definitely the most exciting thing about this week, and perhaps the entire trip in general, was spending the entire day at the Schwarzman Building on 42nd street, talking to some of the librarians there, receiving a tour, and getting to look at the special collections that are housed there.

I began with a tour of the library by Phil Yockey, who is the Reference and Instructional Services manager at Schwarzman Building. The tour encompassed the entire library, including the reading room (where I was allowed onto the balcony, which used to be public access, but has been blocked off due to disabled access laws in America), the room where the trustees meet (which also happens to house the fireplace where they burn the books to keep warm in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”) and the arts collection housed at one end of the reading room.

After this I spent some time with David Lowe, who is the only staff member working with the photograph collection. He has been in that position for around 7 years, and although he doesn’t have any information management training, his background is in fine arts, which lead him into the position. The photograph collection at NYPL is not a browsing collection, and people who would best be served by a browsing collection are directed to the Mid-Manhattan Library across the road. The collection at the Schwarzman building is organised by artists, and much of it still remains to be catalogued, as originally it was shelved in the stacks and one librarian took it upon herself , many years ago, to build the collection as a separate entity. Items from the collection are sometimes lent out for exhibition purposes, and new acquisitions are still made. These acquisitions include older works and artists, but also new and emerging artists that are deemed important enough for the library to collect. Acquisitions are still made through donations also.

After this I went to the Berg collection, a collection donated by two brothers who were avid collectors of American and English literature. The collection houses not only books and manuscripts, but letters and correspondence as well. They even have Virginia Woolf’s walking stick, which was found near the shore after she drowned herself. A little bit morbid, but quite exciting none the less! The acquisitions process for the Berg collection is similar to that of the photography collection, through some funding and largely donations. There are three full time staff members in this department. Whilst there I had a very interesting conversation with Isaac, the curator of the collection, who talked about the problem of digitized data vs. print books, and the need to update and maintain this data as formats change. This is something that we have often talked about at Uni, and Document Management One focused largely on this, however it was very interesting, and made the issue even more real, when hearing it from someone who has worked in the industry for quite some time. (Not that the lecturers at Uni haven’t!)

Some of the items that they pulled from the collection and allowed me to view included the original handwritten draft of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the original handwritten draft of Virginia Woolf’s Too the Light House, some photographs of and by William Boroughs, and the very last letter that John Keates wrote his lover Fanny Brawne before he died.

After this I moved on to the manuscripts and rare books collection, where I had a great conversation with some librarians who have recently been donated the entire archives from the New York Times, which although exciting, raises an issue of privacy, as the family who owned them prior are still alive and active in the business world. This means that although the library has the archives, they will remain closed for a number of years, and the public will not be able to access them. We then had a great talk about conspiracy theories relating to the times and World War II, and why it was necessary to keep the archives closed for a certain period of time.

While I was in the manuscripts section I was able to see a collection of letters written by each of the American Presidents, an item donated by a private collector, and so I have seen documents signed by George Washington, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln! There was another similar set of documents, that included a letter written and signed by Mary Antoinette! I have been very very lucky and have seen some amazing things during my time here, that I will remember forever! If similar items are to be found in Australia, I imagine in most cases they would be owned by private collectors, and it is something that I would most likely never get to see during my career, but the truly amazing thing about the NYPL is that they are part of the collection, and it’s publicly accessable! I know New Yorkers don’t know how lucky they are because I’ve talked to many of them about it, and most hadn’t been to the main library building, but those who had, weren’t aware that it housed such amazing things in its collection!

Today is my last day, and I am sad to be going home. Although I’m excited about seeing my friends and family, I’ve had such a good time, and it’s been such a great experience that I will be sad to leave! I definitely plan on coming back to New York again one day and exploring further.

http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cartalog/index.html

Vault is a database that provides guides on various careers and industries, both within America and internationally. Users of the site are able to gain information about various careers, as well as inside information about companies, salaries etc, through surveyed information from employees of the companies in question.  This is a handy resource for researching industries or careers that may be of interest but also provides insight into specific companies and what it is like to be an employee of said company. The same information is available for undergraduate courses and colleges, with surveyed information from current students.

