Observation June 4, 2009

After interviewing Betty Riley at Valdese Library I decided to sit and observe around the circulation desk. Thursday afternoons are one of their busiest times, but I think the rainy weather kept it from being as busy as it could be! During the 2 hours that I were there, at least 40 patrons came through the doors to either check-in books, check-out books, or to work on the computers. Approximately the whole time that I was there all of the computers stayed filled. The computer use seems to be the biggest area that younger people come to the library. All ages and ethnicities came through the doors during my observation. There seem to be more of the Asian descent that comes to use the computers more. During half of the time that I was there, there were about 5 -6 people that were working for the public library. Two were working on the summer reading program projects. And two-three were working at the circulation desk. There was one question brought to the circulation desk about reference of a certain topic. The circ. lady did not ask any other questions or specifics to the patron's question. The circ. lady pointed the patron to the correct area. The patron ended up not finding what she was looking for, and ended up leaving. The circulation desk could have done more to help the patron find what she was looking for or ask more questions related to what she was looking for. Other questions were about checking to see if they had certain books available. The head librarian spoke to a parent with a young child and was able to get the parent to sign up for the summer reading program. Overall, the circulation desk operators were friendly and corgul to the patrons.