The Daring Librarian blogged about her frustration with Netflix and related it to school libraries. The summary is that she wanted to make a suggestion to Netflix, but could not find an email address. As it turns out they don't have one, but you can chat, call or tweet them. She relates this to school libraries by saying that libraries should have several points of contact and they should be easily findable.
Last semester, I took an education class that required students to observe a school library media specialist. Many of the library websites did not have contact information, or if they did, they only had a phone number and you had to really dig for that information. What a turn-off for students, teachers and parents. If I were a student, I wouldn't dig for contact information, I'd just go somewhere else. Maybe this issue goes back to standardized websites and what is and is not allowed on them. But if you want to be reachable by students/parents/teachers and your users, you need to be where they are and have multiple points of contact. That means email, IM/chat, twitter, phone and in-person.
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I agree with you Megan. Part of being a librarian is being a human resource, and that means making your contact information readily available. It seems small, but it's good to note that email addresses and phone numbers should always be listed on the library's page.
ReplyDeleteI just saw on your Goodreads bookshelf that you're reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I couldn't put it down! I'm reading The Girl Who Played With Fire now and can't wait for the 3rd book to come out later this month!
First of all, I can't wait to get netflix.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the contact information. I think I'm generally of the mind that if i need to say something, I'll hunt down the appropriate person, but an easily accessible phone number or e mail would be mighty handy.