The reason we were attending a training seminar was to become familiar with the updated site, both navigation wise, and so that we are aware of what if offers patrons. It also gave the library staff a chance to give feedback to the Vault employees, about the new site and its navigation.

This session was very similar to the ones that we had at RMIT whilst learning to use databases such as ProQuest. It was also very similar to the session we were then required to run ourselves in semester two, when we picked an information guide of some description, in many cases a database, and created a tutorial session for a specific audience to demonstrate the use of the database and the information that was available.

Also available on the Vault database was information about current jobs available within the industry, similar to our job advertising website in Australia. I thought this was a great idea, because as far as I am aware there aren’t any databases or resources similar to Vault in Australia, and our job seeking websites do not offer nearly as much information about careers and industry.

Later on Friday I sat in and observed a class about retrieving journal articles, something that I felt fairly confident in already due to using such databases at uni for research purposes, but also having received training in the use of these resources in first semester of the Grad Dip of Info Management.

On Saturday I came into the library for a few hours to help with the StartUp! Business Plan Competition. The competition is only open to residents of Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx, and participants are required to attend an orientation session, and four individual work shop session, where they will create and complete a business plan for submission and judging. The winner of the competition will receive a $15,000 grant to help fund their business.

Saturday was the last of the orientation sessions, and I came in to lend a hand, because previous session had been very popular and the library was extremely busy. I assisted by handing out tickets to the seating area and answering any questions as best I could. It was definitely an enjoyable experience, mainly because it allowed me to interact with Americans without the pressure of supplying them with accurate and adequate information in an unfamiliar system/environment. There was no pressure and I was able to greet and talk to people whilst being fairly confident that I would be able to help them or answer any of their questions.

I also continued working in the cage, writing down the items that John had turned down and then checking the electronic catalog and printing out the records. On Thursday I began going through a shelf listing that John had, to check for cards that might relate to the turned down items. When I found one I would put it aside, any record that didn’t have a matching card from the shelf listing was put on a separate pile.

There was a fairly amusing moment when I asked John how I would remove the cards from the draw that they were kept in. They were sitting in a draw from an old style card catalog. He said to just pull them out. I then inquired about the possibility of  ripping the cards if I did that. For a second neither of us understood one another, and then John realised that I had no idea how to remove a card from a shelf catalog, because they were phased out of libraries long before I entered the profession! He showed me how to unscrew and remove the bar that held the cards in place, and it was an enlightening experience for me. I actually felt a little embarrassed that I am so young and so new to the profession that I didn’t know how to do it already, but the last time I used a card catalog I think I was about 8 years old!

I’ve begun noticing some very famous names amongst the books in the collection, and I must admit that I get quite a thrill when I see names like Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Descartes on the spines of some of the volumes.

I think history and old books is part of why I became a librarian. I’ve always loved historical fiction and historical narratives, in movies, computer games, documentaries, so to be able to work with such a collection with so many famous names from history is really very exciting for me. I have a bit of an obsession with old things, and particularly things from the industrial era, so being able to see some of the old scientific texts and diagrams has been a fantastic experience!

I sort of don’t want to come home…

After working with the books I was able to attend another class about using the databases available at the library. Each class allows me to become familiar with a new data base, or learn it better, so that I am able to determine which database might be best for a particular users needs.

After the class I got to sit in on the SAC meeting. SAC stands for the SIBL Advisory Committee, and all the various heads of department meet with the director os SIBL, Kristin McDonough, to discuss any issues with the library. I feel extremely privileged to have been allowed to attend this meeting, and it gave me great insight into the types of issues that management in libraries face when dealing with staff, funding, patrons and collections. All sorts of issues were raised, and due to the NYPL being such a large and unique collection, it was interesting to observe some of the problems that might occur in Australian libraries, but certainly occur on a much larger scale in NYPL.

