“If it computes, patrons have brought it in”: Personal information management and personal technology assistance in public libraries

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2016.01.005Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A survey and subsequent interviews explore how public libraries provide personal digital technology assistance.

  • Over 95% of survey respondents received patron requests for assistance with personal digital technology.

  • Over 71% of survey respondents received patron requests for assistance with personal digital content.

  • Interview participants report a lack of resources about how to assist patrons with personal information queries.

Abstract

All public libraries in a single US state were surveyed in order to explore the types of personal technology assistance requests the staff received and how they responded to such requests. Staff at each library that reported having received patron requests for assistance with personal digital technology or content were invited for a 30-minute follow-up phone interview in which they were asked to provide more detail about their interactions with patrons and their opinions about this aspect of library work. In total, 130 of the 234 libraries (55.5%) in the state responded to the survey and representatives from 10 of those libraries participated in follow-up phone interviews. While public librarians are willing to tackle these patron requests, they have little preparation or specific continuing education in this area to provide them with support. Although many public librarians categorize technology assistance as reference work, official Reference and User Services Association guidelines do not consider it within the scope of reference work. The growing body of patron requests suggests that, as work in public libraries continues to evolve in order to meet patron needs, so too should the guidelines for reference work.

Introduction

According to a 2013 report, 56% of Americans own a smartphone (Smith, 2013), and that number continues to grow. Smartphones provides easy access to personal digital information: email, social media profiles, digital photos, bills, and personal statistics such as exercise statistics and calorie counts. With this easy access to personal information comes questions such as how to best utilize the information, manage the information, and maintain the information; issues associated with personal information management (PIM). While many people turn to commercial technology services for support, librarians often provide this kind of assistance to patrons.

Section snippets

Problem statement

Until recently, few studies have applied PIM research to library public services; human computer interaction (HCI) scholars have traditionally used PIM research for technological design. As popular interest in personal digital information grows, the study of personal information management can be explored for its potential as a service that information professionals can weave into traditional suites of public library references services. Copeland and Barreau (2011), Cox (2008), McGuire (2011),

Literature review

Much of PIM research is associated with human computer interaction, but PIM has grown to include attention from researchers in a variety of disciplines with interests beyond interface and software design (Jones, 2008). Jones (2008) conceptualized PIM practices as consisting of three main activities: finding activities, meta-level activities, and keeping activities, all of which can be associated with aspects of research in information and library science. Previous research has focused on PIM

Procedures

In order to learn more about how public libraries are assisting patrons with personal technology, a 37-question online survey was developed using Surveymonkey. The survey included multiple-choice questions, yes/no questions, and open-ended questions, and was developed after consulting several sources on personal information management, as well as the Pew Library Services in the Digital Age report (Zickhur, Rainie, & Purcell, 2013). A specific US state was chosen for convenience, but also

Survey

Of the 234 libraries invited to participate, 130 completed the survey (55.5% response rate). Over one third of the responding libraries reported serving populations under 2499 (Fig. 1). This percentage is similar with that of public libraries in the state: over 42% of libraries serve communities of 5000 or fewer. Results indicate that while many libraries do receive and respond to patron requests for assistance with personal information management, many of these requests are in the form of help

Discussion

The results of this survey of 130 libraries in a single state provide insight into the types of patron request for assistance with personal content and technology and how librarians respond to such requests, and suggest that these requests are becoming part of the services that libraries offer to the public in small libraries.

The finding that 95.3% of respondents reported receiving requests for assistance with personal technology devices and that 71.5% of respondents reported receiving requests

Conclusion

Public library patrons increasingly seek out public libraries as venues for assistance with personal technology and PIM. However, little research has assessed the landscape to determine to what degree PIM-related requests occur and how public libraries are responding to them. The present research found that patrons frequently request assistance with personal technology devices and personal digital content in small public libraries. Most librarians respond to these requests with one-on-one

Amber L. Cushing is a lecturer at the School of Information and Library Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland. She previously served as director of the Allenstown, NH, Public Library while managing her consulting business, Cushing Information Consulting. She has taught graduate courses in digital curation, information resources and services, archival access and technology issues in archives. Cushing holds a PhD in information and library science from the University of North Carolina at

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  • Amber L. Cushing is a lecturer at the School of Information and Library Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland. She previously served as director of the Allenstown, NH, Public Library while managing her consulting business, Cushing Information Consulting. She has taught graduate courses in digital curation, information resources and services, archival access and technology issues in archives. Cushing holds a PhD in information and library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MLIS with a concentration in archives management from Simmons College. Her main area of study is the development of cultural heritage from born digital objects, and how personal information management and digital curation influence this process.

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