Lesson 8 Challenge

Imagine two situations where you are interacting with someone via Skype, Google Hangouts, or a Mondopad.

• Situation 1:  You are having a virtual meeting with a colleague at a nearby branch; discussing a potential collaborative program between the two branches.
• Situation 2: You are conducting a virtual reference interview with a patron; this is your first time meeting this patron, so you have no background information about their interests or likes.
• Use your imagination and write a brief paragraph explaining the details of both situations. (Explain the collaborative program and specify what the patron is searching for, etc.)

Then write about …

1. The benefits of having the meeting online rather than in person
2. Any challenges, inconveniences, or issues you encountered
3.  If you would meet online with this person again
4.  If you would meet with anyone else online, and who might that be
5. Would a traditional in person meeting have been better? Why?

Situation 1:  Currently, Semmes staff host a book club at the Senior Living Apartment complex near both Thousand Oaks and Semmes.  The activity director at the Senior Apartments would like to add additional library run programming to the branch.  Staff from Semmes and Thousand Oaks use Skype to discuss what type of programming they could offer the Senior residents.  Having the meeting online means that no one has to leave their branch and travel to another location, saving gas and time.  As long as there are no technical mishaps, the meeting should go smoothly online.  If the meeting involves a lot of demonstration, for example a craft activity, it might be better to hold the meeting in person.

Situation 2:  It would be beneficial to hold a reference interview via Skype, if the patron were unable to visit the branch in person, due to health issues, weather conditions, transportation concerns, etc.  This type of interaction would be pretty easy if the patron was just asking for books to be placed on hold. The success or failure of the interview would depend a great deal on how comfortable the library customer is with technology.  I could imagine a situation where most of the time with the customer was spent troubleshooting the technology being used, with less focus on the actual question the patron had.