Try Work Like A Patron Day on Oct. 12th

Put yourself in the shoes of one of your library’s customers by observing Work Like a Patron Day on October 12, 2011.  Proposed by Brian Herzog (the “Swiss Army Librarian“), he says “The point of Work Like A Patron day is to remind librarians that libraries are for patrons, and it’s important to gauge the result of our efforts from their point of view. ”

Here are ideas Brian offers for getting out from behind the desk and get the perspective from your customers’ point of view:

• enter and leave the library through the public entrance (not the staff doors)
• use the public restrooms
• try doing some work on the public computers
• call the library’s main number and negotiate the phone system
• reserve public meeting rooms for meetings
• return your items in the book drop
• navigate the library’s website as if you’re not already familiar with it
• follow all library policies
• read posted signs to see how helpful they are

Brian asks that if you try this at your library to please share your experience by adding a link to the Library Success wiki Work Like A Patron page or add a comment to his blog post.

Source: Work Like a Patron Day 2011
Photo credit: skooksie via Flickr