Work Like a Patron Day
From the Swiss Army Librarian:
Last week, a library volunteer and I were working on a project together. We each needed to work on a computer, but be close enough together to talk. The only arrangement like this in the library are the public workstations, so we worked out there.
In addition to getting the work done, I learned a few things:
- some of the keys of the keyboard didn’t work very well
- the monitor had streaks and fingerprints on it
- it was hard to concentrate with people walking and talking around us
- both of us forgot to bring a flash drive to save our work
This experience reminded me of a post I read on Walking Paper (but I couldn’t find it again). Aaron mentioned how important it was to put ourselves in our patrons’ shoes, so we can see the library as they see it.
That’s why I’m proposing “Work Like A Patron Day” on October 15th.
I had a very similar experience last weekend. My cohort and I needed to work on a group project and decided to meet at Seattle Public Library to be able to connect to their Wi-Fi. Unfortunately when we got there the Wi-Fi was down indefinitely. Our only alternative was to use the “casino” PACS. The problem with using the PACs were having to wait for a computer to become available, arbitrary time limits for usage, and not being able to sit together to work cooperatively on the project. Therefore what we actually accomplished that day was far less than what we had hoped to accomplish.
This experience enabled us to experience first hand what those who are totally dependent upon PAC experience on a daily basis.