Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thing #15

Away From the Icebergs - Reliance on User Education - I agree that libraries need to eliminate the barriers that come between customers and the information that they are seeking. People get frustrated with learning technology and they get even more frustrated when they want some kind of information right now, right now! Many times they are not going to listen, if you go through the steps of explaining how to find that research, what information is relevant, and so forth. So if there is a way to make information accessible with a one touch button or at least easier steps for the customer, then we'll have happier customers.

Into a New World of Librarianship - Librarians embrace 2.0 - this is so true. Librarians need to embrace technology and adapt to meeting customers through the webworld like the article suggests - through instant messaging, weblogs, creating myspace profiles.. If we are net savvy - then we can provide good customer assistance to internet users. If we have all the necessary tools to reach out to these customers - the ones who don't come into the library, but rather search online, then we have an outlet for reaching to them. But, like the article suggests, librarians don't seek out technology just for the sake of being cool, we seek out technology, to enhance our customer service.
But then this goes into the aspect that libraries need to provide training for staff to learn these new technologies.

No comments: