The beginning!
Teaching patrons how to use the computer can be challenging Many are at different levels when it comes to experience and comfort with the machines. My goal is to identify problems that may occur and hopeful provide solutions librarians can use on a practical level.
The past few years have really changed how I view this topic. In college, I almost took for granted that everyone knew how to use a search engine. But when I started my first newspaper job, I suddenly became the go-to person for explaining to colleagues how to find reliable sources on the Internet, attach files to e-mails, etc. Additionally, in 2009 when I was a library intern, I showed several patrons how to do a Google search and/or use Google Docs for word processing. A lot of people really don't understand the basics, so tech-savvy librarians are a necessity!
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising how many people don't know how to conduct a basic search or evaluate resources. I think that more education is a must but, like many other topics that are not directly measured on standardized tests, information literacy has fallen under the bus in public schools. I think it falls heavily on librarians to help bridge that gap.
ReplyDelete-Maryska
It's an interesting aspect of library work--coming into contact with patrons and their different levels of comfort with technology. At our university we have a significant "non-traditional" population of older students, and I'm always interested to see our students' different technological capabilities.
ReplyDelete