My secret shopper experience was a bust. I asked for assistance at a satellite location for a township library and didn't get much help. The library worker went immediately to the new arrivals shelf when I said I was looking for something new to read, but I wasn't necessarily looking for a brand new book, just something new to me. She started with some of the "faced out" books in the mystery series before I said I was looking for fantasy and then she indicated a few books in the sci-fi section. She did say the line between sci-fi and fantasy was rather blurred lately, which I appreciated and knew was true, so she said I may find something of interest there.
Then she took me to the general fiction new books, which is where they keep the fantasy, and indicated a new title by R.A. Salvatore, an author I'm familiar with but do not care for. I said as much, but she didn't take that and ask who I liked. I saw a new title by an author I do like, Terry Goodkind, and showed interest in the fourth book in a new series. I asked if she knew of the first book or if she could recommend someone similar to Goodkind, as I didn't want to start a new series without having finished his other work, but she went to see what the first book in the series was and didn't respond to my question.
Then she took me to the general fiction new books, which is where they keep the fantasy, and indicated a new title by R.A. Salvatore, an author I'm familiar with but do not care for. I said as much, but she didn't take that and ask who I liked. I saw a new title by an author I do like, Terry Goodkind, and showed interest in the fourth book in a new series. I asked if she knew of the first book or if she could recommend someone similar to Goodkind, as I didn't want to start a new series without having finished his other work, but she went to see what the first book in the series was and didn't respond to my question.
Overall, while I ended up with a book on hold and she was very nice, the experience was a bust for me. I wasn’t asked what type of book I like, what authors I like, or what I was looking for, even when I said fantasy in order to help her out a bit. As this course has indicated, library workers have "off" days and this could have been one, but it didn’t feel like it. I could have engaged more with her to try to get her to ask questions, but I tried to react to her the way I thought I normally would in order to get a better idea of how she would help someone looking for a new book.
This experience helped a great deal, being on the "other side" of this type of interaction. My frustration wasn’t that great, since I was being a "secret shopper," but I can see how a regular patron could be more frustrated with the lack of help in actually finding something that is recommended by the library staff. If this is the kind of help patrons get, I could see some in the community wondering why librarians are needed or why librarians would need to be paid what they are. This experience will assist me in helping patrons find material to read.
Going into it (secret shopper mode) while studying readers advisory makes it tricky. I feel like I have walk a fine line between expectations as a student and expectation as a 'normal' library patron. I have tried to recall other library experiences, but I don't know if I have had a true readers advisory interaction. I've had them recommend books- but that was really without me asking- they just made suggestions when I came in.
ReplyDeleteThat's so disappointing, I'm sorry! I really like that you tried to nudge them towards the right direction, even if it wasn't ideal. Otherwise, your interaction may have been extremely short. It's also very sad how many of us ended up having bad experiences. The people I work with are usually very good with RA questions (although they are a small sample and I couldn't do this experiment with them), so hopefully there was some kind of giant fluke this week.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it seems a lot of us had experiences that weren't quite what we were expecting while learning about these interactions in this class. I feel we often talk about the most ideal type of RA experience, but in reality the ideal rarely happens. Yet, that is why it is important for people to take these classes so they can understand and learn how to appropriately and effectively assist a patron in finding a good book. I think it is also important to do exercises like this one that help us understand or remember what is like to be the patron. All library work hinges on knowing what the patrons' needs are. By putting ourselves in that position we can start to get this insight.
ReplyDeleteReality vs. ideal. Ay, there's the rub! I don't think I was looking for an ideal experience, but something more than what I got. If she had asked even a couple questions about the type of book I was looking for, it would have been more helpful, but as it was, it was more like she was told to show patrons the new books when they ask for new books and that's it. But I do agree this gives us better insight in how to help people in future.
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ReplyDeleteReading about this experience makes me wonder if the staff member you interacted with was a librarian or possibly held another role (or was possibly a newer librarian or a librarian who has not been trained to field RA questions). Just based on my own personal experience, I think it’s relatively common for non-librarians to work at desks, especially in smaller libraries. Neil Hollands (2006) mentions in “Improving the Model for Interactive Readers' Advisory Service” that the person approached to answer an RA question may not be the most qualified person to answer the question, which can be an issue (p. 206). I think that can be the case when a person working at a desk isn’t trained to field RA questions but they are the person who is approached by patrons the most.
ReplyDeleteHollands, N. (2006). Improving the Model for Interactive Readers' Advisory Service. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 45(3), 205-212. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=3fb910ea-0191-47f6-8fb9-31406624cbfc%40sessionmgr4007
That's a good point, Laura, and one I thought of. She seemed to be the only staff member in the library proper at the time of my visit. It's entirely possible she's not accredited and therefore doesn't have the experience to do a proper RA and was doing the best she could. In any case, not the type of experience one would like to have in asking who the public would think is a "librarian" for assistance in finding a new book to read.
DeleteGreat summary! Sorry again it was a bust, but your classmates have shared some great insight as well!
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