From The Archives: It's What's Up Front That Counts

I like to look at my "Popular Posts" list at the bottom of the blog side bar to see if any recent posts are being read.  Often, things from way back will crop up the list instead.  All it really takes, I think, since I don't post much, is one view of an oldie.

A post from 2010 called It's What's Up Front That Counts includes a picture from an  old cigarette commercial with a pixie-ish woman holding up a Winston, fingers measuring a cigarette's front end, while her eyes slide back to a man in the background.

That's not the best part of the post!   I think I did a great job of talking about all the things a Librarian could encounter in a day at the Reference Desk.   Ha ha!  They hadn't actually taken the Desk itself away yet!

As happens, it got me thinking about all of the really excellent Reference Librarians I've worked with and for over the years.   I have been so lucky to work with some of the finest, most Service oriented Librarians in the business.   Thanks, guys!

So, what's the most interesting question you've ever had?

We get students of some ilk or other in periodically with a list of questions about the Mysteries of the Library. 

Where is the card catalog (scratch paper gone long ago).

What do you like about working in the library (the peeps, kiddo).

Can you use the Internet without a library card (sort of yes, sort of no).

Do you have a catalog and databases on separate computers?  (All on everything)

WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING QUESTION YOU'VE EVER HAD????????????????????? (So, of the perhaps thousands I've answered over the years, you think I have a favorite?  I do not.  I like every question I get that isn't a math or car repair question.  I love recommending books and authors to avid and returning readers.)

DOA's Reference Services Thoughts via Wayback Machine (2005)

I wrote this waaay back in 2005 in response to a call for what we needed to improve in the interest of the "future of reference services". I edited out a few specific references to my library, but dang, I still feel we need to address everything I wrote:

Before we move forward, we should take a look at where we are now.


Promotion of existing services, databases, materials, equipment.

We need to promote what we have. The general public still has a vague idea of what libraries have to offer. We need to target our strengths and promote them tirelessly in as many venues as possible. We need to study our current users and what they use most and promote those things to the larger populace. We need to study what the most typical information needs are of those who come in after “not having been in a library for years” and promote those things. We need to find out what we offer that our customers don’t find anywhere else, promote that and offer more of it.


Interpreting the library catalog for current and new users


We need to do a much better job of interpreting our online catalog. It is not friendly to new users. Customers have ongoing problems seeing that an item is in at the branch, deciphering which branch does have the item, and telling which collection or shelf the item might be filed in.

Partially because we do not use the same interface to the catalog as our users, we are often not familiar with it and are not able to help them effectively. When changes are made to the customer user interface we are often unaware of it until the customer asks for help.

How responsive are we to these difficulties? Do we provide tipsheets to the catalog? Do we try to address in a timely manner problems the public encounters? Why are many of the search mechanisms in the public catalog not useful? How can these things be improved?


On the Web


Everything we do needs to be on our web page in an accessible and attractive format. We need to offer tutorials and tip sheets on our pages for using the library catalog, the electronic resources, and frequently asked questions from the public using our Internets and Word Processors. We need to offer Mouse Practice or links to Mouse Practice sites.

We need forums for public feedback, or places on the page for discussion and/or reviews of books,movies and CD’s by staff and the public. It needs to be alive and interactive.

The library web pages should reflect the communities in our area. You should be able to get a good snapshot of the county and what it has to offer from the library page. Perhaps each community library needs a page to help break it down into smaller segments. Education, entertainment, local government should all be reflected.

We need far more Reader’s Advisory on the web. If you like…. Lists need to be added.



Community Libraries

The people behind the public service desks are the library to most people. Our past ratings show appreciation for our service efforts. One of the things we offer that is getting increasingly hard to find anywhere is good service. We need to make sure we are there to answer questions of all types, and to make people of all ages feel welcome. We need to be there to interpret our catalog, act as a guide to our large collections, give advice on Internet searching, help with basic Microsoft office and the various information storage devices.

