![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkanddrearyLibrary patrons are a funny bunch. Frustrating, but funny. Most of my patrons have pretty solid computer skills. Most of them can login, find what they're looking for, and print it out once I explain how the library printer works. But the ones who struggle with computers? Oh boy, do they struggle.
One time, a patron called me over to the copier. I figured maybe they forgot to put the money in first, or clicked a button wrong. I walk over and take a look at the copier screen. She is on a page I have never seen in entire time working there. I have no idea how she got there. And she was not a stupid woman. She seemed fairly intelligent. She just also somehow accessed the shadow realms of the copier interface.
Or, there's another patron who sometimes asks if we ever 'got around to fixing that computer.' He thinks it needs to be fixed because it keeps freezing every time he uses it. But, uh, here's a secret. It keeps freezing because he keeps clicking random links sent to him through social media. No one else has this issue with the computer, and I tried to explain that to him. He still clicks the links.
Or, I had a patron ask me how he could find the creator/copyright of a random image he found online. Oh boy. I tried to explain how copyright works and tried to help him use the image search function. You know what conclusion he came to? "Ah! Google made the image!" And I tried to explain that that was not correct. I don't think it clicked for him.
And it's not that I hate these patrons, or anything like that. They're nice people. They aren't being threatening or creepy toward me or my coworkers (and that has happened). It's just funny. And maybe the second and third are my fault. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. Maybe I did not succeed in teaching them 'digital literacy'. But I can only explain copyright so many times in one interaction before I have to admit it's not going to happen.
I love my job.
One time, a patron called me over to the copier. I figured maybe they forgot to put the money in first, or clicked a button wrong. I walk over and take a look at the copier screen. She is on a page I have never seen in entire time working there. I have no idea how she got there. And she was not a stupid woman. She seemed fairly intelligent. She just also somehow accessed the shadow realms of the copier interface.
Or, there's another patron who sometimes asks if we ever 'got around to fixing that computer.' He thinks it needs to be fixed because it keeps freezing every time he uses it. But, uh, here's a secret. It keeps freezing because he keeps clicking random links sent to him through social media. No one else has this issue with the computer, and I tried to explain that to him. He still clicks the links.
Or, I had a patron ask me how he could find the creator/copyright of a random image he found online. Oh boy. I tried to explain how copyright works and tried to help him use the image search function. You know what conclusion he came to? "Ah! Google made the image!" And I tried to explain that that was not correct. I don't think it clicked for him.
And it's not that I hate these patrons, or anything like that. They're nice people. They aren't being threatening or creepy toward me or my coworkers (and that has happened). It's just funny. And maybe the second and third are my fault. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. Maybe I did not succeed in teaching them 'digital literacy'. But I can only explain copyright so many times in one interaction before I have to admit it's not going to happen.
I love my job.
