Outsourcing: Yay or Nay.

Picture this scene:

Just past 3pm, on a warm Indian summer September our heroine, sits at a red light, with NPR quietly playing in the background. Her mobile ear piece is attached to her right here, her planner open on her lap. She punches through her contacts list and makes a call.

A woman with a slight accent answers, "Dr. Doctor's answering service. How can I help you?" Our heroine inwardly groans, her second attempt to make an appointment is thwarted yet again by the answering service. The lady advises our girl the office will not be open again until Monday and she politely responds that she would like to receive a call back when the office is open. The customer service representative seems slightly annoyed, going over the hours again, expressing she will have to wait until Monday. Our heroine acknowledges this, thinking that the callback will serve as a reminder to make the appointment even if she misses the call, and if she has waited this long to make the appointment, how long will she have to wait to see the Doctor. Sheesh, she thinks.

Our heroine ends the call after giving her name and phone number, and closes her address book. She decides not to call Dr. Her Other Doctor , as this was just exhausting. She arrives home and lists a few things on ebay and craigslist, thereby crossing a few things off on her to-do list. After those tasks are completed, she lounges in bed nursing a small bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream and watching Izzie perform surgery with a hand drill while McDreamy searches for Meredith. There is no time for the nap she was hoping to take before returning to work.

The to-do list is filled with simple tasks that sometimes take much longer to complete than they should. Scheduling appointments, inquiring about rates, checking the weather, listing items for sale, answering emails, finding recipes. All this sort of busy work that gets in the way of daily life. Gosh, wouldn't it be great to hire someone for five hours a week to take care of these tasks for me, freeing up my time to focus on work or leisure. I found myself thinking of the The 4-Hour Workweek (which I have placed on hold at my library), and how we can hire personal assistants to take care of tasks in our lives.

Lifehacker posted about the case for personal outsourcing, and invited users to comment about the practice of outsourcing tasks in their lives. While clicking through and wondering how I might locate a personal assistant company, I came across GetFriday, a firm in Banglore India that I can hire for as little as $120 a month for 12 hours. There are pay-as-you-go plans as well as a task based plan. What do they do you may be wondering:

• Online research for updating blogs
• Reading bedtime stories to a young child on phone
• Get an authenticated weather forecast and weather report for a particular time in a particular place on a particular day, five years ago. This was to be used as supportive evidence for a law suit
• Posting job vacancies on the web
• Educational research for 8-year-old (on behalf of his father)

Wow. Sounds like they do it all and more. Sounds like they could potentially be doing the work of librarians. So much of what we do is the personal touch, the face to face interaction, reading the body and face for clues, asking questions. Libraries are democratic institutions open to the people. I have researched stock prices from years ago, helped children research touch screen technologies, looked up phone numbers and provided directions at no cost to my patrons. Oh, and there are days when I feel like a patron's assistant. I often think about the value add in library services and the cost of the services we provide. I like this estimated cost calculator from Central Massachusetts Regional Library System. I can enter in my use of library services for a month and see what the value of services is. Perhaps we could end every reference with a friendly reminder of how much we are saving our patrons, "Alright, so here is the most recent review of desktop computers from Consumer Reports printed from a database, and your savings is $10.50." Because really, we are not giving our customers something for nothing.

I was having a similar discussion this morning with a friend, regarding fee 411 services. Google offers a free 411 service, as well as Free 411. I haven't tried Google's yet, but Free 411 has a 30 second or so advertisement before your information is provided. 411 costs $1.49, plus airtime with Verizon Wireless. Outsourcing, free vs. fee all come down to a matter of "how much is my time worth?" which is a very personal question that has many different answers. I also feel somewhat suspect that when you add a cost to a service, the value is almost automatic. I paid for this so I must be getting value out of it. Would library services and reference work be more valued if there was an invoice attached to each interaction? Are library services taken for granted because they are "free"?

Oh, and our heroine? Her doctor's office called back the next day for an appointment, at the end of October. And she participates in some outsourcing, on a local level. She still makes her own appointments and does her own research.

Manolo loves us!!

One of my favorite blog is Manolo's Shoe Blog which is related to all things shoe. Manolo writes for a column for the Express of the Washington Post, and recently ran one from a librarian!
Manolo gives props to the librarians,

Now, the librarians compete with each other to be the hippest young “information specialist” in the main branch, the one with the dreadlocks, the radical politics, and the uncanny ability to access arcane databases on remote servers in Tajikistan.

Truly, this is the noblest of professions!

AHH!! Manolo loves us!!

And in a nutshell...

Excuse the f-bomb in the cartoon, but this sums up my attitude on life. Having adventures, seizing the moment, doing the unexpected, taking risks and chances.























image from: xkcd.com

Vacation is good for the librarian

I am back after a week long cross country road trip. My friend relocated out to Seattle, so I jumped in the UHaul and went along for the drive. It was a great adventure that generated our own list of reference questions, appreciation for the diversity of our country in terms of landscape and people, and inside jokes (camping!).

My friend is a middle school science teacher who is involved in professional development activities within the science education community, so we always have a lot to talk about. We were very excited that our UHaul was teaching evolution, and it sparked at least one conversation with fellow travelers along the way.

