« Special issue of Innovate | Main | Everything You Need to Know About Web 2.0 »
April 8, 2007
Roving Reference
Roving reference is a big trend. As such it garners its share of misinformation. Check out this site (Thanks Sarah):
Responses to 8 Common Myths and Misconceptions about Roving
By Joan Giannone, President, Mentor Group Training Inc. Follow the link to the insights.
1. Myth: “Getting few complaints means our service is good.”
2. Myth: “We’re already busy…”
“Our desk is busy, and our statistics show some growth, so don’t need to provide roving reference.”
3. Misconception: “We already care about customers, so we don’t need to do anything different…”
“Customers express how much they appreciate our help...”
4a. Myth: “Patron's will hate it.”
4b. Associated Myth: “We can ‘do’ roving without any special training”.
4c. Associated myth: “Roving means we have to approach and talk to every patron – even disturbing those who are obviously happy”
5. Myth: “Roving can only be done when there are two or more people staffing the desk. You can’t leave the desk empty”.
6. Misconception: “Roving really hampers our ability to get our work done.”
7. Misconception: “When it is slow and yet we can’t go back to sit at the desk, then I feel that Roving is a waste of my time.”
8. Misconception: “If I rove and get a lot of “No’s” to my offers to assist, then my roving was a failure.”
It's amazing how many user centered libraries think they can't learn from the retail model. You never know until you try. We have nothing to lose but our shackles.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at April 8, 2007 1:39 PM