… Be a Patron, Part II
Being a regular patron also highlights for me that minor barriers can be major annoyances. Shortly after joining my new library, I saw a notice about free wireless access. “Cool,” I thought, and promptly trucked my laptop and papers up to a table, set everything up, and prepared to connect — only to be prompted for a username and password. “Grr,” I thought, and promptly packed everything back up (even at my nice new library, I don’t leave a laptop unattended at a table), went over to a service desk to find a flier about wireless access that listed the username and password, went back to my table and set everything back up…
As a librarian, I think, OK, maybe there’s a reason they’re set up this way. As a regular patron, all I can see is that I’m inconvenienced, and I think about the fact that I can go to Panera (where I can also drink coffee till lightning bolts shoot out of my fingertips) and connect immediately.
Yes, in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor annoyance. But these add up — each minor annoyance contributes to an overall impression of libraries as places that put up unnecessary barriers, making it more difficult for patrons to accomplish what they need to get done.
And no, I’m not picking on my specific library, which I love to death, and which in the grand scheme of things sets up fewer barriers than many. But I am noting the importance of looking at even the smallest aspects of our services with an eye toward how we can make things run more smoothly.
Sarah:
*nods* my institution just GOT wireless earlier this apring after nagging the IT department for over a year. It finally took an annoyed regent who couldn’t check his email during a meeting at the library to make it happen. The we got it, but they were so freaked about secutiry that they make everyone download some asinine client software that takes 10 steps to set up and another 7 just to get logged in each time.
After being TRAINED on the procedure, I brought my laptop to work to see how long it took me to set up and get in. Took about 10 minutes, which would have had me logged in, mail downloaded, and halfway through my blogroll at the coffee bar 2 blocks off campus. Naturally the wireless is not very heavily used, and I’m sure the IT department will use that as an excuse to deactivate it “for security”, which will enable them to get what they wanted anyway.
Oh no, I’m not bitter, just…irritated at bureaucracy.
22 July 2006, 1:48 pmHedgehog Librarian:
Isn’t it interesting how differently we view the library from the user side! I’m one of those terrified-to-approach the reference desk people. Somehow I feel I will be looked down upon as someone who should “know better” and “know how to find it already.” At what point do we assume that about ourselves? Crazy….
23 July 2006, 5:06 pmDorothea:
Garrr, my PL’s website and the FOUR CLICKS it takes to get to an OPAC search screen!
23 July 2006, 10:13 pmAnonymous:
We tried for a year to get wireless at our community college library. Finally they installed hubs where users could connect their laptops. It takes so much tweeking from techs that people rarely use it. Now we just tell people to park at Bojangles. They have wi-fi.
24 July 2006, 3:30 pm