September 16, 2007
Tonight was very busy! There were lots of questions about PIN numbers and as a result lots of resets. Also, I spent some time with some patrons explaining how to use databases. This was somewhat challenging as I had one user who was very uncomfortable navigating through the site and my descriptions had to be very detailed and creative! Other than that, it was an interesting night where I learned many things and tried to further familiarize myself with the systems.
I looked also at the Jing Project tonight - it looks very interesting! I think that it would be so easy to incorporate into our IM as pics and vids are shared with a link - so easy to pass through IM. The only potential problem would be if the user also had to have the Jing Project installed on their system. That could deter some people from using it. Other than that, it will be good while it is free but as it is still in testing stages, it's hard to know what the cost will be. If the cost becomes too high once it becomes a 'product' then where would that leave us? I think it's hard for users to finally accept and become familiar with something, only to have it taken away shortly thereafter. That being said, I think incorporating a service like this could help so much, especially when we are working with patrons who are not 'tech-savvy' or who have library/computer anxiety issues. Showing is often so much easier than describing and the inability to physically show a patron what you are doing over IM makes IM reference that much more difficult.
Anyways, the night was challenging and also rewarding! 10 questions tonight