Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
-Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) William Shakespeare.

What's in a name? That which librarians call a user by any other name would....

Joan Frye Williams and George Needham Thinking Out Loud podcast discusses how librarians refer to their...customers? patrons? users?. As Joan and George mention, all of those words have meaning and all of them different connotations.

Interestingly enough when Joan asked library users what they called themselves they said, Member. People, say they "joined the library," or "I signed up for the library." She mentions that these people sign up for Costco membership cards and museum and zoo memberships and they naturally think of as a membership so to speak.

It is not unusual to talk of library jargon when we mention the words OPAC, ILL, Database, etc, but I would never have lumped the word patron, user, or customer as library jargon. After listening to this discussion perhaps I need to re-think some of these things. As Joan says, "Language can effect behavior."

In addition to the interesting discussion about our use of language in the library, George reveals a little bit about OCLC's 4th Report (to be issued late Spring / early Summer 2008) which deals with library support and why people do or don't support libraries. He says the report reveals that there is no correlation between the use of the library and whether or not a person will vote in favor of library in a levy.

Hmmm can't wait for that report to come out, it should be very enlightening.

Joan and George's chat is great and not too long 15 minutes. If you have a chance during lunch or sipping on your morning coffee, it is worth listening to.