The California State Library (CSL) has long had a
branch office inside the busy State Capitol
building in Sacramento. Since the mid-80’s
though,
the CSL’s Capitol Branch, and its
service-oriented team, has demonstrated to its
distinguished clientele how efficiently it can
adapt to changing logistics and spaces. This
spring, while a renovation brightened the
library’s on-site service center, the Capitol
Branch’s staff offered top quality customer
service from the Capitol’s hectic hallways.
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California
State Library Capitol Branch team in front of the State
Capitol. Left to right: Steven DeBry, Maeve Roche, Laura
Parker, Dan Mitchel, John Cornelison.
[Photo courtesy Dan
Mitchel]
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By
1985, after decades in the Capitol, the CSL
Capitol Branch was operating from an office which
was once the Assembly Office of Research
Library, a beautiful and spacious setting
with glass doors at the entry, and plenty of room
for books, and researchers. Soon after the Capitol
Branch settled in, the Assembly required the
office and the library was moved to Room 2019, a smaller,
10’ x11’ space just off Assembly member Johan
Klehs' office. When Mr. Kleh’s staff expanded
however, the Capitol Branch moved again. After
just a few short hours, and some fast
office-packing, the CSL’s Capitol Branch was in
its current home, Room 5210.
Once
a hallway, Room 5210 is long and narrow with a
small room off to the side. In 2007, the
Capitol Branch staff, comprised of CSL California
Research Bureau (CRB) librarians, asked that some
painting be done to the office walls, a small request
which evolved into this spring’s remodeling
project.
Kiosk
queries, kiosk service
To
maintain a presence with their largely legislative
customers during the remodel, the CRB librarians
worked from the State Capitol’s north entrance information
kiosk, conducting reference work by using phones
and PCs in the Library and Courts II offices
a half block away. A former State Police officer
told Librarian Maeve Roche that the kiosks were
last used in the early 70’s so Capitol staffers
were surprised when they first spotted the helpful
librarians in the long unmanned kiosks.
“At
the kiosks,” Roche says, “we took in a
few reference requests, but overwhelmingly,
we answered directional questions such as ‘Where
is the bathroom?’ ‘Where is Room 112?’
and ‘How do I get to the Speaker's Office?” Roche
says their kiosk location at the north entrance
offered “prime viewing of the traffic patterns
at the Capitol each day. We saw the lobbyists
and advocacy groups flood the building as
hearings began, and we saw the legislative
staffers heading out for their morning coffee
runs.”
Though
Roche reports the Capitol Branch team’s
visibility in the building’s major thoroughfare
was “good exposure” for the California State
Library “we're all glad to be back at our usual
locale on the 5th floor with our research tools at
our fingertips.” And now CRB librarians know the
layout of the Capitol, Roche says, “like the
back of our hands.”
