The best thing about working in the public library is the patrons. It can also be the worst thing. A couple of weeks ago, a patron was so rude and impatient it was almost unbelievable. The printers wouldn't work, so I offered to print it for her at the desk. It turned out it was part of a larger problem with the network, but I helped her find another way to get it printed by opening the file on my own computer and printing it. Meanwhile, she wanted to know why I wasn't going faster, why we hadn't fixed it yet (it couldn't have been a problem for more than 20 minutes, because I'd helped someone else print just before), why I wasn't handing her the printed pages before giving her the thumb drive she'd asked for before as I was halfway to the printer. After she left, one of the librarians confided that this patron has done this before, and that sometimes she goes off her medications and it's not good. Once, she even threw something across the desk at a librarian who was trying to help her.
Last week, a patron was sitting at the computer while her baby cried. After a few minutes, one of the librarians went to ask her to move, because people were trying to work. She said she couldn't because they were waiting for something and had too much stuff to move on their own, but she also didn't offer to pick up the baby and didn't seem to understand that other people needed quiet to work. The librarian, D, kept her cool completely, and I was impressed while watching her. Some people are unreasonable, but you can always stay professional - and there's always the option of calling security if they continue to be a problem.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Never Assume Anyone Knows Anything
I had a patron today who needed help saving things to a thumb drive. I showed him how to pull up the save as box, pick the right drive, and save his document.
A few minutes later, he asked for help again. I showed him again, but I noticed the document had the same name and thought he was just trying to save changes to the document. I even asked a followup question which seemed to confirm this. I showed him the save button and said, "Once you've saved the document once, you can go ahead and push this button and it will save the changes." The patron was youngish, probably just a few years older than me, and he'd acted like he just needed to refresh his memory about how to use the devices. Case closed.
Except it wasn't. About half an hour later, I was coming back in from moving my car (oh, how I love downtown parking) and J came to ask me about this patron. The tech services guy was helping him because he claimed he had 10 documents saved, and he could only find one.
Well, the reason he could only find one was that once he'd saved a document, he was deleting the one he already had and starting a new one. And then, instead of using the Save As button and renaming it, he was pressing the save button and saving over his changes.
How could I have anticipated this? I'm not even sure. It would never occur to me to create documents that way- in fact, I'd probably keep them all as one document and go down to the next page to make things easier for printing. But surely there's some way I could have helped this man.
Thankfully, he'd only been there for about half an hour, so hopefully recreating his work wouldn't take too long, and we added to his computer time. I learned a lesson though - make sure you talk the patron all the way through the problem. When it comes to computers, don't make assumptions based on what the patron probably should know or what seems like common knowledge. If you're new to computers, none of it is common knowledge.
A few minutes later, he asked for help again. I showed him again, but I noticed the document had the same name and thought he was just trying to save changes to the document. I even asked a followup question which seemed to confirm this. I showed him the save button and said, "Once you've saved the document once, you can go ahead and push this button and it will save the changes." The patron was youngish, probably just a few years older than me, and he'd acted like he just needed to refresh his memory about how to use the devices. Case closed.
Except it wasn't. About half an hour later, I was coming back in from moving my car (oh, how I love downtown parking) and J came to ask me about this patron. The tech services guy was helping him because he claimed he had 10 documents saved, and he could only find one.
Well, the reason he could only find one was that once he'd saved a document, he was deleting the one he already had and starting a new one. And then, instead of using the Save As button and renaming it, he was pressing the save button and saving over his changes.
How could I have anticipated this? I'm not even sure. It would never occur to me to create documents that way- in fact, I'd probably keep them all as one document and go down to the next page to make things easier for printing. But surely there's some way I could have helped this man.
Thankfully, he'd only been there for about half an hour, so hopefully recreating his work wouldn't take too long, and we added to his computer time. I learned a lesson though - make sure you talk the patron all the way through the problem. When it comes to computers, don't make assumptions based on what the patron probably should know or what seems like common knowledge. If you're new to computers, none of it is common knowledge.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Displays
Displays are essential for both making the library feel welcoming and accessible, and also helping with browsing. I often go and pick staff picks for displays when the desk is slow, but recently we got a memo reminding us that it's not just important to find books that are good - we also have to find books that look appealing. The librarian in charge of coordinating the displays told me that she will always pull books if they look old and gross or have boring covers. There are so many factors that determine whether someone picks up a book, and we have to consider all of them to create a good display.