Reference Question of the Day:
Mario Cantone was on the View today. Wasn't he on a children's show in the 80s?

Life as a Library School Professor

I came to library science out of a love of information, data, education, and technology. Library School taught me the nuts and bolts of being a librarian, the theory and the practice. I had some wonderful professors whose love of their work and career path came through in their lectures and conversations outside the classroom. One of my favorite library school professors, Stephanie Willen Brown, wrote an article for Library Journal about being an adjunct professor. I learned quite a bit from Stephanie on how to be an effective reference librarian.

Brown, Stephanie Willen . "The Adjunct Life." Library Journal 15 June 2007. 22 Jun 2007 .

Homework Help.

It appears a rumor is going around in Stamford. That the librarians will answer your homework questions for you.

Fancy Friday!

Hi! It has been awhile. Took a break from refgrunting, for a variety of reasons. None of them very good. Here are some loose ends that I am typing up from the last week or so.

Ahhh.. the basic questions can send us into a tailspin. A gentleman called in to obtain the conversion between an inch and a centimeter. Pretty obvious... I know it is somewhere in the area of 1 inch to 2.5 centimeters, but how to quickly access that information. The short answer is World Almanac, but for some reason I thought, the back of the dictionary! Why? Because my dictionary has all sorts of cool charts and conversion tables in the back.


I really like the ideas of roving reference, SMS or text message reference, reference through social networking, reference everywhere! Getting into the environment where are patrons are, providing services in the tools and formats they recognize. I had a reference question that came through the local hardware store regarding book binders. To get inside the mind of the patron, and follow the thought process which brought him to his local hardware store would have been fascinating, or rather simple. Perhaps he has an established relationship with John (not his real name) at the hardware store, and John seems to know everything. Or, perhaps seeing the process of book binding requiring various tools and machines, that could be purchased or supplied through a hardware store.

Tuesday!

T stands for Tuesday and Technology! The third floor public computers being upgraded, so the second floor is a bit of a mad house. Also: no school today?

A patron wanted a legal sounding synonym for the "truth of the matter". Patron also requested my opinion on a sentence and whether or not something sounded legal.
Do you have wireless at any of the branches? (Yes! We do!)
Where can I buy a used computer monitor?
I lost my floppy disk. Did anyone turn one in?
Can I use that computer?
Why are all these teenagers here? Is it school vacation week? When will the computers be available on the third floor?
Where is your catalog?

Monday Reference

I am really feeling energized today! I traveled to Ithaca, New York over the weekend to see a friend who has returned from The Gambia, where she was a Peace Corps volunteer. It was really wonderful to catch up and talk about our lives.
We talked a bit about technology and computers. It is really amazing to think about all the changes that have occurred in the last three years: YouTube, Wikipedia, iPod and iTunes, social networking, blogging. All of this Web 2.0 business really took off while she was away. She said, I just found out about Wikipedia a few months ago! My interests and position have me engaged in technology daily, experimenting with, learning about, teaching to others. It was a really great moment, like the internet was invented! (Don't worry. Soon enough she'll be up and running with Flickr and a blog...)


Now, the reference questions:
What is the name of the radio station for 96.3 FM out of New York. Is there a website or telephone number.
WQXR, New York Times radio station. (Who knew the Times had a station!) http://www.wqxr.com/
Can I use a pen?
Why can't I delete sent messages in my eBay account?
Since I taught this eBay class (which was very popular!), I am getting lots of questions about eBay! I love it! So the answer: turns out, I don't know why. It looks like 60 days of sent messages are kept. I imagine if there is any dispute over items, this keeps the "paper trail".
A few technology issues: converting a .wps to .doc, some of the workstations were wonky, and a teenage patron listening to gangsta rap so loud I could make out every word.
Where can I find nonfiction? (Moved into a discussion of how our library is organized rather than relying on chaos... Though a valid point was made about organizing biographies in a separate section. )
Where can I find information on Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Mali and biographies on Lefty O'Doul and other assorted Yankees (boo.. GO SOX!)
How many floors are here?
3 au pairs for the internet. Two card number look ups.
Where is the most recent issue of Barron's?
Do you have the White Pages?
Do you have change for a $20?
Looking for a French-English Dictionary.
Request for a book called A Steel Man in India. (two colleges have it)
A biography on Christian Lacroix (swoon! no book biographies, but something from Wilson's and article in Women's Wear Daily. Also my most favorite reference question of the day!)
Where can I find these books? and shows call numbers.
The machine ate my dollar! Look, it is all crinkly and torn! What should I do?

Overhead:
Rather loudly: "... and lack of sex!!!" And then something about Roman Catholics.

I'm going to count that as a reference question.

One of our teenage computer regulars walks up to the desk, and asks for some scotch tape. He is about to tape a paper towel over his tattoo. I say, I think we have some gauze and hand some over to him. I inquire about when he got the tattoo, and suggest using moisturizing the tattoo and keeping it clean.

I need to look up resources on STDs for a school paper.
Can you help me set up a hotmail and myspace account?

Sunday!

