Skills for reference staff

[Thomas McMillan Grant Bennett]

Of course there are conditions that would hold true for one library and
not another.  If the library is small and centrally located in one
building then there is a better ratio of support.  In the case here,
ASU, should the computer support people have to walk halfway across
campus to the Music Library just push a reset button on a computer?
Thank goodness that is not the case here.  Most of our librarians do
reboot computers, try to fix paper jams on dot printers (and quite often
do very well at that), and a few (more familiar with using a computer)
remember to use ALT-F4 to exit windows if the mouse is disabled rather
than rebooting.  Most of our computers are centrally located in the
reference area near a 20 PC computer lab on the floor above the computer
support office.  Though, if someone calls for a minor problem we do
attend to it cheerfully.  If there were more people in computer support
then I would agree that the librarians should not have to do any minor
resolutions to PC problems.  The case is quite often that we have
sufficient work to do without the minor support and not enough in the
budget to hire more people qualified help.

Thomas Bennett


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-;)



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;/*  Thomas McMillan Grant Bennett   Appalachian State University   */
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