First contact
From SLNSW
How do you discover the needs of the patrons in your community?
Contents |
Meeting the patron
Everyone who lives or works in your community needs information. Discovering the needs of each individual who visits the library (whether in person or online) calls for skills with library resources but also requires that you employ your best people skills starting from your first contact with the patron.
The first question
The first question a patron asks is often simply a conversation opener - a way to say hello. Sometimes patrons are really just trying to find out if you are an approachable, friendly person.
The patron is actually saying "hello I'm here, please pay attention to me". Sometimes these opening statements are recognizable right away. The patron may ask "do you work here" or "can you answer a question".
Sometimes, however, the first statement sounds like an actual specific question when actually the patron is still just feeling you out. You may get questions like "where is the section on dogs?" or "do you have a history of Italy?" There is almost always a more specific need behind those questions.
Discovering that need will help you do a much more efficient and successful job of helping the patron. In the above cases the patron may be looking for the address of a Cocker Spaniel club, how to get their dog microchipped, a map of Italy, the history of Rome or an evaluation of tour companies that go to Sicily.
Major point: A patron's first question may be a way to find out if you are approachable, and not an expression of the information need.
First contact on the web
A patron's first contact with library reference services may be on the library web site or through other types of online or remote reference. ALA guidelines from the US suggest that the library "should provide prominent jargon-free links to all forms of reference services from the home page of the library web site and throughout the site wherever research assistance may be sought out. The web should be used to make reference services easy to find and convenient."
Guidelines for behavioral performance of reference and information service providers.
