The 10 Things are over (do I hear people cheering in the background) and I’ve been catching up with my podcast feeds. One of my favorite podcasts is Thinking Out Loud with George Needham and Joan Frye Williams. I heard them speak at ALA last year and thought they really do a good job raising and discussing some important library issues.
Their most recent podcast addresses the question of what we should call people who use the library. Do we call them patrons, users, customers, or something else? I usually use the term “patrons,” only because I don’t like the sound and connotation of “users” and “customers,” but I realize that a lot of people don’t like “patrons” either. Joan and George offer “member” as an alternative name and liken it to when people become members of Costco or American Express. When you get a card anywhere, you’re called a member of whatever group or organization is issuing that card.
So what do you think? If you work at a library, what should we call the wonderful (mostly) people whom we serve? If you don’t work at a library (i.e., you’re a “civilian”), what would you like to be referred to?
Patron, Customer, User, Member, Constituent, Human, Man, Woman, Person, Living Being…or something else?
And more importantly? Do you still have your Members Only jacket in your closet?
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3 Comments
i usually use the term “patron.” client seems too commercial or something. but how is the “patron,” namely people librarians serve, a patron? is it by virtue of using the services that the library offers?
Rich — I like the idea of being called a “member” — especially since the library is such an important resource to the community. Sort of like NPR; don’t they call people members also? And you’re not even asking for money during fund drives!
I’m almost positive some of my youth group students have the exact Members Only jacket you included in this post. Of all the trends to make a comeback, it had to be Members Only and ridiculously tight jeans. Maybe they’ll start pinning them next…
We hope your family had a very merry Christmas!
We are required to call our users ‘customers.’ I assume this is so we can focus on so-called ‘customer service.’ It is interesting to me though how our uh, customers, use retail terminology to refer to our collection and services. Like they say ‘do you have this in stock’ or ‘can you order it for me’ It’s weird. There was some talk about whether libraries are/can/should compete with bookstores a few years ago, and this just seems like another salvo fired in that battle (if you believe there’s one)