work like a patron day

7 Oct 08 in fun, general | 6 comments

An absolute gem of an idea from Brian Herzog: Work Like a Patron Day

That’s why I’m proposing “Work Like A Patron Day” on October 15th. In honor of the day, I think library staff should (when possible):

  • enter and leave the library through the public entrance (not the staff doors)
  • use the public restrooms
  • use the public computers to do your work
  • reserve public meeting rooms for meetings
  • follow all library policies

This would be an amazing way to assess what works in your library and what’s unusable. To his list I’ll add:

  • sit in the chairs/use the furniture meant for the public
  • use only the patron interface for searching your catalog
  • pay your library fines (no waiving them the day before!)
  • use a database you’ve never used before

If this seems like it would be a challenge, you really ought to think about why you’re continually challenging your patrons. If it seems easy, congrats, you just might have an easy to use library!

readers said:

Feed

  1. 7 Oct 08 at 5:28 pm (#)
    Adam Carlson:

    um, i already pay my library fines aaron. i’ll see you on the 15th.

  2. 7 Oct 08 at 6:47 pm (#)
    Aaron:

    lol, i’m in trouble!

  3. 7 Oct 08 at 7:36 pm (#)
    GeekChic:

    At MFPOW, all policies applied to staff as well as patrons (no longer checkouts or extra holds, you could not check materials out to yourself) and all staff paid fines. I *really* don’t understand why it’s not that way everywhere… It certainly made patrons more willing to accept the policies!

  4. 9 Oct 08 at 10:55 am (#)
    ChiLibrarian:

    It would be “die like a patron day” if staff used the public computers, thus displacing actual patrons from their precious.

  5. 14 Oct 08 at 6:27 pm (#)
    michele:

    Sounds like fun! Think I’ll suggest this at my library’s next staff meeting. Maybe for Halloween…

  6. 6 Dec 08 at 7:30 am (#)
    Why “Work Like a Patron Day” won’t work | tara robertson:

    [...] first read about  Work Like a Patron Day on Aaron Schmidt’s Walking Paper.  At first glance Work Like a Patron Day seemed like a good idea.  He proposes that library [...]

have your say