Tiedon janoa

In this series of articles, Metropolia library employees talk about their work within a UAS. Join us as we reveal what's happening within the walls of the library these days!  From computers to books My name is Mihaela Laitinen and three years ago I started my work as an information services advisor at Myyrmäki campus library. My past with Metropolia UAS and library work is not recent though. I started my career in library and information services as a trainee in 2018, leaving behind a professional background in IT in Romania and Ireland. Fast forward a few years and the present finds me buzzing around the library premises creating book displays, at the customer service desk attending to our patrons, in classrooms giving orientation sessions to new students or in the office archiving theses and taking care of interlibrary loans. The versatile professional - daily duties from customer service to marketing In my current role as an information services advisor I am responsible for facilitating access to information and resources and I do that both during customer service hours and while performing various clerical duties. You can find me at the customer service desk three times a week and I also handle inquiries via the library email and chat service. I help customers create library cards, locate resources and use the library’s databases.  I also promote the library’s collection through book displays. I carry out communication and marketing duties, create content on social media and run payment reports. My customer service experience was not significant before starting my work at the library and it was mostly in written form. It came as a big change to move to face-to-face interaction (and in a foreign language), a change I welcomed, that reinforced some of my skills and developed others. Events and projects – how to create meaningful connections Apart from customer service duties, I have been involved in both internal and external projects and these past years have definitely debunked the myth that library work is only about organizing and shelving books. I joined my library colleagues in MetroSport, an annual event organized by student union METKA at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, which gave me the opportunity to interact with students and other Metropolia departments. KirjastoMOVE is another project I’ve been involved in, a fun event organized by and for UAS libraries, that brings along team creativity and togetherness. Collaboration and the importance of multilingualism awareness Library work creates many collaboration opportunities with internal departments and external associations. One of them is the Association of Information Specialists - INA, whose seminar I have attended recently and where, together with my team leader, I have talked about multilingualism awareness at work and the potential influence a foreign background may have on work performance. Individuals from foreign backgrounds often bring unique perspectives shaped by different cultural experiences. At the same time differences in communication styles, work ethics or expectations can create misunderstandings if not properly managed. I am glad to have had the opportunity to talk about how work practices and professional norms can vary widely between countries and how this diversity can lead to the ability to approach challenges from multiple angles. While my Finnish language skills have advanced in the past years (I am also a Finnish citizen), there is still room for growth. With this in mind, I have enrolled in a language pilot project organized for universities, aimed at international employees and focusing on clear text construction, grammatical structures and word choice. Customer service is one of those fields where use of clear and precise language is essential for effective communication. Read more about me from the Kreodi article "Tie kirjastoammattilaiseksi - töitä Metropoliassa ja opiskelua Keudassa".