Interview with a Librarian Part 2/3

Now for part two out of three for our interview with a librarian (click here for part one).

Q. What do you think is the best resource your library has?

Free internet and printing! We have 24 computers for public access, which anyone in town can use, even if they don’t have a library card. I think that that’s great because a lot of people in town don’t have computers or internet at home, and they know that they can always come to the library to check Facebook or do their homework or pay their bills online. Many of the patrons who come in to the use the computers are college students in town who don’t have computers of their own and need another place to go when the computers in the college library and computer labs on campus are all full. Everyone also has a chance to use the computers, because everyone gets a time limit of one hour on their cards (whether it’s their own library card or a guest card they borrow from the front desk); therefore, no one is allowed to hog a computer for several hours when other people may be waiting to use it. And everyone has the privilege of printing out 10 free pages every day, which is especially appreciated by kids or college students that are working on school projects and need to print out multiple pages at once. We also have a separate teen room that is not only a “hang out” for kids 12-18 where they can read or do their homework without any interruption, but also includes 4 extra computers that is for their use only. One of our biggest priorities in the library is ensuring that kids are taken care of, that they have a place to go afterschool or on Saturdays, and that they have as much time as they need to get their homework done. We also have free Wi-Fi in the library, and outlets in many different places, as well as tons of tables and chairs, and 2 study rooms, for people that want to bring their own laptops to work on. In other words, we are very computer-friendly at our library!

Q. What do you think is the most underutilized resource in the library?

Our genealogy room, which is a private room that is for the sole use of, obviously, researching genealogy, without interruption, and it includes its own computer and printer for internet access. It also has a Microfilm machine and 100 years of local newspapers on microfilm, as well as tons of books of not only genealogical resources but also local, state and national history. We have free access to both Ancestry and Heritage Quest, which patrons can access in both the genealogy room and on any of the public access computers in the library. Very few patrons use the genealogy room at all, but those that do are regular users; the same several people use the room every week, and do a lot of research on their family history. What I think is crazy is that more people aren’t interested in using Ancestry or Heritage Quest when we offer free access—you don’t have to have an account, you just have to log on with your library card—because you’d think that people would want to find out more about their own personal genealogy. I guess that most people just aren’t very interested in finding out where they came from, and I think that it’s sad that more people don’t take advantage of this option, or use the genealogy room itself more often.

 

Check back tomorrow for part 3!