Patron Technophobia

[Polly Trump]

The San Antonio Public Library has a Training Department that includes two
full-time Electronic Resources Trainers.  We each have an MLS and have
worked as reference librarians.

We usually offer about 20-25 classes per month in our training room at the
Central Library where we have 19 computers.  Most classes are offered
between 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekdays, and we usually offer classes on
two Saturdays each month as well.  We also try to go out to branches several
times a month to offer demontration classes (no training labs there).  The
City has  joined with a local school district to use school computer labs in
the evenings and we offer 6 classes per week in these labs.  All classes
last 90 minutes.

Here is a sample class offering:

 "Meet the Computer"  - students can see the insides of a CPU and  monitor,
learn about different keyboard possibilities, and take a mouse tutorial 

Internet Basics - students learn to read a URL, learn how to get to a
specific page for which they have the URL,  learn how to use the navigation
buttons on their browser, and get an idea of the kinds of information they
might find on the Web
 
Search the Internet - focuses on using search engines and developing search
strategies

We also offer other classes about finding specific topics (e.g., travel,
health & medicine, genealogy, buying a personal computer, etc.) on the Web
and e-mail classes. 

Meet the Computer and the Basics and Search classes are the most popular and
are often standing room only.  Average class size for the other classes is
about 8.  Most of our students are senior citizens and are very grateful for
the oppotunity to lose their technophobia.

Polly Trump
===========================================
Polly Trump
Electronic Resources Trainer
San Antonio Public Library
600 Soledad Street
San Antonio, TX 78205
Phone:  210/207-2563     Fax:  210/207-2508
ptrump at ci.sat.tx.us

Visit our Web page at http://www.sat.lib.tx.us
===========================================

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Robert J. Tiess [SMTP:rjtiess at warwick.net]
> Sent:	Thursday, April 01, 1999 9:21 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	[WEB4LIB] Patron Technophobia  [was: Re:Important article]
> 
> Dorothy Fleishman wrote:
> > What we are finding in terms of patron usage of the library
> > is that many of the people coming to the libray are too
> > technophobic to make use of what is available to them. They
> > either stand like statues and wait permissible for the
> > librarian to type a title into the computer for them, or
> > wander the stacks in total confusion rather than ask for help.
> 
> This is a vast problem, and I wonder what steps other libraries,
> as a whole, or librarians on their own are taking to reduce or
> eliminate the technophobia some patrons experience.  My collegues
> and I have been engaged with daily PAC training and monthly
> Internet instruction.  I believe a substantial part of the
> problem also involves not so much patron "computer illiteracy"
> as a mild laziness or simple lack of motivation to learn a new
> system or interface.  It's often challenging for patrons but 
> necessary, and I sympathize with them, understanding the sharp
> learning curves they face, especially when they first move from
> card catalogs to PACs.  Patron technophobia is certainly nothing
> new, but I am interested in what other unique steps, if any,
> libraries are taking to address it, especially with respect to
> Internet access.
> 
> 
> Robert
> rjtiess at warwick.net