Invasion of Privacy: Student employee at Milne
Photo courtesy of Faith Zatlukal
For this week's Invasion of Privacy, The Lamron interviewed Sophomore Mika Slotnick, an employee at the Milne library. This past April marked the grand opening of the newly renovated and revamped space, and I interviewed Mika not only about the amenities the library offers, but also about her experience working for SUNY Geneseo.
I started by asking Mika how many students she helps on a daily basis and what times and days of the week the library is busiest. I am sure that many of us have had the experience of arriving at the library just to find that all the good window seats are taken, so hopefully, this insight can be of use to us all. She replied, “The amount of students I help varies quite a bit. On Mondays, I work from 4:30pm to 6:00pm and probably help somewhere from seven to 10 people. However, I also work from 9:00pm to 11:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we hardly get anyone— rarely more than three people. It also depends on if there are any events happening, as people often need to be directed, so it varies pretty widely.”
One very interesting aspect of Mika’s job is that she is working to assist her peers. One might assume that students would respect the advice of a peer less, but when asked about general student conduct, Mika answered, “Everyone’s usually pretty polite! The worst problem I ever have is when I’m working close, and people try to stay past 11:00pm, or just ignore the announcements saying the library is closing. It can be a tad annoying.”
Despite this annoyance, Mika gave the impression that students are generally treating library employees well. Mika also noted, when discussing students' respect for library rules and facilities, that “people are generally pretty good about it! There are designated quiet spaces where people are expected to not talk at all, and students can go in there if they need a really quiet environment to focus, so I think generally it’s pretty okay when people talk at normal volumes outside those spaces, like on the main floor.”
When asked if she feels appreciated in her role, Mika responded, “I think so! Everyone’s always pretty nice and appreciative of my help in terms of students, and my supervisors are all really nice and helpful. They’re normally the ones dealing with administrative issues, not really me. I don’t think I have a strong opinion in terms of that.” Hearing this, I wanted to get a better sense of what Mika’s favorite and least favorite aspects of the job were. Free time and creative space seemed to be some of the best parts of working at Milne, according to Mika: “We’re given a lot of downtime to complete school work and I enjoy finding books and helping set up displays!”
As far as her least favorite aspects, Mika commented, “I don't really mind any part of the job, but I guess if I was choosing I’d probably say headcount. Every hour we have to go around and count everyone in the library, and it’s pretty awkward when counting people. Especially in the study rooms, because I don’t think people really know we do that, so they’re always kinda put off by it.”
We then shifted the conversation to the topic of the new library itself. When asked about her opinion on the renovations and amenities, Mika responded that “The library is really nice! I obviously wasn’t here prior to the renovations, but compared to when we were in Fraser Hall, it is great, because the full collection is there and there’s a lot more space for people to study and hangout. Plus, there's things like Books and Bites, the zine room, and the Writing Learning Center. ”Finally, to close out the interview, I asked Mika for some final notes regarding the library, and what she would like students to know about the space. She noted that “There’s subject librarians that can help people with research and I don’t think people reach out to them very often. I think it’s pretty obvious but it’s a really lovely place to be in general, and also study! It provides a lot of different spaces and seating options, and it’s a bit quieter than the Union, so that’s always good!” Clearly, Geneseo students should take Mika’s word for it and visit our brand new Milne Library!