All through October and November, we've had this display that says "Fall Into a Good Book," which first had Halloween and fall books and now has a lot recipe books for Thanksgiving. The central part of this display is a stuffed body with a pumpkin head that looks like it's fallen off a hay bale. He's cute, and it's fun to watch the kids come in and look concerned for poor Punkin' Head, patting him on the head, trying to help him sit up. One little girl took the little bandanna out of his back overall pocket and blew his nose with it. Meanwhile, the parents who are monitoring the children see the books and ask if they can take them from the display - the answer to which is, "Of course! Don't you know this is a ploy to up our circulation?" (Okay, maybe minus the last part.)
The really fun thing about displays is that they do help people to have a smaller pool of books to browse, but they also give them something memorable. Having the Punkin' Head display is fun and I think it helps people claim ownership over the library because they feel like it's a more fun and inviting place to be.
All through October and November, we've had this display that says "Fall Into a Good Book," which first had Halloween and fall books and now has a lot recipe books for Thanksgiving. The central part of this display is a stuffed body with a pumpkin head that looks like it's fallen off a hay bale. He's cute, and it's fun to watch the kids come in and look concerned for poor Punkin' Head, patting him on the head, trying to help him sit up. One little girl took the little bandanna out of his back overall pocket and blew his nose with it. Meanwhile, the parents who are monitoring the children see the books and ask if they can take them from the display - the answer to which is, "Of course! Don't you know this is a ploy to up our circulation?" (Okay, maybe minus the last part.)
The really fun thing about displays is that they do help people to have a smaller pool of books to browse, but they also give them something memorable. Having the Punkin' Head display is fun and I think it helps people claim ownership over the library because they feel like it's a more fun and inviting place to be.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Theft
In the AV department, we have a fantastic collection - except when it comes to rap music.
I know they want it to be a good collection. They're tried. Everything is just gone. Theft in the rap section is such a problem that the entire collection (what's left of it) is kept in a back room. If the patrons want it, we go and get it for them and they look at it at our desk.
It's really a shame, because I know that when I'm choosing my library materials, I prefer not answering to anyone about it. I don't want people to see what I'm picking - it's one of my favorite things about the self-service checkout. It's not that I'm checking out things I'm embarrassed about - it's just that I really like having things to myself. The kids that want to listen to rap music don't always want to ask, and I'm sure we're cutting off some of their access, but I don't know how else it could be done. It's a problem. I think the RFID tagging project that's going on could help a little with security, but I'm not sure it will be as much as everyone thinks it will.
I know they want it to be a good collection. They're tried. Everything is just gone. Theft in the rap section is such a problem that the entire collection (what's left of it) is kept in a back room. If the patrons want it, we go and get it for them and they look at it at our desk.
It's really a shame, because I know that when I'm choosing my library materials, I prefer not answering to anyone about it. I don't want people to see what I'm picking - it's one of my favorite things about the self-service checkout. It's not that I'm checking out things I'm embarrassed about - it's just that I really like having things to myself. The kids that want to listen to rap music don't always want to ask, and I'm sure we're cutting off some of their access, but I don't know how else it could be done. It's a problem. I think the RFID tagging project that's going on could help a little with security, but I'm not sure it will be as much as everyone thinks it will.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Crazy Days, Collection Continued
This weekend, we had an insane Saturday - for about an hour. There was a kid at the desk who needed help finding a copy of Harry Potter and didn't know where the YA section was. The phone was ringing, a man needed help printing in a hurry, and another man needed to know how to fit everything on one page, In the meantime, everyone was away from the desk, and when someone came back and said she wanted to take a break because she needed a snack, I thought the other librarian was going to smack her.
However, after a little while, it calmed down again and was quiet - minus the Adorable Adoptable dogs barking downstairs and one 911 call that we had to make because a patron downstairs was having chest pains.
In other news, I'm enjoying my collection evaluation project. I've made a list from about 3 different sources, and I'm going through the catalog checking to see if we have particular jazz albums, whether we have other albums by the artist, and whether the album is actually available on CD right now. Sometimes we have the item, but it's gone missing - and now it's not available. There are holes in the collection that are starting to make themselves more clear - but we have plenty of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, so that's a comfort. I look forward to working on it for the next few weeks.
However, after a little while, it calmed down again and was quiet - minus the Adorable Adoptable dogs barking downstairs and one 911 call that we had to make because a patron downstairs was having chest pains.
In other news, I'm enjoying my collection evaluation project. I've made a list from about 3 different sources, and I'm going through the catalog checking to see if we have particular jazz albums, whether we have other albums by the artist, and whether the album is actually available on CD right now. Sometimes we have the item, but it's gone missing - and now it's not available. There are holes in the collection that are starting to make themselves more clear - but we have plenty of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, so that's a comfort. I look forward to working on it for the next few weeks.
