Library or Community Center?
Posted by: Sara Rofofsky Marcus
As I sit at the Reference Desk answering questions, I start to wonder at the questions I receive. More and more, the questions are becoming directional, tutorial (how do I use the computer), and service-based (do you have change for the copier / the phone / the bus; can I use your phone). While I love serving the public, I start to wonder the value of the reference collection as opposed to other resources that might better help the patrons today – dedicated computer tutors or classes, change machines, and the old-fashioned payphone. The new resources are great, and it is always wonderful to help a patron find the information they need; but more and more I find the service-orientation is happening more (pens, pencils, tape, highlighter, envelope, stamp, notary, fax, and more). Should we be trying to turn the library back to what it traditionally is thought to be – the repository of knowledge, or should we be adapting to what the patrons of today seem to want the library to be?
July 8th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I think your last sentence hits the nail on the head. Are we going to provide the services our patrons seek, or are we going to revert to something that they apparently no longer want. The answer should be delivering what the patron wants, and finding ways to take the value of the library (and the library staff’s skills) and making those as desirable as the copiers, change machine, and stapler. Like a retail experience, patrons may not always realize you carry more than is first visible. Increasingly, the value we can provide will be expertise, which is invisible, rather than access. But it requires a lot more proactive effort.