[Web4lib] computer lab support

[David Fulton]

How much support do you offer in your computer labs? We are a public 
library but I'd be interested to hear from those in academic 
settings, too.

We are trying to write a policy about the level of support we can 
offer in our computer lab. The lab has 4 PCs and 4 Macs. All have CD 
burners, digital imaging software, the Office Suite, and Internet. 
One has InDesign. We also have a flatbed scanner and a slide scanner. 
We have 1 B&W and 1 color printer. Scheduling of lab computers is 
done by a lab attendant (clerk) at a desk outside the lab. The 
attendants rotate hourly shifts at this desk. When a patron has a 
question, they ask the lab attendant first. If the attendant doesn't 
know the answer, the patron is referrred to a librarian at the 
reference desk.

Because of what we offer, the questions cover a wide area and can get 
pretty technical. Answering them can take a lot of time as well. Our 
philosophy is that we provide resources in the form of computers and 
software. We are here to get you started but we won't do your work 
for you. We encourage patrons to be self-sufficient. We wrote Quick 
Start guides that explain how to scan a picture, how to burn a CD, 
how to attach a file to an e-mail message, etc. We also have a shelf 
of manuals in the lab: Dummies books, Missing Manuals.

There are varying levels of expertise among the lab attendants and 
librarians. Some of our patrons get angry when we don't know the 
answer to their question. One of the attendants knows Photoshop very 
well. If she helps a patron, he expects the same level of service 
from the other attendants.

I'm in charge of a committee to decide what our policy is and how to 
implement it. Right now we think it's best to offer a basic level of 
service, but we're not sure exactly what that means. And once we 
figure it out, how to we communicate this to patrons and staff?

Thanks.
-- 
David Fulton
Liverpool Public Library
310 Tulip Street
Liverpool, NY 13088-4997
315.457.0310
dfulton at mailbox.lpl.org