WWPL DFW – Week 9

It was another quiet week at the information desk. My biggest challenge was helping a patron find children’s books that teach “opposites.” Between not being sure of what to use for my search criteria and the usual difficulties of locating books in the E-section, it was somewhat of a difficult task. At first, I only found one book in the catalog that looked appropriate. Unfortunately, I then had problems finding it. I told the patron to keep looking while I did some more searching of the catalog to try and find some more options. Fortunately, the patron was willing to stick it out looking for the first book, which gave me time to find a few more in the catalog. When I returned to the shelves, the patron had given up trying to find the first book, and by now, she was just browsing. I proceeded to start looking through the stacks for the three other books I had found. Just when I thought I was going to fail once again, I was delighted (and relieved) when I found the first one on my list. I gave it to the patron to look at while I searched the stacks for the next book on my list. Amazingly enough, I found that one fairly quickly. I gave it to the patron and began searching the stacks for the third book on my list. Before I had a chance to zero in on the right shelf location, the patron said that she had what she needed and she went on her way. As she was turning to leave, I mentioned that she is allowed to check out more than one book. She said that the one she had chosen would suffice. Whew! Success! Man, o man, I always sweat it when I have patrons who need help finding children’s books. I am glad for the opportunity to continue to hone my skills.

As for the Camtasia tutorial, I have to admit that I have not been able to work on it this week. My final project for my government publications took precedence this week.