Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 9/4/11 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Fri, 24 May 2013 13:15:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Chris http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3817 Chris Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:02:41 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3817 Maybe just try “Please name your print job”. As a former waitress/current librarian, I appreciate your sharing this. Anything that reminds us of our customers’ humanity is going to help us do a better job.

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3795 Brian Herzog Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:44:10 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3795 @Amanda: last name makes sense. I’ll have to dig out the manual to remember how to change that wording.

]]> By: Amanda http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3787 Amanda Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:55:46 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3787 Hi Brian, our library uses EnvisionWare as well (and I agree, very simple and easy to use) but when patrons send their documents to the printer it asks for their last name. That way, if they have more than one item they are sending to be printed, they have the full list right there.

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3785 Brian Herzog Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:35:45 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3785 @Lesli: It honestly had never occurred to me before this patron. I think we only have about 30 characters for the message, and I’m happy to change it if we can think of something more intuitive. Maybe just “Please type your first name.”

]]> By: Lesli M http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3771 Lesli M Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:30:26 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3771 I have to say, I’m with your patron. I totally would have written “librarian.” That’s got to be the least intuitive way to identify a print job I’ve ever seen. I can’t think of a better way to phrase the prompt, though.

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3766 Brian Herzog Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:14:34 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3766 @Mahra: you’re welcome – I thought so too.

@Christina: actually, the “Please name your job” wording was my idea. By default, it said something about a username, which we don’t require, so it really confused people. But now maybe I’ll have to come up with something else.

]]> By: Christina http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3760 Christina Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:32:56 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3760 That’s hilarious, actually! And it makes me glad that our library’s Envisionware “Username” box doesn’t say Name Your Job, too. We have enough trouble just explaining that they have to make up a username, that it’s not their card number or some other offically assigned name.

]]> By: Mahra http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/09/10/reference-question-of-the-week-9411/#comment-3757 Mahra Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:44:31 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2493#comment-3757 There is something so very sweet about that. Thanks for sharing. It warmed my heart this morning.

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