WWPL DFW – Week 3

Still learning! I had a few “Why didn’t I find it sooner?” moments while providing information services this week. A couple of times I found the information a patron was looking for long after the patron was gone. Ugh! I feel particularly bad that I was not able to give a good answer to a gentleman who wanted to find out how to get a census form since he had not received one in the mail. He was very concerned about being counted. I gave him the URL to the census website, but later I found the exact answer to his question on the website FAQ page. If only I had taken the time to give his query proper attention. Instead, I was in a rush because there was a line of people needing help. Time is probably the greatest challenge of face-to-face information services.

On Tuesday, Marty stopped by and gave me an “assignment”. She asked me to come up with a list of fifty titles of books that are two years old or less, that are owned by the WWPL, and that are appropriate for the Walla Walla Reading club - a group of eighty to ninety year old ladies - i.e. books without violent or sexy content. She wanted it to be done by Friday. While this ended up being about twelve hours worth of work I hadn’t planned into my schedule this week, I feel a great sense of accomplishment for having gotten it done. All in all, the assignment was more fun and interesting than I expected it to be. I have never thought myself to be a good candidate for providing Reader’s Advisory since I am an informational reader rather than a recreational reader. Regardless of my lack of familiarity with popular fiction/non-fiction, I was able to draw on the skills I learned in winter quarter, last year, to come up with a list. I especially like the fact that, in a small way, the assignment gave me a chance to fulfill my passion for serving the senior population.

I attended the “Librarians meeting” again this week. It was very enlightening. I am amazed at the complexity of issues that a public library has to deal with. I am thankful I have been invited to attend these meetings. It is better than any class on managing a library.