The same patrons came back on 4/23 for more basic computer/internet instruction. I’m learning about information literacy right now in one of my classes, so I tried to think about how I could apply what I was learning in class to working with the patrons. One useful thing I read about for class is Humanist learning theory, which focuses on the learners’ affective needs and is based on the learners setting their own goals.
More to come on this!
Yes. The thing with those Star Wars books is they’re all by different authors. (Pamela reminded me to ask if they’re looking for stories or information about the films, too.) I checked the catalog and found a couple on the shelf.
This is a Dewey number to memorize: 636.
Helen Oxenbury! We didn’t have it in, but a nearby library did.
Between Pamela and me we found almost 20 books (both fiction and non-fiction). Not bad for such short notice.
I showed the patron how to ILL the books. I also ended up showing her how to check her account online. Great!
This was an important storytime for me: my first time reading to the big Ballard crowd! The theme was PIGS! Here’s what Pamela did:
Usual Intro: “I have ten fingers that belong to me” and “The More We Get Together”
Teeny Weeny Bop by Margaret Read MacDonald
The Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell
Felt Board Story: The 3 Little Pigs
Closing: “If You’re Happy and You Know It” (with the pop-up book)
If this seems like a shorter program than usual, it wasn’t. I might have taken quite a bit of time with my story (which was The Pig in the Pond). But Pamela said I did a good job and the audience responded well.
A troop of Girl Scouts came to the library on Tuesday to learn about the library. It was part of earning a community awareness badge, I think. I sat in to see how it went.
First, Pamela already knew many of the girls as regular library users, which was nice. She started off by asking them what they wanted to know. “What authors are the most popular?” “Can we go on the roof?” “How do you get rid of ruined books?” Stuff like that. Pamela answered their questions and then gave a little talk about the library in general, allowing for tangents following the girls’ interests. Then she gave them a tour of the library. Here are some notes I made:
As it turns out, if you officially change your address a hold gets put on your library account until you report the change of address to the library. Ellen showed me how to get the borrower back on good terms.
It turned out to be Alexander McCall Smith’s new book, so it had 238 holds on it. It turned out the patron hadn’t read any of the previous books in the series, so I hooked her up with the number one #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
Pamela took this question and I observed how she showed the patron the Easy Readers section where the phonics books are. There are also curriculum books in the 370s, but most of them are at the downtown library.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you can. So I showed the patron how to copy the ISBN number and check on Amazon, which always lets you know what you’re dealing with.
The library has handouts about the very cool and green building it occupies. There are also some diagrams and explanations in the lobby. Pamela also encouraged the kids to contact the architects, who are local.
We started throwing things out. The patron didn’t take any particular suggestions, but our suggestions led him to something he liked.
We surely do. They’re on the side of one of the reference shelves.
We can do that. I just changed the status of the book, put a slip in it with part of the patron’s name on it, and stuck it on the holds shelf.
Oh, I love a good book hunt. I used Amazon to search and we eventually found what she thought might be it, so we put a hold on it for her.
On Wednesday, April 16th, I helped Bob with a small group of patrons who wanted to learn computer and internet basics. There were four people. We had to set them up in the children’s area because the other computers hadn’t been reserved, but they didn’t seem to mind.
Bob took them through logging in, opening a browser window, operating the mouse, and locating the important keys on the keyboard. I assisted the learners when they had trouble following. The truth is, it’s hard to talk about what to do with the mouse because there’s no commonly understood vocabulary to work with. “Move the mouse so the pointer is in the white box that has the address in it and left-click once,” is a mouthful, you know? And not that clear. So the best way to help is to be right there to point things out.
Once they had all successfully Googled themselves, I helped one patron set up an email account. It was really fun because she was so excited about having email for the first time. It’s these kinds of experiences that make me really want to work in a public library.
There were still a lot of tax questions today, including one about a Seattle Times article that said the IRS deadline doesn’t really apply to those who are owed money by the government (they’ll keep your money as long as you let them, thankyouverymuch).
