Why we won't be here in 20 years

[Joe Schallan]

Roy Tennant wrote:
> 
> I almost let this go past without comment, and perhaps I still should
> have, but I feel feisty today.
> 
> I've heard this line of reasoning a lot; heck, I've used it myself. But I
> think the time has come to stop saying it. The danger is that it tends to
> make us sit back and feel smug while we await the puzzled masses who will
> surely troop up to our door any day now and beg us to help them find what
> they want in that mess called the Internet. Meanwhile, nothing could be
> further from the truth . . .

Glad you were feeling feisty, Roy, because you nailed, absolutely
nailed,
the situation.  All our skill at organizing and providing access to
information
will be moot if John and Jane Q. Public do not realize what we can do. 
And,
you're right, they're not likely to come to our door if we smugly sit
back
and wait.

I've long felt that our greatest professional weakness has been our lack
of concern for our patrons, or customers, if you wish to call them by
what they actually are.  What struck me about Sallie Tisdale's article
is not so much her (sometimes good) points, but the indication that here
we
have a person who hates, really *hates*, librarians.  Our ongoing image
problems--dismiss them as trivial if you must--indicate that a lot of
our
customers share Sallie's view.

The statistics we gather betray our preoccupations:  materials
circulated,
reference questions answered, cards issued, ILLs fulfilled.  What we
should be measuring are things like percentage of questions answered,
percentage answered correctly, percentage answered within x time, and
so on.

If customers can't get through to us, can't be sure the information
they've received is correct or complete, and can't expect prompt and
courteous service, then all our highly vaunted informational skills are
as nothing.

Our customers do care about how they will be treated (most fear being
made
to appear stupid, I have discovered), how comfortable they'll be in
the library, how quickly their requests will be fulfilled, and how
useful the
resource or information will be that we will give them.  They don't give
doodly-squat about how many books per cap, circs per book, cards held as
pct. of population, etc., we are able to demonstrate.

Our attitudes toward customers stink.  And we think they're going to
come to us for help with the web?

Joe

-- 
Joe Schallan
jschall at glenpub.lib.az.us (professional)
schallan at aztec.asu.edu (personal)
Glendale, Arizona  USA