Comments on: Why Johnny Can’t Research http://obliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/why-johnny-cant-research/ Admitting you have an information problem is the first step Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:07:59 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Ron Peterson http://obliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/why-johnny-cant-research/#comment-376 Ron Peterson Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:07:59 +0000 http://obliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=19#comment-376 Thanks for the comment Stephen. I completely agree that we need to work with faculty to craft assignments that will give students the opportunity to develop their research skills. However, while we all may agree that everyone who works in the library should be providing positive experiences for our users, I don't think we can all claim that we are all providing those positive experiences. The lines may be wishful thinking, but I believe that reference librarians can/should/do play an important role in helping people develop information seeking skills. And if people had positive experiences at the reference desk, the service would see a lot more use. Marketing won't do any good if the service isn't there to back it up. However, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of word of mouth, which can drive people to your services or away from them. The bottom line is if we are doing a good job at our reference desks (and there is a need for reference desks - which I believe there is), then people will come to the reference desk. Thanks for the comment Stephen. I completely agree that we need to work with faculty to craft assignments that will give students the opportunity to develop their research skills.

However, while we all may agree that everyone who works in the library should be providing positive experiences for our users, I don’t think we can all claim that we are all providing those positive experiences. The lines may be wishful thinking, but I believe that reference librarians can/should/do play an important role in helping people develop information seeking skills. And if people had positive experiences at the reference desk, the service would see a lot more use.

Marketing won’t do any good if the service isn’t there to back it up. However, I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of word of mouth, which can drive people to your services or away from them.

The bottom line is if we are doing a good job at our reference desks (and there is a need for reference desks – which I believe there is), then people will come to the reference desk.

]]> By: Stephen Francoeur http://obliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/why-johnny-cant-research/#comment-375 Stephen Francoeur Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:22:05 +0000 http://obliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=19#comment-375 Ron, good point. I guess I kind of took it for granted that everyone reading my post would agree that all of us who work in libraries and have contact with users/patrons/members/students/visitors must provide the most positive experience possible. A student who had problems getting a fine paid at the circ desk may never want to approach our reference desk. A security guard at the turnstiles who gave someone a hard time about their ID card swiping abilities is not going to help us present a welcoming and helpful atmosphere. I have to admit that I'm not wholly convinced about our ability get students to line up to use our reference services based on word-of-mouth recommendations and better marketing. We need to find ways to overcome people's natural habit to satisfice in their efforts at information seeking. In academia, one small way that we can address that is by finding ways to work more with faculty in other departments to help design assignments that are research driven and that include as part of the assessment a look at the quality of the sources used in the assignment. Ron, good point. I guess I kind of took it for granted that everyone reading my post would agree that all of us who work in libraries and have contact with users/patrons/members/students/visitors must provide the most positive experience possible. A student who had problems getting a fine paid at the circ desk may never want to approach our reference desk. A security guard at the turnstiles who gave someone a hard time about their ID card swiping abilities is not going to help us present a welcoming and helpful atmosphere.

I have to admit that I’m not wholly convinced about our ability get students to line up to use our reference services based on word-of-mouth recommendations and better marketing. We need to find ways to overcome people’s natural habit to satisfice in their efforts at information seeking. In academia, one small way that we can address that is by finding ways to work more with faculty in other departments to help design assignments that are research driven and that include as part of the assessment a look at the quality of the sources used in the assignment.

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