one Sunday at the reference desk...(#3)
Just for fun, I kept track of the technology-related things I did during my 4-hour shift at the reference desk this past Sunday.
Sadly, it seems that the main purpose of a librarian or public service associate (PSA) at the public library is to hand out guest passes to use the public computers. This particular branch has 37 public computers.
I guess my point is, I feel kind of like a babysitter when working at the public library. Because I like to work with technology, this isn't the kind of job I could do once I finish my MLS. But, it will do for now...
Sadly, it seems that the main purpose of a librarian or public service associate (PSA) at the public library is to hand out guest passes to use the public computers. This particular branch has 37 public computers.
- 1:00-2:00: 21 guest passes, not including telling 2 children that they can use the numbers two times when they asked for another pass (1/2 hour each for 1 hour on the computer).
- 2:00-3:00: 20 guest passes
- 3:00-4:00: 15 guest passes
- 4:00-5:00: 12 guest passes
My total: 68 guest passes. There were 2 other librarians/public service associates on the desk today--I did not keep track of how many they handed out. I also did not include time "refreshes" for the woman working on a resume (we use our judgment on time-refresh privileges).
Printing:
- Showed at least 3 people how to retrieve their print jobs (click the "Click here to retrieve your print job" button; type in whatever you called it when you sent it to the printer; click on your print job; click "cash payment"; insert money; take your papers and go on your merry way)
- Refilled the paper
- Used the staff password to find a print job for a girl after she forgot what she named it
- Un-jammed the printer after a little old man tried to print labels on the public printer (no touching!) about 30 seconds before the library closed. 2 girls were unable to print due to the jam
Miscellaneous computer support:
- showed a woman how to open Internet Explorer, type in the library home page, and find the employment opportunities page (oy...)
- learned that newer flash drives have built-in security measures that aren't compatible with our public computers, which is a pain for people who came to the library specifically to print whatever is on said flash drive
- told a man and his son that they aren't allowed to download a homework answer-checker program onto our public computers, even if the kid's school's computers have it.
- explained to a boy that he can't take a picture from his cell phone and upload it to his MySpace page (at least not on our computers)
- Printed a 2007 1040 D-1 2-page form from the IRS website (I do my taxes online, so sadly I am sort of ignorant about how to file on paper...which is how everyone who comes to the library wants to do them).
I guess my point is, I feel kind of like a babysitter when working at the public library. Because I like to work with technology, this isn't the kind of job I could do once I finish my MLS. But, it will do for now...
Do you think some of the reason that people do not seek a libarian to answer technology questions is due to public misconeption of the librarian's role?
What is the most significant change that technology has made upon the reference desk?
What I was getting at is that it's funny that I'm learning all about new technologies, like blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc etc etc, in my SLIS classes but if I stay at this public library, the patrons I'll be helping won't care about that stuff for years. Their concerns are more along the lines of, "I have to file for unemployment online but I have no idea where to get started--but I don't want you to teach me, I want you to do it for me."
At least, that's the general impression I get. Maybe I'm jaded... :)
Anyway, I was wondering: If IMCPL opened a chain of Internet cafes, would patrons miss the books and magazines if they weren't there?
What does patrons most want other than computer time? My guess would be:
1. Books for their kids (reports and fun)
2. books for fun
3. DVDs for fun
4. Meet in the meeting room
5. Info for something or other
6. Magazines or periodicals.
How close did I get?
I think you're pretty close. The branch I work in has a small cafe, actually (and have you been to the expanded Central lib? They even have an office set up to handle catering for events held there. It is crazy.)
I would definitely rank DVD checkouts a little higher. The max. a patron can have out at a time is 12 (and most of them you can only have for 3 days) and I've seen people bring a whole stack up to the circ. desk. Are they really going to watch 12 movies in 3 days? if so, sick.
We do see a lot of traffic for kids' materials and anything on the NY Times Bestseller list (of course). And you were right about checking out materials for kids' reports and school projects. It's funny when you have a kid come up to the desk and say "I need anything you have on Native Americans!" and then 20 min. later another kid comes up and asks the same thing. Which is also funny, because I don't remember ever going to the public library to get materials for school--our library usually had what we needed, and they spread out topics or had students pick their own so that not everyone was going for the same book. But then, I went to a pretty small school, so it might be easier to do that in a smaller place.
As a systems librarian I often found that I could spend hours of each day dealing with printer problems. They still make me cringe.