I also got a question that was a lot like the questions I usually get at the UW Engineering Library (where I’m a Student Reference Assistant): “Can you help me find these journal articles?” Only the patron thought they were books because the citations didn’t have volumes or page #s, just years and titles and sources. I recognized one of the sources, JAMA, as the Journal of the American Medical Association. SPL has online access to JAMA, but, did I forget to mention this?, our internet connection was going off and on all day! What a nightmare! Luckily, we could still use the catalog, but anything external to the catalog was a no-go. I was telling the patron he’d have to go look for the article in paper at the Central Library downtown, when the internet started working again and we quickly accessed the article and printed it. The other articles he was looking for weren’t available full-text electronically (though we did find an abstract for one), so he ended up having to go to the Central Library anyway. This was a long transaction (probably more than 30 minutes) and I learned a lot from it:
I also explained how to place a hold on an item in the catalog to a woman over the phone today. That was interesting. You have to really watch your lingo.
And I got a question that really made me smile because it brought me right back to LIS 520 with Matt Saxton where we learned that when a person asks a question at the reference desk you sometimes have to work to figure out what their real question is (through a “reference interview”). I’ll write out what happened like a play:
PATRON: Do you have any books about species?
LIBRARIAN: Sure. Are you looking for a particular species or all species?
PATRON: Um, how about mammals?
LIBRARIAN: Yeah, we have books about mammals. Was there a particular mammal you had in mind?
PATRON: Um, I’m actually looking for a book about cats.
LIBRARIAN: Okay, we have some of those. Are you interested in how to take care of cats?
PATRON: No, I want to read about different kinds of cats.
LIBRARIAN: Like breeds?
PATRON: Yes, exactly. I want to learn about breeds of cats.
LIBRARIAN: Okay, no problem. How about a visual guide to more than 250 types of cats from around the world?
PATRON: Great. Thanks!
Boy, were there a lot of people at story time on April 16th! The room was packed (and really noisy). All the books Pamela had set up had been taken and she had to spend some time before she started ushering people in and closing the door. Here’s how the story time went:
Usual Intro:
Rhyme: “I’ve got 10 fingers that belong to me…”
Song: “The More We Get Together” with ASL signing
First book:
Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen
After this story it was really noisy, so Pamela said “If you can hear me put your hand on you head, leg, etc.” until it calmed down a little.
My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis
Song: The Wheels on the Bus by Paul Zelinsky
Mr. Grumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham
Felt board story: “We All Go Traveling By” (vehicle sounds)
Dinosaur Train by John Steven Gurney
Usual ending:
Song: “If You’re Happy and You Know It” with the pop-up book
The End!
Observations: “The Wheels on the Bus” was, for me, the best part of the story time because everyone participated and it actually got quiet when the mamas on the bus went sh sh sh. After the story time was over, Pamela and I talked about how it can be difficult to ask parents to be quiet during story time because you don’t want to scold them. How to do it nicely but firmly? That’s the question.
I was helping with Seeds of Compassion from 8:30 to 2:30 today, so I didn’t see a lot of reference action. I was asked a few questions by people viewing the panel discussions. Mostly they wanted to know about the panelists, so I directed them to the Seeds of Compassion website, which has information about he panelists.
Other questions on Tuesday:
Strangely enough, SPL doesn’t have many classics as audio books (the only one we had was Tale of Two Cities). So we put in requests for them through Inter-Library Loan.
Sure. We did a Google image search for “Roger Rabbit baby” and found lots of pictures of Baby Herman. The patron subsequently wanted to find pictures of angels. I asked him some more questions and found that he was really looking for pictures of Cupid, so I showed him where we keep our Valentine’s Day books and he was happy.
We looked up some books about step-parenting and went to browse the section. Luckily, there were some books on the shelf that appealed to the patron, notably one called Mom, There’s a Man in the Kitchen and He’s Wearing Your Robe, which was about parenting while dating. Even though it’s written for the parent and not the partner, we figured it would probably have useful information.
On Tuesday, April 15th, I got up early and went to Ballard to volunteer for the Seeds of Compassion screening. Basically, this involved setting up the laptop and projector, putting some chairs and a table out, and watching the Dalai Lama and his esteemed co-panelists (rabbis, priests, Muslims, etc.) talk about spirituality and compassion. It was a good experience. I got to chat with some of the visitors about the goings-on, and I really enjoyed watching the panel discussions, which included His Holiness, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
After the screening was over, Lynn brought up an interesting point: Is it appropriate for the public library to be showing what is basically a religious (or at least semi-religious) event? Are we violating the separation of church and state by hosting these viewings? (NB: Seattle Public Schools were involved in Dalai Lama events, too.) What if “Seeds of Compassion” had featured a Christian minister? Would that have sparked protests? This, for me, is an interesting question. I agree with Lynn in principal, but who can say no to this guy?
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