You Can Do It!

I'm appalled by the number of older women who come into the library apologizing because they aren't computer literate or because they aren't library savvy.  Not only do I show them how to use the online catalog and the school's databases, but I end up giving them a pep session.  You can do it!  You can!

Two women in a row came in today, both beginning the ref session with apologies.  I've decided to add to my usual beginning spiel a little pep session to reassure these women that using both the online catalog and the databases is easy and not to be feared.

Now if I can get them to believe me before I walk them through using them.

Noise and More Noise

Why do college students--by some standards adults--decide to come to the library to sit together and yell?  I don't get it.  Our junior college has a perfectly good, usually empty, student center and WiFi.  We also have study rooms.  Yet the same groups of supposed adults come in almost every day to sit, study (their term, not mine), and talk loudly to one another.

This, of course, forces me to be the mean "Shhhhhh!" librarian since many of the students (okay, some of the students) using the computers nearby are researching for papers and/or taking tests for online courses.  Some of these students complain--to me.  What this means is the same students get chided time after time.

Do they not get enough attention at home and among their friends?  Do they get joy from "pushing the librarian's buttons"?  Sometimes I let the sound level build until it sounds like a stadium during the World Cup.

But mostly I ask myself why.  Why is this obviously fun for them?

What should the ref librarian do?

So if you're a person walking up to the ref desk, what would you rather see the ref librarian doing?

1) Reading a book.  (Well, it is a library after all!  And since I'm now reviewing for Booklist, I have galleys to read.)

2) Writing on a piece of paper or typing on a keyboard.

3) Staring intently at a computer screen.

Since I'll be working five hour shifts this summer, I'm just wondering what activity would put students more at ease when they approach the ref desk.  Staring off into space and surveying the room don't really work well.