Skills for reference staff

[Alis Whitt]

I have personally worked with an individual in possession of a library degree
(mail order?) who thought the dot matrix printer was a laser printer.  I'm
all for being understanding and kind to my fellow humans who've been less
fortunate yadayadayada but NOT when they are supposedly there in a
professional capacity to serve the public.  If I pump gas for a living and I
don't know how to make the pump work or check your oil should I be pumping
gas?  Would you trust me if I said your oil was fine? 

If the professional librarian you're working with just spent 20 minutes
fumbling to load the paper and couldn't find the "ready" button to resume the
printing (never mind that you lost your search results 15 minutes ago) would
you believe her when she emphatically stated that Humanities Index 
includes everything ever written on Howl?   

If so, then I've got some lovely green pasture land down here by the
water I can sell you.  Well, it does flood twice a day (round here we call it
the "tide") but them cows can move up a little bit. 

 Alis Whitt
 whitt at spinner.cofc.edu
 College of Charleston


On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Ruth Hartman - Adult Services - Ventura Library System wrote:

> An interesting issue has surfaced on Cristal-ed, and I'm curious as to how
> people on this list would respond.  How much technology should a reference
> person be expected to learn?  The argument of some staff is that they need
> only be able to use the computer to access material, but anything
> "mechanical" is not their responsibility.  Should they be expected to do
> maintenance, rebooting, simple repair, etc.?
> 
> (:-)(;-)(:->(:+)(:-#(%-)(:-I(;-}(:-*($-)(:=)(;<)(8-)(X->(:-Q([->(S-)(;-o
> Ruth Hartman          
> Manager, Adult & Childrens Services Division           :::::
> Ventura County Library Services Agency                :::::
> 651 E. Main St.,                                      ::::
> Ventura, CA 93001     (FAX) 805-652-7586              ::::: 
> (voice) 805-652-7529  (e-mail) rhartman at rain.org  \   ::::::
> ===================================================>   *:::::
> Michael Gorman's New Laws of Librarianship:       /     :::::: 
>      *Libraries serve humanity.                         ::::      
>      *Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated.
>      *Use technology intelligently to enhance service. 
>      *Protect free access to knowledge.
>      *Honor the past & create the future.
> (American Libraries 9/95)
> (-:)(-;)<-:)(+:)#-:)(-%)I-:){-;)*-:)(-$)(=:)(>;)(-8)<-X)Q-:)<-])(-S)o-;)
> 
>