medinfo

The library as a place

27. February 2007 by ob | Kategorien: Bibliotheken

[A brilliant idea from Alexia]

If the library as a place is soon to be a thing of the past someone forgot to tell the patrons of our library. Since the beginning of the year the number of people daily visiting the library has gone up, as has our interactions with them. Not only are they coming into our library but they are utilizing the library staff. We have online forms they can fill out to request literature searches and ILLs but a majority of our requests come in person or over the phone.

And while Web 2.0 might encourage electronic collaboration there are still plenty of folk around here who like to meet face to face. There are very few places to meet in the hospital at the last minute. There are plenty of meeting rooms but they must be reserved. We’ve opened up our AV room and Staff Lounge to people who wish to meet in a place more private than the cafeteria or lobby and this has met with tremendous success. It’s a small gesture that has seemed to reap much good will and customer satisfaction. It has made the librarians more visible because they must pass the reference desk to get to the rooms. They see us interacting with other patrons. In my opinion, the more people exposed to the library in any way shape or form becomes one more person who is a library supporter. An additional library supporter never hurts, does it? (Fettdruck durch mich)