Of Patrons and Paternalism

Okay, I promise to go at a more rapid pace now

I just finished up my first week of work at the Conservatoire de Paris. My official position is stagiare (intern), and I am mostly centered in the médiathèque (media library) there. That’s where my office (yes, my own office! With a computer, lock, and everything!) is located. My duties in this part of my job include (thus far) comparing lists of people in the library database with people who should be there, and researching the prices of various items that patrons have borrowed that need to be replaced. I had been concerned that my job would bear too much resemblance to my job at Princeton. In some ways, it does. I am definitely experienced with searching for library materials, and starting this week I will be stationed at the desk in the phonothèque (where people come to listen to music and watch movies) and the étage d’consultation (consultation floor—where people can look at stuff but can’t check it out.

The library is very different from the Mendel Music Library at Princeton, however. France has very different, more socialistic policies that, since the Conservatoire is technically a public institution, apply directly to the Berlioz Médiathèque. For example, every book/score/etc. that comes into France must have a copy first at the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library) here in Paris. Only after that does the government decide where extra copies may be sent. Thus, the library at the Conservatoire is very protective of its materials, even recent books and scores that would be exceedingly common and easily replaceable in the United States. Very few books, CDs, and videos can actually be checked out. And even when people come to the consultation level to listen to a CD, they never actually see it; the person in the phonothèque plays it remotely.

Part of this security is because the library has no way to prosecute people who don’t return stuff. At Princeton, fines accrue that prevent you from checking out books, with harsher penalties for departing seniors. Here, though, there really is no penalty. Fines accrue, but there is no reason for students to pay them. They can still check out stuff, regardless of how many fines have built up. Only this year was a policy instituted where patrons are required to pay 10% of the requisite cost to replace a book (compare this to Princeton, where a $50 processing fee is added to the actual replacement cost). I guess being a private institution in a capitalistic system does have benefits.

The other part of my job is revising a guide for foreign students who come to study at the Conservatoire. I really enjoy this project, as my bosses want the information not just to be up-to-date, but interesting as well. So, I get to add whatever pictures, formatting, and interesting tidbits I want to information regarding housing, transportation, leisure activities in Paris, etc. As I am a foreign student working at the Conservatoire (as well as someone who is studying abroad next fall), it is really easy for me to envision what people would want to know.

So far, things have been going well. Similar to what Margaret (Byron) said in her blog about India, the work environment in France is, well, more laid-back, let’s say, than in the United States. The work week (by law) only lasts 36 hours, and it is interrupted by numerous coffee breaks. The second day I arrived, for example, I came at 9h30 to find no one in the library. Of course, it only opens at 10h30, but while my coworkers’ sweaters and personal items were there, they weren’t! I finally found my boss. “Oh, they’re all getting coffee,” she said. For heaven’s sake, it was only 9h30! The day just began! And after a leisurely hour-long lunch at the cantine (a low-cost cafeteria sponsored by a business, university, or other organization), everyone goes again for coffee! My boss at the library has been really surprised by how much work I’ve been doing (“C’est impressionnant”), but I think it’s just because I don’t take three coffee breaks every day like everyone else. J

Look, I’m getting better! That’s a whole week’s work of info in one post (albeit only regarding one subject)! More to come…