Slow day. People must be outside enjoying this gorgeous day!

Do you have a map of Stamford?
Is BioKinetix listed in Reference USA? (No. Also not listed in Business and Company Resource Center.)
Can you recommend some dating sites for me? I am looking for ones that are legal and do not have minors.
Where does the library have parking?
Does WFUV have any information on their ratings and how they select what music to play?

Saturday Reference

Only two hours on desk today:

Do you have the GMAT book by NOVA? (Patron also asked me if I was in school. No, I have a masters.)
What is the phone number for Geico? For auto insurance.
I am looking for all used record stores in CT.
I am looking for a person who used to live somewhere on Asylum Street in Hartford, CT but they moved. Can we look up the cell phone number? Can you look through tax forms and see where they are now living? (Um, no.) Can you look to see if they have a driver's license and what address is listed? (Um, no. I am not sure what the law says, but I think there is something called privacy.)
Do you have any DVDs on the US citizenship test?

Thursday Night Reference = Heartbreak

A very nice boy, maybe about 10, made a gorgeous PowerPoint about the industrial revolution. He was trying to save it onto a disk, and it froze up the program. I think his PowerPoint was too big for the disk. There were some error messages, and I waited patiently for awhile, but they didn't disappear when I pressed Okay. And the sad story is, his PowerPoint got lost and it was due tomorrow. I offered to write a note to his teacher, explaining what had happened. I felt like I had failed him because I didn't know how to rescue it. (Maybe Kate has some ideas?) I also realized that I am doing a huge disservice to my patrons, because I tell them to stop using floppy disks and switch to flash drives, but we don't have them available for sale in the library! I am going to chat up Director of Public Services tomorrow about it. I already have the W.B.Mason catalog in front of me!

An older gentleman asked about job sites on the internet, and I wrote a few of them out for him. I showed him how a few of them worked, and spent about ten minutes with him walking through some searches. I asked him if he felt comfortable enough to do the searches on his own, and he said sure. About an hour later, he says he did not have any luck and could I recommend some more sites to him. (I recommended America's Job Bank, CTJobs, HotJobs, Monster, CareerBuilder.) I suggested it might be the use of keywords, and offered to help him out again. He had to leave, and I felt heartbreak again. Because I demonstrated walking through a few job sites, but not how to search properly and use of keywords. Unfortunately, this did not even cross my mind until after the interaction. I thought I had covered that, but perhaps he was doing something else when I wasn't looking. I got him part way there, but not to the finish line.

Do I have to pay to print?
Where can I find todays paper?
I don't think we've met. My name is Joe!

A rather frantic woman rushed up to the reference desk and stated she had just come from the police department, and they told her about a sex offender registry and she wanted to print out all the offenders that lived near her. Cautiously, I wrote out the address for the CT SOR and Family WatchDog (because of the mapping feature.) She seemed very animated and fired up, and I slowly went through the sites with her showing her how to search. She kept making comments about "I can't believe there are so many!" (there are 57) and "Isn't this disgusting?". I stepped around the comments to demonstrate the features. She quickly entered her address and printed out the names and addresses of offenders. I remained very neutral with her, just focusing on her need for information, though I couldn't help but think I was handing her a loaded gun. I encouraged her to read information about that registry and its purpose.

Do you have the time?
What time is it?
A list of the brownfields sites in Indiana.

Tuesday Technology Edition

Instead of Reference Questions, I thought it might be an interesting change to blog the technology specific questions I get, from patrons and colleagues.

The mouse on B31 isn't working. I think we might need a new one.
The computer was frozen, rendering the mouse unusable. I restarted and everything was fine.

A message is appearing on the staff computer on the second floor stating there is an IP address conflict. Called Director of MIS and left a voicemail. Restarted computer, but I know the issue will be back. (And restarted again)

AltR to close all the Norton AntiVirus subscription updates on the database and word computers.

Patron said he spelled a word correctly, but word was telling him that it was spelled wrong. Patron did not have a space between two words.
"This is saying there are no jobs under my number." "Did you put your library card number in after you pressed print?" (Answer: no)

Friday Reference

Articles on transmission, differential (engines not math), the Packard, DeSoto, Mustang, and Camaro. (And by articles I mean Wikipedia.)
I'd like to use a computer, I have a Trumbull card.
My handwriting as a font! Cool! Is there any free programs for that? (Cheapest is 9 bucks. My opinion, totally worth it. Most are around $50.)
Do you have ancestry.com? Can you help me print these images?
I am looking for books on yoga and fertility.
Directions to the nearest unemployment office.
Application for first time home buyers seminar through the Housing Development Fund. (2 times)
I am selling something on ebay and don't have that high of a rating or any super seller stars. How can I list references so that people can trust me? (Recommend the usage of ebay's escrow service.)
Do you have any encyclopedias? I am looking for some information on black panthers. (I do a cursory search to see if we have a black panther encyclopedia. Nothing. So, I show her where teh encyclopedias are, and say I am going to look for an African American subject encyclopedia. She looks at me and says, "No. I mean the animal!" Totally missed the obvious question in the ref interview: the political party or the animal!)