Thing 12: Recommending Research Tools

While exploring the research tools that the LFPL has available during Week 5, I enjoyed brushing up on some familiar databases as well as learning about some resources that were new to me.

In terms of what we might promote to patrons, I think that in general the databases that we provide access to and their relative ease of use is something we should be trying to get across to the public at every opportunity. It seems that many library users are wary of using research tools beyond the catalog search, and this probably means that many people are not accessing and are likely not even aware of many of the other resources the library has to offer.

Databases should be promoted not only because they are incredibly expensive for libraries and, consequently, should be made the most of, but because they are often the best way to connect patrons with the information they need. Yet in an encounter with a patron a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I would check a database for the information she was seeking, and she reacted as if I had offered to tackle something outrageously complex. When working to increase patrons' awareness of the research tools we have to offer, we need to stay positive and reassure the public that these are accessible, helpful resources that they are totally capable of learning to use.

In terms of the resource I'd choose if we could keep just one, I'm tempted to name an aggregator, such as EBSCOhost, which makes available a huge range of full-text content across many topics and disciplines, and is fairly easy to search. But I'm going to go another route and say that the single most important research "tool" the LFPL has to offer its patrons is its staff.

At the risk of sounding cliched, no matter how many thousands of dollars a library system spends on providing access to databases and other resources, without a trained and knowledgable staff able to make these tools make sense to patrons, those resources are likely to go unused. That's why this week's task of exploring the LFPL's databases and research tools has been such a helpful (if challenging) part of our "23 Things" learning: it's an opportunity to focus on our role in increasing our patrons' research skills, by maintaining our own.