Patrons Have Special Needs

Some librarians are “crap” at customer service
Some are not. Some doctorss are great, some should have had their medical license pulled years ago. Same with lawyers. Yet, these professions have some degree of respect, and library workers never do.

The point? Not all of everybody is everything, and there are different sides to each story.

I guess I have been lucky that I have worked with a lot of library workers, librarians and not, who made shit salaries, and were treated like dirt by patrons, but who maintained their professionalism and managed to help the patrons as much as the patron allowed them to.

Here is some on the other side: I know personally seven (yes, seven) librarians who have been physically assauled by patrons. Why?

Politely asking an “atypical” patron to please supervise her children who are ripping the children’s room apart and destroying the public-use computers. Because, librarians are supposed to maintain some order, and they will get complaints from the public if the computers are in an unusable condition, and the room is a mess as well.

One had a patron come across the desk at her. Another was slapped. This is in between the usual masturbators, complainers, and library-card throwers who keep accruing fines (many of which had been forgiven before) and have an attitude with any service staff. And who know that the public library is one of the only places they can take out their aggressions on service staff with little or no repurcussions to themselves.

I have seen library staff cursed at in foul language because a patron waited until the last moment to do their taxes, or went past the deadline, and the library worker is attempting to help them get the tax form they need (and are not sure which one it is, which also seems to be the library worker’s fault and problem). And staff kept trying to help them, and did get what the patron wanted, with no thanks from said patron.

Librarians threatened with losing their job (“I am calling your boss and I pay taxes and you work for me…on and on…”) because in between helping the many patrons who come to the reference desk, the patron felt the librarian should also be personally babysitting their 12-year old who just happened to look at “porn”.

And many more experiences in over 12 years’ service to the tax-paying public, who seem to feel that their per capita $12 library tax entitled them to everything, all the time.

So, I think there are numerous reasons for bad morale and bad service, and I think it will just get worse until few dedicated people really want to be librarians anymore. And I think this site and sites like the contrarian librarian are important, so people see what public librarianship can really be (stressful) like before entering it. Those who feel it is a fun, no-stress or low-stress job where one sits around reading all day can be forewarned.

But anyone can reach a burnout point. And maybe that is where the crummy service starts seeping in.

As for the man who wanted the library to hold his card: I guess if he really has a problem, the library can do so. But why should they? The library and its workers are there to provide information to the public, make selections in materials, etc.

Not babysit children or cards. And I sometimes wonder, if librarianship was not such a female-dominated field, would the public have more realistic expectations from staff?

Actually
violence in libraries, towards staff and other patrons, is a growing problem. Just google “librarians” and “violence” or a few related terms. I think libraries are attempting to keep the lid closed on this topic, since libraries are facing so many problems, that they really don’t want to touch this hot potato. Because of fear of scaring off patrons, potential employees, and having to hire security when budgets are already problematic.

But anytime I hear about “crap” service, in any service-oriented jobs, I say, take a holistic look at what is causing the so-called crappy service.

Low morale? When was the last time library workers had a COLA? Pissed off at patrons? What is administration’s view of the worker as it pertains to deranged patrons’ complaints?

Stressed-out workers? What is the ratio of staff to patrons? Is one librarian supposed to cover two service desks? And police the building/Internet as well?

From time to time, I like to go over and check out the continuing saga at Atlanta-Fulton PL, http://www.afplwatch.com.

What is really a little scary, fellow library workers at AFPL, is that what is happening is not unique to AFPL. Sure, it sounds like Hooker is not a great library director, but her attitudes and managerial style is not that uncommon.

My former library is stretching staff to the limit. Many staff are taking early retirement, and the basic attitude is “I’m not paid enough for this!” Yet many soldier on and attempt to provide good service with what is available to them.

I think it’s great, despite your constant sarcastic tone, that you are well respected. I know my anecdotal stories seem inflated, but they are not.

Here’s another one: I was a mid-level manager at a branch where the female teenaged pages were being stalked by a man. This was back in the 1980s before I had my MLS. I was caught in the middle, trying to explain to administrators that this man was exposing himself to pages, whacking off, leaving pix of hard-core porn on the shelves for them to find, etc. And admin did not want to know. Only until one of the page’s parents threatened to sue did administration do anything, and that was allow us to call the police.

Librarians really seem to come down hardest on their fellow librarians. Sadly, those are the ones who seem to make it to high-level administration positions where they can spread the misery.

Bad work environments can translate into bad service and morale.