Here’s how this works
February 19th, 2007 by Christopher Harris
My wife and I broke out of our work and snow induced hibernation yesterday and headed out to try a new noodle shop in Rochester that had come highly recommended. Trying a new place like this can be a challenge. How do things work here? What are the “rules” for this place? A few months ago we first visited the local itteration of Moe’s Southwest Grill. While it was very nice to be greeted with a hearty “Welcome to Moe’s!” upon entering, it was a bit confusing to figure things out. Luckily one of the tacoistas (?) asked if this was our first time and walked us through the process. Still, it was very nice to be greeted with a sign telling us how to move through the process at the local itteration of Wild Noodles. Being that it is a national franchise, I wonder if this sign is part of the opening process or if it was a local innovation. Either way, I really appreciated the information.
While we as librarians do a great job of identifiying new customers and helping them a’la Moe’s, what can we take from this? Are there parts of our libraries (physical or virtual) that could benefit from proactive directions like this? Would our customers prefer the ability to quickly read and learn and thus enter into an interaction without feeling like such a newbie?
February 19th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I have to remember the “newbie” syndrome every fall, when I inevitably have kindergarteners who’ve never been in a library before, and thus don’t know how the whole “book borrowing” thing works.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
And just when they think they have it, we hit them with non-circulating reference collections and the like.
Still, I think that is one thing that school libraries often do really well. Library orientations are so very important. I love the orientation video that Joyce Valenza and her students made for the library.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Immersion obscures perception. Whether it be underwater or absorbed by one’s job we all forget what it’s like sometimes to be a ‘newbie.’ Those of us that are so involved in libraries on a daily basis forget basic fundamentals and concepts aren’t always basic and fundamental. Plus you have to be careful never to discourage either because the ‘newbie,’ for a lack of better word, may grow to detest libraries. I think like a business we must always work to make the library visit a worthwhile experience whether it be orientations in schools, signage, or a helpful reference librarian.
The Wegmans near me has wireless Internet access. It has a spacious Internet café with people busily typing away on their laptops. Who would have thought to go to a grocery store not for groceries? Of course they place their coffee shop and goodies close by in case you get hungry! My point is a ‘newbie’ that found the Internet café told a friend, and so on, and now the place is mobbed daily. I just think sometimes we sell ourselves short. Many people think I’m in the ‘book business,’ when in reality I feel our scope is far greater than that. We’re in the information and entertainment business (the latter referring to fiction collections). Like the noodles sign I think we need to get out the word of all the services we offer. A call number might be obvious to us, but not if you’re confronted with it for the first time.