Recently the library has decided to merge its circulating and reference collections, so they are no longer treated separately. This seems to have caused all sorts of hiccups in the way that things are done and the way that funding is allocated across the branches and the 4 main libraries. As far as I can tell there is no longer any separate allocation of funds for individual locations. Where branches and libraries were able to buy for their own collections, based on what their users wanted or needed, all acquisitions are now going through a main division. (This is as far as I can tell, i could be wrong). This causes all sorts of problems in regards to whether or not branches are getting materials that are desired by their patrons and will actually be used. This also causes problems for a specialist library like SIBL, that needs certain subject matter to be bought for its circulating collection, but this material would be different to what might be bought for other branch circulating collections.

Due to the financial crisis, the library has been greatly affected in terms of funding. Unlike Australian public libraries, the NYPL receives the majority of its funding from private donations. This can mean that budgets get quite tight. For this reason some things have been cut, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the library is no longer sending items out to get them bound. This also means that decisions have been made about how best to utilise space, whether or not to buy more items, or items in a particular area, and whether or not things will be placed on the shelves, the closed stacks or sent off to the libraries storage facility in Princeton. It seemed that there had been quite a few decisions that required the shifting about of large amounts of materials over the last 18 months at the library, and that people were starting to resent the lack of decision and communication. This is understandable in an organisation the size of NYPL.

The subject of weeding came up, and it seemed to be an issue that caused some uncertainty. It had been identified that some of the items in the SIBL circulating collection were beginning to appear dated, and that some attempt at weeding should be made. It was unclear as to what criteria should be used to remove items from the collection. Some of the different criteria listed included:

• Damaged items
• Certain numbers or subjects
• Books originally from other collections
• multiple copies
• Number of times borrowed

All of these are perfectly valid reasons, and criteria like this is often used at home to make decisions about removing items from a collection. What seemed to be the main point of contention was if there was any need at this point in time to weed, as a limited number of new books were coming in, in comparison to the past. The main reason for this would chiefly be funding issues due to the economic recession. Was it better to have a small collection of relevant and used items, with a large amount of empty shelf space, or a large collection where some of the items were rarely being used.

I think that if there are no or limited new items coming in, and it is not necessary to remove items from the shelves, then it is perfectly acceptable to leave them there, whether they are high circulation items or not. I think it is important that a library look like a library at this point in time. Some patrons are used to accessing information electronically or online, and are not too worried about whether or not there are books available to them, other patrons that come into a library come for the books alone. If there are empty shelves, I think this troubles patrons. At this point in time, despite our cross over audience, people expect a library to have books on the shelves. If it doesn’t then they become disconcerted.

If there isn’t a need to remove the items and not many new items are coming into the library, why trouble patrons or waste man power and time on removing them. Perhaps do a small-scale sight weed and remove any severely damaged books, but I’m not sure at this point in time it would be necessary to remove a large amount of items from the circulating collection.

I have to admit that this just one opinion, and that I have no inside or in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of the library, its budget and funding or how it is organised, but to me I think it would disturb the patrons a great deal to have a large amount of items removed, where as if they were left as they are now, no one would really notice.

The books at SIBL relate, obviously, to science, industry and business. Due to their age they mainly seem to relate to science, although I did notice some texts on travel. The books have been donated to the NYPL by various collectors over the years, and some date as far back as the 1500′s, so I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with such rare books. It is not an opportunity that I am likely to have again in my career.

I began by grouping a collection of works from the late 1600′s through to the early 1700′s. The series is similar to what would be an encyclopedia today. However the tricky part was that the boxes the books were stored in, to keep them from becoming damaged through prolonged exposure, were sometimes wrong. This particular part of the collection has four different sections. The work itself, the supplement to the work, the new supplement to the work (which I believe covers the second half of the main work) and the index. Unfortunately it wasn’t as straight forward as simply identifying what went where. The entire text is written in Latin, and I have no training in Latin at all. I was able to pick up on some of the terms amongst the publication details, and luckily my knowledge of roman numerals came back fairly quickly. The main issue that arose was the fact that what was written on the spine of the boxes, did not always relate to what was actually in the work, so it was necessary to group all of the texts without the boxes, and then tomorrow the plan is to relabel the boxes in some way.

