Reciprocity with sister Leslie

As I now think it about, I developed an unstated reciprocity with sister Leslie in 2023. In recent years, she has had the opportunity to travel, primarily to Europe. She was able to give me some travel advice when we went to France.

Moreover, she sent me some documents, especially from Ireland, which may come in handy if I ever figure out who my great-grandmother Margaret/Marguerite Collins Williams’ parents were.

More recently, she has changed jobs. She still works for the same entity, but in a different department. Now she has interns, which she’s not used to having.

When I was working for the New York Small Business Development Center, we had several interns. Most of them in later years were NOT library students. But they were smart and eager and curious.

I found some long-term wishlist projects, such as adding more current statistics to our website. If I were immodest, I would say that I was rather good at finding them projects that were not just “make work” tasks.

Mystery shopping

However, my sister is too new to her department to have developed such projects. In this case, I recommended that she get her interns to “shop” her department.

The first thing I thought of was that her interns could look over their current website. They should try it on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox.

Are there any broken links or pages that load slowly?

Are there any misspellings or instructions that are confusing?

Is the site compliant with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements?

Are there color combos that aren’t easy to read – yellow on white, purple on black, or too-fancy fonts that are difficult to read?

One intern has already discovered that the directions for people in the offices ordering an ergonomically-correct chair on their Intranet was unclear. People who are outside of a process can often discover things that those on the “inside” just can’t see.

Sister Leslie is… a year older today.

Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto. View all posts by Roger

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