What we offer gets more complex every year, and we are in a unique position to make sure the public gets the most out of what we can give. We need to find ways to work with other organizations in the community such as schools, businesses, citizen organizations, literacy groups, social groups. We need to know our community well and be able to refer our customers to other groups who might provide services we don’t offer.

On the Desk with the Insulted by Your Bad Behavior Librarian

Click to Enlarge!



In the coming year, be nice to your neighborhood librarian. They are potentially able to help you with just about any question you have. Rare indeed!


On the Desk: Thou Shalt Not:

Yank on the door we’re trying to unlock

Steal paper from the copier ( or steal anything from us for that matter. Emptying the copier is BAD)

Ask the same question every single day as if it were new

Spend all day at the library every day and act like you don’t know what our hours are..for example you are unwilling to leave each night because you think we’re open till midnight.

Move the furniture around so you can be all comfy. Go on home and create that snuggly spot for yourself.

Ask the same question several different ways to which the answer is still no.

Remark that we are too busy, too not busy. We are available to help you either way.

Try to get us to override your bazillion overdues so you can...do whatever. Pay up!

Demand to know how we’re doing in a manner that says we’d better be just chipper or ELSE.

Sometimes the answer is NO.

And my favorite post chemo no freakin' hair comment: Don't ask!!!!! WHAT'S WITH THE SCARF? ...as if it was a personal silly insult to you!!!! Eat Beans and dig deep for the politeness your momma should have taught you.

Ah....D.O.A. Lives, and it is GOOD :)

This will be me...

No sub today with two back to back programs for families (and no lunch time for us in sight) and tomorrow afternoon four hours with no sub and just ever punier from chemo me. Somewhere the library gods are laughing...

Today's Answer

Although the day is only partially over, "Where are the books I put on request?" is the top question of the day, and for whatever reason, most people who ask today don't actually have anything here.

It's What's Up Front That Counts

While thinking of a title for this post on reference questions, I came across this old ad. Ah, the 1960s, what rapscallions we were.



I thought I'd take a look at what sort of questions I get during a typical day. Instead of using traditional categories, I used the sorts of things we actually get every day. My take on things always is that every question is valuable to the person asking it, and so every question counts!

We get such an endless variety of inquiries, and I don't think people can appreciate how quickly you need to shift mental gears and call upon a huge knowledge base of accumulated information just to know where to look for answers or give the person as much help as quickly as you can because you've got a line of people waiting their turn for help. Think fast, Don't panic, Keep Moving is the order of every day. Sometimes you can help a person quickly and efficiently, sometimes they need more time and more help. There is no way to know with each person how long you'll need to spend with them to assist them. Having people right out front there to help is more important than ever. Nobody else is providing this incredibly wide variety of services.

Reference Questions: People can and do ask for information on every topic imaginable. We of course don't know everything!!! but we need what I call "glancing knowledge" of authors, titles, subject areas. We have to be familiar with adult, teen and children's authors, titles, books in series so we know where to begin looking. Some topics are repeated frequently enough so that you can get right to what the person needs. Sometimes a customer asks something so completely esoteric that you can't even be sure where to begin, so you'll need to ask them more questions to see what resource might lead to an answer. On rare occasions, someone will ask for data or information that has not been compiled by anyone that you can find. It takes a long time to get to that point in the question and answer process, however.

Holds Help (Explain they're filed by the last 4 digits of the library card number, convince the person to take out their card and look at it if they don't do that automatically, if their request isn't on the Hold shelves, go look in the back room for it)

Requests In person (Could be one title, could be 15. Some people will let you show them how to do this themselves on our catalog, some don't care to learn. If the items are on the shelf, some people will go look for them, some won't and you'll need to go out with them and find them) Telephone (Could be one, could be 15, some people call every day, multiple times per day)

These would be stolen every day if we didn't keep them behind the desk:

Newspaper Star Tribune Pioneer Press WSJ USA Today

MorningStar

Valueline


Tax Forms (We carry Federal and State forms, but only the most common and only what the Feds and State make available to us. Availability of these forms on the web has helped alot, but some folks have uncommon forms they need and don't have access to a printer or for some other reason they want us to be their source of forms. You would be surprised at how outraged people can be when we don't have the form they want and they have to pay for printing.)

