National Library Week: Reference Desk | AL Focus
I heard about this video from the Shifted Librarian and it's really sparked a lot of thought in my cluttered brain. One problem I have with it is that I can't really determine who the audience is - if it's intended for librarians, then, yes, it's cute and funny - but if it's intended for patrons/publicity purpose (which is what I suspect it is), then it makes me cringe.
As a reference and instruction librarian, I spend a lot of time trying to convince students (I deal mainly with undergraduates, particularly freshmen) that the reference desk is a resource they should use. I'm afraid that the impression given by this video is that reference questions are stupid and annoying. It focuses solely on the questioner and no answers are presented. I just don't see how the take-away message from this is supposed to promote reference services to patrons.
I don't want to sound Pollyanna-ish, humorless, or overly critical, and the librarian side of myself certainly did laugh at some of the questions, but I think this attempt at irreverent humor landed a little too far on the insulting side for my tastes.
1 comments:
I agree -- I think that if the audience is in fact patrons, this misses the mark. The questions are a little too outlandish to help your average undergrad realize that they can ask for more generalized help at the ref desk.
But if the audience were librarians, I think it's hilarious.
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