On 2/21/13 9:00 AM, Joe Hourcle wrote:
We had a policy of trying our best *not* to go into the computer labs, because if you did, you'd get 6+ people who suddenly had questions they wanted to ask ... but couldn't have been bothered to actually go to the office to ask. When I first started, someone who went to go add paper to a printer might not come back for 30+ minutes.
OMG, this is like a formula for "non-service". There was an era where libraries were taking over computer services because the computer service folks had no idea what the word "service" meant. If people in the labs have that many questions, that's a need that must be filled for them to learn what they are there trying to learn. Avoiding them is a terrible "solution."
But this is the case also in libraries. At my local public library, the reference desk is on the 2nd floor and I almost never seen any patrons there, just bored reference librarians. This doesn't mean that folks all over the library don't have questions they'd like to ask, but getting to the reference desk takes effort. I did a blog post where I said that I want the library to be like the Apple store (oh, and I want the library to have Apple's $bazillions) -- with people who can answer the questions mingling with the people who might have questions. Some science museums do this, with roving "Explainers" among the exhibits. *sigh* What we couldn't do if we had the $$ and the imagination.
kc
(I realize that this policy likely won't work for a library, though) Our follow-up policy was not the answer questions in the labs, and make them go to the office so they don't cut in line if there were people queued up. ... so I completely agree about needing something that's not fixed to a single location. If you can make it beep on demand, that's even better. ("oops, sorry, I've got to go, I've been summoned back to the desk") If you're going to do something that's computer-based, I'd be inclined to think about some sort of phone app, or even part of a more comprehensive tool to assist in other things that you might need while you're in the stacks trying to help someone. -Joe
-- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
