Clicking at the library

The library teaches classes on digital cameras?”
That’s what one of the people who took part in my “Choosing a Digital Camera” seminar said was her first thought when she first saw the announcement. She wasn’t the only person to say that to me after the course ended.
The people who registered for the course shared the same goal: they were all interested in buying digital cameras. They wanted to be able to document and share their view of their world with friends and family members, but were afraid that the technical jargon used to market digital cameras to the masses was too hard for “simple folk” like themselves to understand.
Maybe it was the sight of a librarian speaking confidently about a technical subject in terms that they could easily relate to that made them feel more comfortable about asking questions that they’d never ask a salesperson at a big box store or camera shop. After all, librarians don’t want to sell them anything, we just want to provide them with enough information so that they feel certain that they can make an informed choice on their own.
When I opened the session, I used the analogy of sharks smelling blood in the water to describe a potential sales transaction at an electronics superstore. “I just want to keep you from feeling like shark food,” I told them, and I saw the lingering traces of apprehension leave their faces and bodies. I got the sense that they trusted me, that they understood that I only had their best interests at heart, and I wanted to make them feel better about what they did know, rather than to make them feel ashamed about what they didn’t.
I’d like to think that the participants walked away with more than the information to help them make a purchase they could feel good about. I’d like to think that they walked away with a different idea about libraries and library staff. I’d like to think that in my own small way, I left the with the impression that libraries can be pretty cool places.
By the way, the photo that accompanies this entry is of a paper orchid one of the participants gave me after the course to thank me for teaching the course. As a matter of fact, I did get a little teary eyed after it happened – why do you ask?