A private-sector sales concept is improving service at public libraries in Lynnwood and Mukilteo.
On busy afternoons, a librarian walks around and is available to anyone who needs help, as opposed to having staff stationed at reference desks.
“It seems to be working really, really well,” said Roxanna Padya, assistant managing librarian at the Lynnwood Library.
Mukilteo has seen an increase of up to 25 percent in the number of reference questions in recent months, staff members said, which they attribute at least in part to the roving librarian program. Librarians began working the floor in Mukilteo in October and in Lynnwood in November.
Kevin Nortz / The Herald
“I think we’re catching a lot,” said Erica Sternin, managing librarian in Mukilteo.
Between 3 and 8 p.m. Sundays through Fridays in Lynnwood, and 3 and 6 p.m. weekdays in Mukilteo, the librarians take turns walking around. Sometimes people spot them and ask questions, but more often the librarian asks people whether they’re finding everything, and the answer will be that they need help.
The program works well for those who are too shy, polite or proud to ask for help, librarians said.
“There are some who are very independent and don’t think they can come up and ask us, or they think they can find it on their own, and get lost,” Padya said. “People like that often go out the door without getting what they need.”
The roving librarians have been especially helpful for students, many of whom use the library in the afternoon.
Jan Kaminski of Lynnwood was with her daughter, Ginny, recently when a roving librarian helped them.
“She not only pointed us in the right direction for books and an encyclopedia, but helped us with the Internet as well,” Kaminski said.
Ginny, 11, a sixth-grader at Hilltop Elementary School, was working on a report about New Zealand.
The program came about when Sno-Isle Libraries, which runs the library system in Snohomish and Island counties, improved security to enable librarians to have a staff-only computer on the floor. That way, if all the other computers are occupied, a librarian can still find information on the staff computer.
Another advantage of having a librarian on the floor is that it increases staff presence among sometimes rowdy students during the afternoon, Sternin said.
“If somebody’s chasing somebody around with a fly swatter, you can intervene early,” she said with a chuckle. “We’re just a lot more present, more available for whatever needs to be addressed in the library.”
Since the roving librarian concept relies on existing staff, it hasn’t cost any money, only shifted the workload, Sternin said.
Sno-Isle Libraries officials will discuss in the coming weeks whether to have rovers in other libraries, spokeswoman Mary Kelly said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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