The other major issue that arose was that we seemed to have 2 copies of the 3rd tome in the supplement. The numbering in both copies was slightly off, so where the first tome started at page 1 and progressed through to page 513, the second tome began at page 497 or thereabouts, and then continued on and ended somewhere in the 300′s. After carefully examining the page numbers, John Balow and I were able to determine that the first tome was not complete, and that the second tome started a few pages before the end of the first, continued to the end of the publication, and then began again. So between the two tomes there was a complete work, however it would require some flipping around through both volumes to actually have some sort of sequential reading.

Originally I began working with both a smock and a pair of cotton gloves to protect the texts. However John does not wear gloves when handling the books, and told me that he had read a document saying that the oil on your hands can actually be beneficial for the covers of the books (I do not imagine the same can be said of the actual paper pages). I was also having difficulty turning the pages of the books whilst wearing the gloves, and did not want to damage the paper further, so I think that from now on I will not wear gloves, but handle the paper pages with an even higher level of care.

After completing my two hours in the cage with the rare books, I had my picture taken for the staff newsletter and had my security pass upgraded so I can access the stack on my own, allowing me to go up there during any free time I might have, and continue working on any tasks set out for me by John.

During the afternoon I spent two hours in the Electronic Information Centre at the library, learning about two or three different databases that are commonly used by the patrons, as well as where the various handouts and photo copies for classes and tutorials are kept, and the general layout of the area. I then hung around to help any body who may have an inquiry or need some help, however it was fairly quiet for the afternoon, and I wasn’t required to do much.

I found out that it is not in SIBL’s policy to help people with things like transferring information onto a flash drive. Staff can assist patrons by giving them handouts, or advising them, but they cannot do the tasks for them, nor are they allowed to touch a laptop bought in by a patron. This is because if anything should happen to the laptop or the information whilst the staff member is using it, there si the possibility of the patron suing the library. I wasn’t aware of this when I helped a man to transfer files from his laptop to his flash drive, but now that I am aware of this policy, I will be referring these sort of inquiries to one of the computing staff, or advise them of the ‘cheat sheets’ that are available for patron use.

The meeting was an overview of the information from a seminar a number of the staff attended. They passed on some of the key points that they had learned about ADA compliance. ADA stands for the American’s with Disabilities Act, and similar to Australian occupational health and safety, and access regulations, it deals with ensuring that public buildings are wheelchair accessable, and that measures are taken to ensure that all members of the public are able to easily access and use the services at SIBL.

SIBL has an elevator that the public can use, and this allows patrons in wheel chairs to easily access the lower level  of the library. Some of the other ADA compliance measures at the library include services for sight and hearing impaired patrons. Software programs are available to patrons that allow them to enlarge the text on screen, or have it read aloud to them by the computer. The library uses two programs called Magic and Jaws, which can be used in conjunction with each other. I’m hoping at some point, I will have the opportunity to look at these programs and become familiar with them. The library offers a number of other services to disadvantaged patrons, and this section of the website can be found at

http://www.nypl.org/services/pwd.html

However the website is currently being updated, and so this link may not work in the future.

Having brought up the point of the website changing, it was obvious that there have been some problems with accessing information through the website lately, as even during the staff meeting, there were problems finding appropriate information relating to the discussion, and some information had been moved. Also it appeared that the search function on the site was having trouble locating desired information during the meeting. This was frustrating and disruptive for staff members involved, and a good example of the effect that change, even if it is for the better, can have on companies. Sometimes there is a break down in communication, and this can cause issues. I observed that the website is a main topic of discussion at the moment, but also that there has been an overhaul in the way that information is posted to the website. To my understanding the process has changed, and rather than having to contact the department that creates and maintains the information on the website, individuals in various departments are being trained to update and maintain information relating to their specific areas, and so changes and improvements to the website can be made much sooner, enhancing the experience for staff and patrons alike.

