Because homeschoolers are a resourceful bunch, libraries–as a bottomless well of resources–have the opportunity to play center-stage to this user-community.  But do they?  I spoke with a fellow homeschool mom to discuss how she currently uses the libraries in her area and to find out if she ever fantasized about an improved experience.

Based on Richard McManus’ article “5 Signs of a Great User Experience“, if the library were an app, it would be a total fail.  The library user experience of a homeschool mom, broken down:

1.  Elegant User Interface

My homeschool-mom-friend lives in a city with a county-run library.  In fact, all of the cities in the county are run by the county (meaning no city has broken away to govern their own library, though a few have some pretty strong friends groups set up that greatly influence the user experience and tend to march to the beat of their own drum.)  These latter libraries are the libraries homeschool mom prefers to use because the 3 closest libraries, including the one walking distance from her house and serving the largest city in the county, are far from “elegant.”   They were built in the 50s and 60s and have barely been updated since.  According to homeschool mom, they are plain and simply “uninviting.”

2.  Addictive

Does the library solve a problem or serve as a pleasurable distraction for homeschool mom?  Yes and no.  The library obviously provides the content she needs to support her curriculum and therefore solves a problem, but  “it’s hardly a pleasurable distraction, more like a necessary evil.”  For a single-income family of 5, the free information and programming the library provides trumps the grumbly and grouchy employees she often encounters and the un-family-friendly seating options.  In fact, she has sworn to never use the library closest to her home again because she does not feel that her youngest children are free to act like children in the library, even during family-friendly programs like toddler story-time.  She claims she has “just never felt comfortable there.”

3.  Fast Start

Is homeschool mom able to enter a library and use it “straight out of the box” (as Macmanus puts it)?  Hardly.  Even within the same county system, every library has a different set-up and set of policies.  It’s not always obvious where holds are shelved or where the children’s area is located.  Even with a county library card, each branch requires several stages of familiarization.  I gave her Macmanus’ example of the Kindle Fire versus the iPad and she nodded along with the description of “time consuming and awkward experience for newbies,” equating the library with the daunting iPad.

4.  Seamless

I asked homeschool mom if she ever had “consistent experiences” with the library and her (snarky) reply was that she doesn’t “use the library consistently enough to have a consistent experience.”

5.  It Changes You

Has the library revolutionized the way she does things as a homeschool mom?  Not really.  She admits it adds some conveniences to her life: instead of having to buy books and materials from the store, she can borrow them for free, which has added more variety to her children’s curriculum.  The children also get a change of scenery and free hands-on experiences, but doesn’t feel that these couldn’t be replaced with a trip to the park or a nature walk.  The experience she values most are the educational guides the library’s website offers–there are a variety of tools broken down by age group all in one general area.  Because she is 100% independent (i.e. not enrolled through a public or private school system) she is convinced that she would have never found several websites she uses daily to supplement her children’s studies if it were not for the library (I disagree, as there are a billion-and-one homeschool group websites with similar offerings, although I do appreciate the condensation of the library guide and trust the resources they advertise 100%.)  The downside, of course, is that the there are pages and pages and after a few clicks, it is easy to lose the link you were most excited about discovering.

As a library & information science student, library employee, and a homeschool mom, it was disheartening to hear the negativity a colleague associates with her local libraries.  But I couldn’t say that I blamed her.  After listening to her complaints and hopes for her user experience (more daytime programming geared toward school-aged/homeschooled children, more maker-space & maker-activities, more inviting, cheery and comfortable space, more collaboration with outside programs and agencies that could aide her and her children’s educational journey, pleasant staff that understood that 2 year olds aren’t silent, energyless creatures, etc.) I couldn’t help but fire off Aaron Schmidt’s article “Putting the “You” in UX: The User Experience” to my supervisor (circulation supervisors have rarely taken library classes) to get the conversation going about how all employee and department actions and interactions effect the patrons’ user experiences.  I find in my own library, we are often complacent to do things the way they have always been done due to MOUs and seniority, and are therefore serving the needs of the staff, and not realizing the needs of the community.

