Comments on: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

By: jane nearing

jane nearing — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:12:32 +0000

It's been used other places, but I like INFORMAVORES

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:34:30 +0000

You know, if we wanted to structure the quiz itself along the same pop trend lines as using "nation," we could call it the "What does Glenn Beck think of you?" The first question would be "do you use your public library?" and if they answered "yes" then the result would be, "YOU'RE A COMMUNIST!"

Variations on a toned-down civic theme could be:
-What kind of tax payer are you?
-Do you get your money's worth from your taxes?
-How local are you?

I kind of liked the emphasis on local community, but couldn't think of a catchy name. Beyond library questions, questions could be about using local parks, eating locally, whether or not they vote, etc. Although, a more library- or at least reading-centric quiz idea could be better. And wow, coming up with questions is tough. I don't know of any quiz writers, but I'll look around.

By: kate

kate — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:57:26 +0000

Brian, you're right about “Nation” – now that you've mentioned it, I see it everywhere (must be the Colbert bump). I knew a family of library users who kept trying to convey to me how much they liked libraries and I suggested they were superpatrons, which they liked, but they wanted a word that conveyed the ravenous fandom they were feeling. InfoNation could work – it has the added bonus of being a funny play on words.

Quizzes could be really fun to write, but not every question is going to be useful for information-gathering. I think to get people to take them, they'd have to be not so library-specific, but they could connect to library materials.
“Which [genre] author are you?”
“Which Oscar nominee are you?”
“Which Jane Austen heroine are you?”

Questions could be about borrowing habits, what the quiz taker wishes the library had more of, favorite type of library chair, favorite library programs and so forth. Does anyone have a favorite quiz-generator?

By: theanalogdivide

theanalogdivide — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:33:25 +0000

This is a great approach to this perennial question, Kate. Blame my anthropology background, but there's always a point where surveys cease to yield useful data simply due to them being surveys. Taking these “side door” tactics – where the responder may let their guard down a bit more – may be the way to go.

But how do we design the survey to get something useful? I'd love to talk about this more with everyone who comments here (hi, Brian!) to see what we can all come up with.

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:57:41 +0000

I like calling the monsters in the library “patrons” – or “superpatrons” if they can use library services autonomously. Considering how diverse patrons and their needs are, any nickname would have to be a fairly generic, like “Little Monsters” or Jewel's “Everyday Angels” – “bookworks” or something wouldn't cover everyone. Using the word “Nation” seems to be in vogue these days, so how about “The Info Nation” – ambiguous and broad but catchy. I also like the idea of a quiz – count me in.