Duncan, R. (2010). EBOOKS AND BEYOND: THE CHALLENGE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES. APLIS, 23(2), 44-55. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
This article talks about the rapidly increasing popularity of e-books, especially in light of the recent release of the iPad and other e-readers. Since people want to be able to get their books whenever and wherever they want, libraries must consider how to respond to public opinion.
A library in Australia took a survey to see what people's interest level in e-books and e-readers is, especially compared to their interest and usage of physical books. The survey was inconclusive on several points, but the study did indicate that regardless of how e-books affect literacy or purchasing, the number of e-books being published and sold is definitely increasing. It suggests that in order to know how to proceed, libraries should survey their patrons to find out what the interest level in their community could be for e-book access and e-audiobook access in the library. In some areas, iPods and e-reader popularity may still be in the future. Finding out about the age, gender, and technology habits of the respondents can be helpful.
As libraries, we should be considering the possible futures for e-readers and how their popularity could affect our services. The article reminds us that we need to be ready - both to help our communities offer access to those who may not have it, and to meet the demands of our patrons before they lose patience and go elsewhere for our services. It's important not only because it's popular, but because it could be the future, and we could find ourselves becoming irrelevant if we don't step up to the challenge
This article talks about the rapidly increasing popularity of e-books, especially in light of the recent release of the iPad and other e-readers. Since people want to be able to get their books whenever and wherever they want, libraries must consider how to respond to public opinion.
A library in Australia took a survey to see what people's interest level in e-books and e-readers is, especially compared to their interest and usage of physical books. The survey was inconclusive on several points, but the study did indicate that regardless of how e-books affect literacy or purchasing, the number of e-books being published and sold is definitely increasing. It suggests that in order to know how to proceed, libraries should survey their patrons to find out what the interest level in their community could be for e-book access and e-audiobook access in the library. In some areas, iPods and e-reader popularity may still be in the future. Finding out about the age, gender, and technology habits of the respondents can be helpful.
As libraries, we should be considering the possible futures for e-readers and how their popularity could affect our services. The article reminds us that we need to be ready - both to help our communities offer access to those who may not have it, and to meet the demands of our patrons before they lose patience and go elsewhere for our services. It's important not only because it's popular, but because it could be the future, and we could find ourselves becoming irrelevant if we don't step up to the challenge
Kinney B. The Internet, Public Libraries, and the Digital Divide. Public Library Quarterly [serial online]. April 2010;29(2):104-161. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 8, 2010.
This study used census information and and a linear regression model to determine both how libraries are trying to combat the digital divide, and how having internet access effects library usage. The study found that there were no disparities in the number of computers available between lower-income area libraries and their counterparts in higher income areas, but found a large disparity in areas with a higher percentage of non-white and non-English speaking areas. Having computers available to the public increased the libraries' gate counts, but didn't necessarily have an effect on their circulation.
The hope has been that libraries would be able to offer access to information for those who can't afford computers and home internet access. The article points out that students who weren't doing well in school were more likely to be without internet access at home. There are divides along racial lines, religion lines, education levels, and language lines. However, research shows that the benefits of computer usage are huge - for education, for job searching, even for researching hobbies. Those who use the library solely for internet access are far more likely to be digitally disadvantaged, and disadvantaged groups use the library for internet access far more than the national average.
Simply offering internet access isn't always enough. Libraries should be prepared to both offer access and help people who don't know how to use the internet to access the information they need. It isn't the final solution, but libraries certainly help, and they are being used by those who would otherwise have minimal access.
This study used census information and and a linear regression model to determine both how libraries are trying to combat the digital divide, and how having internet access effects library usage. The study found that there were no disparities in the number of computers available between lower-income area libraries and their counterparts in higher income areas, but found a large disparity in areas with a higher percentage of non-white and non-English speaking areas. Having computers available to the public increased the libraries' gate counts, but didn't necessarily have an effect on their circulation.
The hope has been that libraries would be able to offer access to information for those who can't afford computers and home internet access. The article points out that students who weren't doing well in school were more likely to be without internet access at home. There are divides along racial lines, religion lines, education levels, and language lines. However, research shows that the benefits of computer usage are huge - for education, for job searching, even for researching hobbies. Those who use the library solely for internet access are far more likely to be digitally disadvantaged, and disadvantaged groups use the library for internet access far more than the national average.
Simply offering internet access isn't always enough. Libraries should be prepared to both offer access and help people who don't know how to use the internet to access the information they need. It isn't the final solution, but libraries certainly help, and they are being used by those who would otherwise have minimal access.
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