Library: Silence and Knowledge

The front of the Willard J. Houghton Library at Houghton University

Constructed in 1964, the Willard J. Houghton library contains books of all ages and for all ages; children’s books to detailed historical documents. The Houghton Library hires students to help maintain its collections while allowing students the opportunity to explore older and newer documents through both a physical order and an electronic database.

Caleb Tiedemann is one of those students who works at the library, striving to maintain that order the Houghton Library is known for. This article focuses on Tiedemann and his reasons for working at the library, his thoughts on working at the library, and why this is a job he finds himself enjoying despite it being so quiet at the library.

Tiedemann, who is pictured right, has been working at this job for his entire Junior year here at Houghton University. He states that he likes working at the library due to the calmness of it all. “The easiness and calmness of the job. Most shifts are sitting at the desk and ensuring books are properly checked in and shelved.” he replied when asked what he liked about the job. “The work environment is clean and safe, with an adult library employee on call to take care of any problems that may arise.”

Tiedmann works about 6 hours a week on average, though he has stated that sometimes he will cover for other student's shifts in case they don't make it.

“As an English major and future lawyer, I chose that job because good library knowledge is essential to writing papers and formulating arguments.” Tiedmann replied when he was asked why he chose this job. He went on to add that he was certain the Library would hire him due to previous experience. “I was fairly certain I would get a position. I have some previous library knowledge so already I was a tad bit ahead of other potential options.”

Interesting, when asked if there were any dislikes or downsides to his job, he only replied with the wish that he had longer hours, as each shift he's given is about an hour long.

“When you aren’t doing your job, the position is just free downtime. I get a majority of my work done while on shift because the requirements aren’t super strenuous.” he said, giving a smile at his phrasing. “I don’t mean that I don’t do

my job, but when there’s no one who needs help or nothing to do in the hour I’m there, I just chill and do my work.” he added.

So, in total, while the Willard J. Houghton Library may be encountering the same problem as many other libraries in the modern world, the employees here at Houghton University still strive hard to maintain the texts, both old and new alike.

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