UW-Madison junior Curran Martin stopped by the Ask a Librarian kiosk on East Campus Mall Wednesday. He was looking for a place to study. After living in the dorms during his first two years of college, he wanted a better option this year.
“I live in an apartment now, and I don’t have a study space built [in],” Martin said. “The advice I received was helpful. [The librarians] suggested a new place at Memorial Union that I had never really considered. I’m going to check it out once I have some studying to do, which is pretty soon.”
For the first time, UW-Madison librarians have taken to the streets to give directions, advice and snacks to those who need guidance during the first few days of classes. The idea to set up stations around campus stemmed from the frequent occurrence of lost students wandering into the libraries for help, according to Raina Bloom, a UW-Madison librarian who participated in the event.
Although this is the first year they have set up the Ask stations on campus, Bloom said the services it provides aren’t new to librarians at all.
“When we sit at the reference desks in our libraries, people walk up to us and ask us directional questions,” Bloom said. “By the time they are getting [to us], they are already pretty far off the path that they need to be on.”
In addition to advice and directions, the Ask information kiosks also offer fresh fruits, pencils, flashlights and maps that highlight resources in the libraries.
The kiosks will be set up near Chadbourne Hall and in front of the Chazen Museum Thursday.
