Incognito!

This week, as an assignment, we were to visit one library and ask for some assistance in finding a 'good book' to read.  We were not to admit that we were library science students, but merely to seek help like any patron and analyze how that help was provided.

We were to be Secret Shoppers on a mission!

I always struggle with this sort of assignment, because it means concealing myself... which is in a way being dishonest with those I encounter.  I'm not good at lying.  I'm certainly not comfortable with it.  Yet I can understand that it's a necessity to experience things from the patron point of view.  By going 'under cover' we can see how librarians are treating the patrons who confront them.  It gives us a feel for what patrons go through whenever they approach us for assistance.  So while it's a hard experience in some ways, it's also a good experience.

Incognito, I ventured off to explore a library which I had only once previously visited.

I'm sad to say, my experience was..... lacking.

Walking into the chosen location, I wasn't exactly sure where to seek assistance at first.  The main desk did not appear to be labeled.  As people were checking things out there, I immediately assumed it was circulation, and that I should go looking for reference elsewhere.  However, after circling the main room idly, I could not find a reference desk, so I eventually found my way back to that main desk I'd faced upon entering.

The lady with whom I spoke at that desk was friendly enough, and open to listening to my question.  I told her that I'd been on a horror kick recently, but had read most everything Stephen King had written.  I mentioned Joe Hill, and how I really enjoyed one of his books, but couldn't remember the title off the top of my head.  In the end, I said, I was looking for another good horror book to read.

With no questions for me, she immediately jumped onto the GoodReads website.  She turned her monitor so I could see what she was doing, and she typed "Stephen King" into the search bar.  She poked at the results for a moment, asking if I was familiar with the GoodReads website, then said something like, "Though I don't know how to tell you which book to read from this.  There are a lot of different types, as you can see!"

"Wait a minute,"  She said.  The next thing I knew, she was hopping up from her desk, abandoning her computer, and heading off across the room.  I followed, as it seemed I was expected to do so.  She led me off to a bank of public terminals, logged me in, and sat me down in front of Novelist Plus.

"Here," She said, "What's a favorite Stephen King book you've read?"

After giving it a bit of thought, I told her the last one I'd finished was Under the Dome.  She typed that in, then pointed out the various other titles listed down the side of the page.  She also pointed out how you could look authors up as well.

"Explore this for a while," She advised, "I'm sure it will help you find something..."

And like that, she was gone.  I was seated in front of a terminal, with very little instruction as to how to use Novelist, let alone any instruction on how to find out if their library had any titles I might come across and want to sample.  So I poked at Novelist Plus for a while.

I was impressed to see that it not only gave you appeal terms for books that it listed, but there was also a page discussing all the appeal terms used throughout the site.  I wanted to print off the list, but as I had no clue how to do so at that library, I opted to wait and see if I could do it at a later point.  I spent a good hour surfing around Novelist, trying different titles and authors that came to mind, checking listed 'read-alikes' and generally looking for some sort of horror novel to take home with me.  The one or two that did look promising ended up not being in their collection, unfortunately.

The employee never did come back to see how I was doing or ask if I had any further questions.

Eventually, I gave up on Novelist and looked up a title that I'd had suggested to me by a friend a year or so ago.  The title had come to mind again last week when someone in our class had mentioned it.  Thankfully, they did have a copy of John Dies at the End on their shelves, so I checked it out.  (I have yet to verify whether this book is an acceptable horror novel for the Emotions Genre assignment, but as GoodReads listed it as primarily a horror book, I'm hoping it will suffice!)

Perhaps if I'd requested a genre other than Horror, then maybe I would have received more assistance.  Or perhaps this is standard practice for how employees at this location treat questions of that sort.  All I know for sure is that I felt like I received very little help, and in the end (if I hadn't had a title in mind suggested to me by a friend) I would have left the building empty-handed and entirely unsatisfied.

Scorecard:
+1 for initial friendliness
+1 for showing what she was doing by rotating the monitor
-1 for negativity over varied results on GoodReads
+2 for public terminal & Novelist access
-1 for lack of decent instructions on how to use Novelist
-1 for lack of instructions on how to verify if a book is in the library's collection
-1 for abandonment!
---------
Final tally:  0

Neither a completely negative, nor notably positive interaction.  There was never any real RA interview, other than to ask what Stephen King novel popped to mind.  She did lead me to some resources that might have been able to help me, but neglected to demonstrate how they were best put to use.  In general, I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of effort on her part.  Hopefully this was simply a fluke and not the experience that all patrons can expect at that location!