After the staff meeting Erminio introduced me to John Balow, who will be supervising me during my project dealing with the rare books collection at SIBL. John is in the process of making an inventory of the rare books housed at SIBL, and I will be joining him in this task. I will work on this project from 10am until 12pm each weekday, before continuing with my other scheduled tasks, such as reference desk duties. John and Erminio took me up to the cage where the rare books are housed, and I was able to see what sort of texts I would be dealing with, and get an idea of what I will be required to do. My first task will be to order and check one particular series of old books, to ensure that the boxes they are kept in are labelled correctly, and identify if we have the full set or not. These books were first published in the late 1600′s, so it is an excellent change to be able to see and work with texts that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. Some of the books in the collection go back as far as the 1500′s, and I look forward to being able to work with such rare and fragile texts. Whilst handling the books I will be wearing a smock and cotton gloves, to preserve the paper and the covers, and to ensure that any oils or grease on my hands isn’t damaging the book in anyway. It is important to take these measures to preserve the books for the longest period of time possible.

My final activity for the day was to walk around and observe a tour of the library that was being run for some students from one of the local Universities. The students were introduced to the library and given a thorough outline of the different areas, and some of the things included in the collection, before they were shown some of the databases available at the library that might be beneficial to their course.

The journals come into the library, processed by the staff, that use their own coding system to determine when the item came into the library etc, and where it should be shelved, before they are sent to the stacks. The same processes is carried out for books, however depending on the title and its content, it may end up in the circulating collection or in the open shelf reference collection, and not in the closed stacks.

The library also used to have its own binding service, to re-bind any items that were deemed flimsy or that would deteriorate significantly over time. In recent years they have out sourced their binding services, but due to the current economic climate, no re-binding of books is taking place at all. This actually answered one of the questions that I had about the library. I had noticed during my observations and through walking around the library, that some of the items on the shelf had spines with their call number imprinted into the binding. I wondered if perhaps they were special copies of items that had been published for the library specifically, but these are simply the items that have been sent out for re-binding at some point.

Borgan explained to me some of the major problems with the processing of journals in particular. Sometimes publishers make mistakes about the volume or issue number of a publication, and this can cause problems down the line with the cataloging of the item at a library. This may not be of concern to the general public, who often don’t look at the volume or issue number of an item, even if they have a personal subscription to the service, but when you are trying to keep an accurate and up to date catalog for public use, it can cause quite a problem. The other major problem is that subscription to journals and databases are not designed with public libraries in mind, they are often designed for personal use, and working out ways of subscribing to this content, and making it publicly available through the library has been an issue of concern. One of the ways that SIBL has dealt with this is that some of the databases subscribed to are only available from the library, and you MUST be on site to be able to access them. Others are only available from certain computers, so not only do you have to be in the library, but you must also be using a certain computer if you wish to be able to access the content of these particular databases.

We also briefly covered the subject of dealing with different formats, and the problem of obsolete data. This eventually lead into a discussion about the future of print, and whether or not the book will still be in existence in the future. This is a huge topic in all areas of business and industry at the moment, not just in information management. As companies such as Amazon bring out electronic print readers, or books, such as the Kindle, it seems like there is a good possibility that print and books as we experience them today will be all but extinct.

An example of obsolete technology was a particular form of microfilm that Borgan had. This microfilm contained government documents and legislation, or something similar, but the machine that was used to read this particular microfilm was no longer working. Even if the library is able to find another machine that could read the information, there is no guarantee that this machine would continue to work in the future, or that it could properly maintained for an indefinite amount of time. This problem occurs today in the electronic age as well, as different types of files and formats are used across all areas of information. PC’s and Apple Mac’s are becoming more compatible, but there are still issues. Not all of the information on floppy disks has been transferred to CD’s. And then what comes after CD’s? Will the USB always be the desired way of carrying around information, or will it go the way of floppy disks? These are all questions that no one has the answer to, but need to be considered when making decisions about the creation and archiving of information.