Homeschoolers

I’m Tiffany, best known for having a sense of humor equal to that of dry toast.  You will learn from the timing of my posts that I live on the edge, not necessarily by choice.  I love everything 80s except leggings and banana clips.  I have a BA in World Literature from NYU.  I got a Cert in Library Technology from DVC (a local JC) last year.  I have 6-year-old twins and after spending a year in private school because I couldn’t stomach the public school system in our area, we’ve decided to try our hand at homeschooling.  I had never given information literacy a single thought until I had kids, but now find myself pondering how the education of every single person in my community directly informs their decisions, which in turn effects my family and I and our decisions.  I would love to say that I am focusing a career on these ponderings, but admit my heart’s not there.  Yet.  I would love to work in a super fun archive that has a library, or a super awesome library that does some fun, archivey stuff.  I’m kind of over the Bay Area and social media, but I love Baynet.  I try to attend all local libraryish events possible because being in a room full of people excited about information makes me happy.  Additionally, I also love being in school again, although I struggle with the 100% online thing.  The most useful thing I’ve learned over the past year is that I’m really good at overscheduling and underestimating time (but knowing is half the battle, so yay!)  Looking forward to a positive and productive semester with you all!

I am no novice when it comes to online education.  I spent a year attending hybrid classes at a local junior college and thrived.  So why does the 100% online Library & Information Science program at San Jose State make me wince with furrowed brow?  It can be summed up in one phrase:  Out of sight, out of mind.

So how does one succeed in a rigorous 100% online program?  Answer: Accountability.

Steps to Accountability and Success as an Online Student

Step 1: Self-assess and decide on strengths and weaknesses.  Everyone has  weaknesses and not everyone is going to be able to “fix”them before beginning an online program, but knowing one’s strengths will help bolster weaknesses.

For example, while I am fairly self-motivated, comfortable working independently, and comfortable working with technology, I struggle with time-management.  However, I know that I have fewest distractions in the mornings before my kids wake up and before I check my work email.  This is a perfect time to check in on my class discussions and remind myself about upcoming assignments and due dates.

Step 2:  Create a schedule and add it to your calendar: schedule when to read and when to check in on D2L’s discussion boards.

Having several clients forces me to look at my calendar every day to schedule my agenda.  By having time set aside for classwork, even if it’s just a check-in during my lunch break, classwork is not longer “out of sight.”

Step 3:  Planning alleviates chaos.  Plan as much as possible.  Stick to the plan as much as possible.

Step 4:  When it’s time to check in on D2L, just do it!  There will always be 100 other things to do.  I find once I log in to D2L, I am productive 99% of the time.

Step 5:  Keep a positive ATTITUDE.  Remind yourself that the attitude you choose to exude in these beginning courses at SJSU will be setting the tone for an entire library career.  Enthusiasm is just as infectious as a lack thereof.

Step 6:  Don’t fear the TEAM.  SJSU’s SLIS, as in the real-world workplace, will require many collaborative assignments.  Collaboration is good.  It offers a way to introduce diversity of opinion.  It offers a way to build relationships.  And it helps form commitments to the implementation of ideas.  Remembering that  transparency and leadership should be core parts of the team, the group work done in class should be viewed as the perfect opportunity to practice weeding out the things that make teamwork dysfunctional: lack of trust, commitment, accountability, fear of confrontation/conflict, dominant personalities, etc., and implement strategies such as non-violent communication, to move the group toward success and “performance” (as put by Dr. Haycock.)

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So far I’ve found online coursework to be a groove I have to get into.  The more I log on and the more assignments I complete, the more confident and comfortable I feel.  I haven’t been able to  conquer all the steps outlined above, but I know that with the right attitude, success is attainable.