First, it was an excellent idea to have the library staff learn more about what the general public is doing. We need this experience to have some base of understanding and a frame of reference for questions. Surely, it was more important for the reference staff to do this, but it was generous of the library administration to include all other staff as well.
Second, yes, it has opened up new learning opportunities for me. I will be able to apply some things to what I do personally and professionally. All features, no. And by the way, I still don't like the user agreements. I wonder if there will be a "judgement day" for all the user agreements one has to sign to function on the Web these days.
Third, probably the most useful new experiences for me were the RSS feeds and podcasts. I'm sure I'll continue to use them.
Fourth, I certainly would look forward to participating in a similar program in the future. However, as I'm sure many by now have commented, this took far more time than originally seemed. There really wasn't enough time at the branch to work on it. That wasn't the fault of the supervisors, there simply is a lot to be done at the branch and taking time away wasn't possible. It would have been more efficient to work in pairs, but again that meant two people had to be away from their jobs for an extended period of time--not a realistic expectation.
Much had to be done at home or not at all. That's the reason my last posts were crowded in to a short time. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the last 2 months of my home life surrounded an ongoing emergency. Without much time at work and no time at home, there was a crunch at the end to finish by the 31st. I wanted to finish by the 31st not primarily to get a mp3 player, but because it was my responsibility to follow through with this program as best I could.
All in all I commend the library for providing this opportunity. It just worked out a little differently than we all expected, but hey, so does life in general!
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