The other hot topic is whether or not print will continue in the future and what will happen to books? I have heard many discussion similar to this, and attended a very interesting talk at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival in June about what the future holds for the book. Ever since Gutenberg designed a printing press in the 1400′s that allowed for moveable type, books have been the predominant format for information. Now with the internet and electronic data, the book is no longer the only information format, nor is the most popular. More and more people rely on computers and the internet everyday. Will this make the book completely obsolete? Some people believe that there will always be a demand for books, and I certainly hope so. One speaker at the Writer’s Festival made the point that books will probably disappear as a mainstream format, but they will become highly collectable works of art. Or that artists will begin making books, and book making and binding will become a sort after and selective skill once more. We will be able to get books, but they will be highly expensive and resemble the bibles created by the monks in the first millenium, time consuming, hand crafted, visual masterpieces.

Borgan talked about the possibility of printing booths becoming available. Where people were able to select the text that they wanted, and have it printed and turned into a book at an express booth, similar to the way we take passport photos now.

I’m not sure what will happen with books in the future, but I do hope that they hang around. I will always prefer a physical book in my hand, as opposed to reading from a screen, but who can say the same of future generations? Perhaps they will not be used to holding books, and will access texts on screen, so it will no longer be a matter of preference, but of what is normal, what is the common experience.

I also prefer the thought that we will continue to publish books and physical print materials, because I do not trust technology. It goes out of date, it becomes obsolete. It crashes and stops working. It is erasable. One day the internet and everything that is on it may disappear, and we will have no way of getting it back. One day, for whatever reason, we will no longer have electricity, and then none of the technology that we rely upon will work. If that happens I imagine people will be too busy to notice the information that has gone missing, initially, but one it will be missed. At least with the book we have evidence that with proper preservation, there is the possibility of a single printed text lasting hundreds of years. And the only way to erase a book, or delete it for ever is to physically destroy it. We don’t have to worry about a power failure or the accidental pressing of the wrong combination of keys.

I’m not sure which is the more reliable way of storing information. As technology stands at the moment, I think we should stick to books, but who knows what sort of technologies the future holds? I hope that no matter what it holds, I’m holding a book.

I was extremely thankful that I already had some experience with how to conduct a reference interview, both from some of the subjects at RMIT and from working at the Wyndham City Council Library.  I also found that being comfortable with computers and navigating websites helped, as the NYPL has a new catalog, attached to their website. This catalog is the same as the one that patrons access online. Unlike Wyndham where we have the online catalog that the users can access, and then a separate program for staff which contains borrower information and item status’ etc, the NYPL has the one catalog that is used by everyone. For any information that is not contained on the online catalog, e.g. borrower information etc, there is another program called Millenium which can be refered to. This is how things currently operate as far as I can tell.

Recently there have been some changes to the library, and the kinks are still being worked out, which comes with major changes in any organisation. This use of the same catalog by patrons and staff is new, and so there are still occasionally instances where the librarians are not sure, or the new catalog isn’t adequate, and so the old system is referred to. The other major change that has happened recently is that the circulation branches, where items are available for loan, and the research libraries used to be run by different organisations. They now have combined management, and catalogs, and so this has caused some problems and has the potential to create confusion in some circumstances.

At this point in time I am comfortable greeting and attempting to help patrons with any inquiries that they may have, and some basic questions I am able to answer. For example I can now identify whether something is from the circulation or research collection, and if it is from the circulation, where it is likely to be located. Unfortunately due to inexperience and unfamiliarity, I am unable to help patrons locate items in the libraries reference collection, unless they are looking for law items, which they will find in K! Until I become more familiar with the Library of Congress Reference System, I won’t be able to help patrons locate any reference items found in the catalog.

