When creating signs for their patrons, librarians should be mindful to avoid library jargon. You can also make a more deliberate attempt to speak your patrons' language by intentionally inserting grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, and unnecessary punctuation on your BROKE printers, out of order ELEVATOR'S, and KEEP AT "REF DESK" scissors.
Ask the readers: What poorly written signs are hanging in your library?
Friday, December 10, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
32 comments:
I simultaneously want to LOL because it's so true & cry because it's so true. Signed, an Ex-Editor
My head librarian doesn't believe in signs. He says that people who come to libraries don't read.
"These tables are reserved for use with materials in this room."
sad
Female washrooms/ Male washrooms
I have worked in two libraries where the directors don't believe in signage. What is up with this hatred of signage in libraries? Even if the patrons don't read the signs, they still help staff members maneuver and direct patrons.
Worked at a university library where the director had latched on to an idea that in a library "The space should explain itself". Of course the director took a personal interest in every single sign.
This was confusing as all hell in a building designed and built for a university of 5,000 students that had 19,000 by my time, several extensions tacked on, and extensive internal repartitioning of the space.
Current place of work: as a systems guy the thing I hate is scrappy, hand written out-of-order notices. No excuse when there's a nice looking Word template available that's less effort to print than making a scrappy sign by hand.
Sign: Please ask us if you need help.
Don't know if anyone went to the ref desk and asked "Do I need help?"
We do in fact have a notebook for people to sign up for the "study room's." It takes all my willpower every day not to be a total asshole and take a red pen to it.
"Please place on these trolleys books to be returned which have not been borrowed"
In lieu of a printed sign, some bad verbal direction: when one of our former librarians gave elementary school kids a tour of the library, she misidentified the unisex bathroom as the bisexual bathroom.
Our copier flashes the words "The Copier start after warming" if it hasn't been used in a while.
"Stairs are located on the outside of the building to the left. Please use stairs to access the second floor."
Sign next to the working elevator.
We have multiple signs that read "limit 10 Cd's per card." The worst part is, a senior librarian put them up without noticing the error. It makes me die a little on the inside every time I see one. Someday I will tear them all down, and damn them if they ask me to make more to correct the error!
We have 2 coin-operated-only copiers. The instructions on one says "insent coins." The other one says "insert key card."
I once worked with a sign-addicted coworker. Signs for everything. Quotes. Unattended children warnings. Upcoming events. DO NOT RESHELVE BOOKS!!!!! We had opposite shifts. About once a week a sign would “accidently” fall off and rip, and I would toss it into the recycling bin. I got rid of a lot of signs that way.
DO NOT "PROP" DOOR OPEN
Please pull gently to avoide pulling several tickets.
AND
Please write only on ONE SIDE of each R.B.C form for each item you are requesting.
New DVD's
Seriously, is it that hard a concept to get that an apostrophe plus an s ('s) denotes a possessive, not a plural?!
Back in the day when we paid per search plus time online for OCLC records, my boss would go through the panicky ritual: close the door tight just before going online. On the door the sign read in magic marker, "Do Not Distrub"
This is a pop-up message on our computers:
Your hold request need additional information.
OMG, I'm the one who made the "Cd's" sign. *Sigh* I've fixed it now.
This is not a sign. Stop looking.
ugly fonts are more memorable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9360000/9360166.stm
We have a sign on the microfilm reader that says "This is not a footrest".
We ALL love the patrons who try to open the "emergency exit--alarm will sound" door. That piercing alarm will wake the dead.
"Please do not use this door. Please use the door next to this door. Or you can use the door on the first floor, but not the door on the right. Only the one on the left. Thank you." At least it is polite ;)
As for the CD's/CDs debate, both spellings have merit. Plural abbreviations have traditionally used apostrophes. So it would be CD's but not Compact Disc's. Don't assume people are ignorant of the possessive apostrophe rule. Don't even get me started on it's/its!
Mens
I am the sole librarian in a department library at a major university .. I have a sign on the back of my monitor ...
PLEASE BOTHER ME.
I am a solo librarian in a major university dept. library -- i have a sign on the back of my computer monitor .. PLEASE BOTHER ME!
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/
"Please leave this kitchen tidy. Your mother doesn't work here."
Post a Comment