led by at least a Librarian I; it only stands to reason.
I don't think this is an unreasonable ask.

They will probably resist / deny, and not like I have any leverage on them, but I wanted to make the affirmative moral case that if they don't promote me, they're engaging in immoral exploitation.  I'm going above and beyond what a simple 8-5 library staffer should reasonably be expected to do.  I'm doing professional work.  I was and remain a superior searcher to my predecessor & former partner, who eventually just permanently switched primary functions with me.  I was originally the primary Lending person while my work partner was the Borrowing Paraprofessional.  As someone with an actual library education, I was far better skilled at Borrowing & Requesting and thus she pushed all of that work off onto me while taking on the less skilled Lending job full time.  My former work partner was good at understanding ILL from a top down systems level better than me, perhaps, but I was good at focusing on keeping current operations running at peak efficiency.  

Anyway, my work partner suddenly quit and much to her surprise no doubt the heavens did not fall and ILL kept on chugging away under my direction.  The irony is she felt like ILL should be its own department and SHE should run it, but as someone without an MLS, that was never in the cards for her.  The ultimate irony will be if ILL becomes its own thing but I'm the one in charge as the actual librarian.

I'm middle aged now and feel embarrassed to still be an hourly employee.  I would like to retire as an actual Librarian with Librarian in my job title, even if I only ever make Librarian I.