I am able to recognise when an item is housed in the closed stacks, and whether or not a patron will be required to fill in request form or not, and where to take a completed form. I am also able to, but not confidently, navigate the library catalog and perform reference interviews, but I am struggling with some questions. Some terms used by the patrons are unfamiliar to me, as they have a different name in Australia. Official documents, exam papers, named documents etc are a  challenge because I am unable to identify exactly what sort of item the patron is looking for, and so I refer these questions to another librarian. Anything that I feel I may be able to assist with I am happy to attempt to do so, if the patron is not already being served by another librarian. Mainly I am still observing, but with basic questions and where possible, I like to try and get involved and help.

Yesterday I attempted to help a patron find an item on the shelf in the Job Search Central area, unfortunately it could not be located. Another patron asked me where he could find resources on writing resume’s and cover letters, and I was able to help him locate this section of the collection in Job Search Central. Most of the inquiries, as far as I can see, are related to careers and employment, whether it be creating a resume, or making an appointment to see a counsellor. This is due to the recession, which hit New York quite hard, and there is a high percentage of unemployed people looking to go back to work.

Today I helped a patron to save documents from his computer onto a USB drive. This may seem like a simple process for many people, but there are a large number of people who struggle with computers and their use. At Wyndham there have been several cases where I have been approached by a patron to help with printing or saving a document, and in one case I was able to assist a lady with setting up an email account and guiding her through its use and navigation. I assisted another man with scanning and emailing a resume to a prospective employer. The man who I helped today at NYPL wanted to transfer documents from his laptop to a USB drive, but was unsure how to do so. He also wanted to create a new folder where he could save any new files he created, to save onto the USB drive at a later date. I spent about half an hour with him, explaining the USB drive, the size of files, creating new folders and how to save documents to his USB. I enjoy helping people with these types of questions, and try to take the time to explain as simply and efficiently as possible, whilst still ensuring that they receive all the information they need and that they are able to complete what they set out to do by themselves.

I have observed through my own personal experiences as a patron and as a librarian, that many staff in libraries are unwilling to help or become frustrated with patrons who ask for computer related help. There are many reasons for this, the main one seems to be that the patron has been assisted several times before and still asks the same questions, or they have an aggressive or dis-agreeable personality. It can be a frustrating process to try and explain to someone over and over again the same seemingly simple steps, however I believe that if a patron is still having problems after several attempts at explanation, then there may be other issues involved beyond simple lack of comprehension.

If someone is still failing to understand, then perhaps you need to change your approach to the situation, and explain in a different manner. Maybe there is someone else, another staff member, or a service, which you can refer them to for more help. If the patron is becoming angry or upset about the situation it is important to remember that failing to understand something, or a lack of communication and understanding of the issue can be extremely frustrating for both you and the patron, and that you need to take the time to sit down and ask as many questions as possible when they first approach you, to ensure that you have understood their problem properly and it is something that you can actually help them with.

I have noticed that quite often one assumes that they know what the patron is having issues with, or what is troubling them, without actually listening, and so the patron feels patronised, or becomes angry or upset when you are unable to answer their actual query.

I have observed this both back at home and here in the states, but it seems to be more of a regular occurence here. I’m not sure if it is the size of the library and the huge numbers of patrons that come through the doors from all different types of backgrounds, or perhaps a part of American culture, but in some instances there has been an obvious lack of communication between patrons and librarians. This creates conflict in some cases, and can lead to difficult or awkward social interactions between the staff and the patrons. For example one man approached the reference desk and informed the librarian of what it was he was looking for. He was then shown the different databases that were available for his query and would most likely house the information he sought. He was then instructed that if he went to the Electronic Access Centre he would be able to approach a help person in there who could assist him further with navigation of the site.

The patron became angry and explained that he had already been in there, and that they had refered him to the information desk. It was obvious that the person in the computer lab had been unable to identify which databases would best serve his needs, and so had sent him to us for names of possible databases. Once he had identified the best databases for his need, we told him to return to the computers to find his information and receive assistance.

Unfortunately the patron felt as though he were being shuffled back and forth, without gaining any actual assistance. It is important to be able to communicate and explain information and processes with patrons so that they understand exactly what services are available to them. Unfortunately this is not always possible, and there will always be situations where there is conflict, but I try to minimise this as much as possible.