[Publib] 50 things...,

[Louise Alcorn]

  "Fortunately, reference staff doesn't have to deal with computer
reservations, printouts, or change. " 
 
Whereas that is the *bulk* of what our reference staff deal with every
day.  Although I will make judgement calls about how long any particular
patron interaction will take (e.g. making change vs. reference
question), I try not to make judgements about the relative importance of
any of these transactions.  I do my best to prioritize based on when
they appeared/called, how urgent the question seems to appear, the body
language of the patrons, and whether I can take care of it in a few
seconds (thus asking the patron with the longer question to wait a few
seconds - this has never been a problem, as they know they have a
complicated query).  I think the important thing is to communicate your
intentions to the patron - e.g. "let me just take care of this quick
question so I can give you more attention".  
 
We have a quick-answer Information Desk at the entrance that helps
direct some of our traffic, but realistically we get everything coming
at us.  We do our best to balance and be pleasant.  I think that's
reasonable.  
Louise E. Alcorn
Reference Technology Librarian
West Des Moines Public Library
4000 Mills Civic Pkwy
West Des Moines IA 50265
(515) 222-3573      louise.alcorn at wdm-ia.com
http://www.wdmlibrary.org <http://www.wdmlibrary.org/>    

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