Benoni Library senior assistants “part of the furniture” and still loving their jobs
“Working here is about forming a relationship with the public and watching children who once borrowed books grow and come in to borrow books for their children,” said Sherryl.
The Benoni Library opened on August 25, 1975, meaning it has been open for almost 44 years.
Senior library assistants Sherryl Eaton and Elizabeth Bester have both been working at the library for more than 20 years. They jokingly said they are part of the furniture as they started working for the library right after they finished school.
Both of them assisted at their media centres in high school and Elizabeth, who has been working at the library for 26 years, said: “I knew I had a job at the library before I knew I passed matric.”
Sherryl, who has been working at the library for 29 years, said her fondest memories of the library are working with the elderly upstairs and treating them with cake and tea on pensioners day, as well as sitting and socialising with her fellow colleagues on a Saturday morning before the library opened.
Elizabeth enjoyed the puppet shows that were held for the children about 15 years ago.
“The staff would get a preview of the show before the children and I enjoyed those,” she said.
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Working at the library for so many years means they have accumulated many memories and they both agreed that the school tours they hosted could be on top of the list.
These tours have reduced significantly over the years as they had them every week and now it only happens once every few months.
Things have changed since 1975 and Sherryl remembers before computers were introduced into the library, they used a catalogue system where they recorded everything on cards that they filed and at the end of the day someone would have to pack the cards in order as they would get mixed up throughout the day.
“The only advantage of the catalogue system was that it would not get affected by load-shedding or a system being offline,” she said.
The library working hours have changed too. They worked in shifts from 8am to 1pm and would get the afternoon off.
They had to be back by 4pm to pack the books.
Then the library was open from 9am to 7.30pm for the adult section and 6.30pm for the children during the week.
Now the library is open from 9am to 4.30pm during the week.
The prices of book fines were once R0.20 and are now R2.50.
In the past, reminders for books would be sent on a weekly basis. The first would be sent when a book is one week due and another would be sent after two weeks and once a book is overdue for a month, a letter would be sent to the book lender’s residence.
These reminders are no longer sent.
The challenges they face would be the reduced interest in the library as technology has introduced the internet and children prefer playing games on their phones instead of reading.
There are a few problems libraries face:
• When there is no electricity, nothing can be done as the computers are off and they are unable to do anything.
• Funding for new books.
• Books not written on certain subjects and encyclopedias are no longer being used.
The library has been so quiet that they now pack books during the day, where they used to pack trolley loads of books in the past after work as there were a lot of children going to the library.
The qualities they believe are important to possess when working in the library are patience, understanding, being friendly and approachable, and the ability to communicate.
When asked what the importance of a library is to them, they said:
• It contains a lot of information on various subjects.
• The wide variety of books can broaden children’s imagination.
• Books can improve grammar in both English and Afrikaans.
Working in a place surrounded by books, it is no surprise that they read a bit of everything, from romance and mystery to psychological thrillers to name a few, but they both prefer watching westerns.
The children’s ranges Saartjie and Trompie are Elizabeth’s favourite children’s books, while Sherryl loves Mr Twiddle by Enid Blyton.
They both said that working at the library has lived up to their expectations, besides the challenges they face.
Elizabeth advised that it is never too late to start reading.
The library is situated next to a shopping mall, making it easy for parents to do their shopping and pop in the library to borrow a few books.
To join the library, residents need to bring:
• An identity document for adults and a birth certificate for children
• Proof of address not older than three months
To join is free and the library card can be used at any library in Ekurhuleni.
Adults can borrow eight books at a time and children can borrow six.
Residents can call 011 999 6846 or 011 999 6840 for renewals and other library enquiries.
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