Technology & Staff

Limitations and Advantages: One becomes the Other

System within a system

"It meant that all the staff had to become mini-system administrators in addition to traditional library workers."

Because we were experimenting with library service in one branch, we necessarily established a system within a system. We wanted to see what new technology would offer teens, and we wanted to see how it would all fit with the traditional functions of the library.

We found, as we have described, that we could make things work--that, in fact, a young adult branch is quite possible and viable. The nature of the experiment, however, put the branch and its staff out of the library's mainstream because its routine was unlike any other branch's routine, and the skills required of the staff were unlike those required of any other staff with the same job titles. We had to find on-call substitute staff willing to have enough extra training to work at the branch, we had to do the training ourselves, and then we were limited to those people when regular staff were not at the branch.

As staff found other opportunities, hiring replacements also became a problem because the standard library job descriptions listed none of the specific computer skills required. In our own case, some of the technology and training issues may be addressed through an anticipated computer upgrade of the entire library system, but all public libraries will eventually have to face the thorny job description issues that new technology presents.

Adults

"It's fun to be around the kids who come here.... This library has made my life here in Santa Cruz MUCH BETTER than it would have been without the computers."
-from a woman "over sixty" responding to the May 1997 user survey

The conditions of the experiment also made dealing with the adult public a delicate issue. Adults do come in to use the library, primarily to check out books. Many adults come to the branch to use the computers during the hour before school is out, or during the last open hour, when things are slower. Other adults, however, are far less interested in the work of the library and its service to teenagers than they are in the kind of internet and CD-ROM access only this Branch offered. Adults come from all over Santa Cruz County because Garfield Park is the only place offering the use of word processing software and a printer without charging $8.00 an hour. The consistent efforts of the staff on behalf of its young adult users have kept these few adults from determining the branch environment, and undermining the experiment.

While we certainly look forward to the time when more technology (including word processing software) is available at the other branches, there ARE adults who enjoy the energy of the teens at Garfield Park. These adults are willing to take on the technology, and appreciate YA's assistance in using it. Teens have been very pleased to offer their expertise, especially to a grown-up willing to do exactly as told.