Backstage at the Newport Beach Central Library

Anyone who has ridden the elevator at the Central Library may have

wondered about what appears to be a door at the back of the cab.

Sometimes, when one thinks oneself alone with one’s thoughts, that

door opens and a book truck comes barreling in.

That back door to the elevator leads to the staff workroom. It is

here that the internal workings of the library take place.

The administrative offices are here, of course -- there is a

public entrance near the checkout desk. One may contact the library

director, the library services manager or any of the library

administrative staff. This would include children’s, adult reference,

branch services, technical support, collection development and

circulation services.

The offices of the director of the Newport Beach Library

Foundation and the cultural arts coordinator for the city are also

located here.

But beyond these vital administrative offices is the part of

library operations the general public does not see. Everyone who

works on the public desks as a clerk, a reference librarian, a

library assistant or a children’s librarian also works on many other

tasks essential to providing materials and seeing that everything

runs smoothly in the public part of the building.

Some of the work is selecting the materials to be purchased. Such

decisions are based on quality reviews as well as public needs,

collection guidelines and budget.

Periodicals -- magazines and newspapers -- are processed here. If

these are loose-leaf updates, they must be filed correctly in the

binder and the out-of-date material removed. These would include

everything from investment surveys to law books to the city manager’s

newsletter.

Some of the other tasks that happen here are publicity and

marketing, staff training, program planning, assembly of children’s

crafts and story times, mending and weeding (removing damaged or

out-of-date material), book displays, homebound services,

interlibrary book loan requests and even the writing of this column

for the Daily Pilot.

In addition, there are several people in the staff workroom the

public rarely sees. These are the computer services people, the

acquisitions staff and cataloging services. Every book, DVD or CD

must be ordered and received as it would in a bookstore. Unlike in a

bookstore, it must be checked to see that it is correctly cataloged.

Mistakes must be corrected or original cataloging must be done for

unique, local items or gift items. Most items now arrive processed,

but the tasks of covering books and labeling items are still done in

large part by the staff.

And, yes, libraries still catalog books by the Dewey decimal

system -- that is, give them numbers that designate their subjects.

This way all the books that are alike are shelved together for the

browsing public.

We could put all the red books together and all the blue books

together, but then you’d have a cookbook next to an art book next to

a baseball book next to a business book. You might be able to find a

specific book on low-fat cooking or business plans, but you would not

see all the other books the library has on the same subject.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Sara Barnicle. All titles may be

reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at

o7www.newportbeachlibrary.orgf7. For more information on the

Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the Newport

Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.