Library lessons from unlikely places
Fri 2 Jun 2006, 2:52 pm
I have a bunch of posts cooling their heels in The Long Queue. Posts that will change the way you think about conferences, library catalogs, signage, etc. (Well, maybe they won’t change the way you think about those things. But I have high hopes for them.)
But today, I have two little observations of library lessons learned in non-library places that have been kicking around in my head for the past few years (really!).
How not to give a reference interview at the DMV
About ten years ago, I needed to renew the registration on my car in Denver. I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles office downtown, and looked for the proper window or line to take care of it.
When I couldn’t tell immediately where to go, I walked up to one clerk and asked about renewing my registration. She told me to see the security guard about getting a number, and then I should wait for my number to come up. I thanked her, and went over to the guard.
Me: Hi, could I have a number?
Guard: What do you need?
Me: I need a number, please.
Guard: What do you need?
Me: Um, the woman at the counter said I should ask you for a number. So I need a number.
Guard: [visibly exasperated] No, I mean what do you NEED?
Me: [...?] To renew my registration?
Guard: There you go!
The people around us laughed and I did, too. I don’t recall if the guard laughed. I think he thought I was the dimmest bulb ever.
I was thinking about that experience today on my way to the DMV in Colorado Springs and thought that if I ever taught the reference interview to library students or staff, I would use that story as a negative example.
Usability and the drive-thru window
One year ago yesterday, my son Nicholas was born (happy birthday, Nickel!). One year ago the day before yesterday, my wife Shanon was in the hospital waiting for her labor to be induced, and I was dispatched to get fast food.
Shanon wanted me to get her a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate milkshake from Sonic. I don’t get fast food very often anymore, but for most of the major chains, I know exactly what I usually order. Not so with Sonic; I know they have tater tots and milkshakes, but when it comes to ordering a meal, I don’t really know the menu.
So I went through the drive-thru lane, and pulled right up to the big menu.
Sonic: Welcome to Sonic, can I take your order?
Me: Um. [Looks frantically up and down the menu, not seeing a grilled cheese sandwich, only reading fragments of words here and there.] Um. [Sees that someone has pulled up behind. Feeling rushed, panicky, stupid. Wondering if I should try to read the entire menu from the top to bottom.] Um, do you have a grilled cheese sandwich?
Sonic: Not really, but I can make you one, no problem.
Me: [Slightly relieved, but still feeling stupid.] Oh, thanks. [Starting to panic again, realizing that I don't know what I want.] Um, do you have chicken?
So the guy on the other end of the squawk box held my hand and helped me order.
It occurred to me that library patrons must feel something like my sense of confusion when confronted with a library home page or list of databases: “TIGER catalog? WorldCat? Databases? Interlibrary Loan? I just want a hamburger book!”
My point isn’t that the Sonic menu or our library pages are necessarily poorly designed–when you want to present someone with a lot of choices as with a fast food menu or a library site, things are bound to sometimes be a little lengthy or complex. I just found it helpful in retrospect to be in that position of doing something fairly trivial, like ordering fast food, and being intimidated and confused by the environment. As a librarian and long-time internet user, I don’t have that “I am stupid…I can’t find anything” experience in libraries or on the web very often anymore (though see my posts on Second Life for my recent online newbie experience). But something like this puts me more in the shoes of David Lee King’s hypothetical patron who thinks the library is offering free iPods through their MySpace page or Jessamyn West’s real patrons who are put off by Yahoo! telling them to lose weight.
Happy Birthday Nicholas! I don’t really remember being one, but pictures suggest I was having a pretty good time. I hope you are, too.
The DMV is like the reference experience from hell. . . and I hate unfamiliar drive through menus–or actually any menus where you have to make many complicated choices in a short period of time.
Comment by Laura — June 4, 2006 @ 1:39 pm