Sign up for or cancel a class (We have an online events calendar for sign ups, but because most of our classes are basic computer instruction, the customer isn't often comfortable signing themselves up)

Refer to Circ (Meeting rooms bookings, fines, charges of any kind, card replacement)

Help finding an item in the library (Easy when the item is where it says it is, frustrating when it can't be found at all and the person looks at you and says "But it says it is here". Sorry on that one!

Help using the catalog: Don't understand the general keyword search concept or any searching concepts, show how to use the advanced options for searching by author, title, subject, show how to use their Account to view or suspend holds, pay fines via credit card, show the 83 or so databases and help them find one that helps them with their question, show MNLink, How to use NetLibrary (and sign up for an account)

Copier Help: Using the right coin box, enlarging, reducing, doing double sided copying, paper is jammed

Internet and Microsoft Office Help:

Help logging in (including the reservation terminal, finding that their out of county card isn't registered with us, or they owe old monies and need to pay those first)

What's My PIN

Word (most common--finding the print option under the Office Button, using and finding various options under the Ribbon, how to save to a portable storage device, changing the style set to Office 2003 for the familiar spacing and formatting)

Excel

Powerpoint

Publisher

Email Sign up Attach a document Attach or download a picture or file (complicated by the fact that all email systems are a bit different..we have people using free email such as Gmail and Yahoo but also their work and college email systems or commercial systems such as Comcast and AOL. We know the basic concepts but can't have working knowledge of all of these but people expect that we do)

Web Site Specific Help (The problem here can be that some web sites aren't easy to use and we have as much trouble navigating them as the customer, but they assume we know how to use every web site, yikes.)

Applying for a job (problems filling in form, don't know what to write in, filled in form and got kicked back to start page, attach or copy/paste resume)
Paying a Bill
Booking a flight/printing a ticket
Making an appt with the Immigration office
Buying a car
Printing a Casino Coupon

Printing using our multi-step networked printer (There are about ten steps to printing, not complex, just putzy but too much for many people to grasp. We also have instances where people cannot get certain sites to print, or the pages print with nothing on them and you need to explain Print Preview to someone too frustrated to listen...)

Children's PC Help Game is stuck, computer got shut off somehow

Test proctoring (Distance learning must be in its heyday, because we have people taking classes and needing a Test Proctor for their Printed (we get the copy in the mail or sent via email for us to print out) or Online tests from universities as far away as Alabama.

Ebooks (Lots of interest in this now, we are in a position to work with and explain the compatibility issues to people wanting Ebooks for their Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad and explain what currently have available and if it is compatible or not. Since the library does not offer any of these Readers, we are working somewhat blind trying to help people with something we don't have any working knowledge of ourselves.)

Not Remotely Service

After a nice relaxing week off I'm looking at a busy weekend at work. Since I'm all by myself this Sunday (no sub could be found apparently) I am reminded of a conversation wherein librarians on the desk are being replaced by little TV screens and a librarian at some remote location "helps" people. Ack, I say, ack.

Must Read Book, Librarian Secrets Revealed!

When I was a librarian in West Virginia, our clever boss liked to promote the motto "We Can Answer Any Question". He would get this in the local paper periodically, and people would call in, excited, and ask what they hoped would be a real stumper in response to the article. Luckily, 99% of the time they asked easy questions. He also had a sign on the reference desk that read "Please Bother Me". I am pretty sure he got a different response to this sign from the female customers than the rest of us, who were mostly young women, got from the gentlemen about town.