Staff and Volunteer Training

Staff training is recommended to ensure that approaches to patrons are guided by this simple principle: Help patrons find information. Don’t tell them what to do.

Because of the sensitive nature of some personal information, it is appropriate for staff to remind users that they are in a public setting and may want to safeguard their personal papers etc. as if it was their wallets.

In the digital realm, staff may find themselves helping users create email accounts and setting up passwords.  This is an opportunity to teach users how to create strong passwords, and again to safeguard this information.  Staff should avoid actually creating or viewing a user’s password.