Library Life June 2024
by amandamae · 11 things on NewTwos
- It's officially summer break, so now we have the specific kind of young library user I adore - they're checking out a tall pile of books (frequently manga, but not always) after they spent the better part of an hour browsing the shelves. Maybe they got a soda and snacks at the nearby grocery store, and they have big plans for at least the next few days until they burn through that stack of books and come back for more (what's even better is when they can barely get their backpack to zip)
- Had to escort a patron out of the library today. She usually talks to herself, but today it was much louder and disruptive, and when staff asked her to keep it down she got really loud and defensive and insisted we were ruining the library and would all be out of jobs. Took about 10 minutes to get her to actually leave the building. Had another coworker compliment me, saying I know how to be tough. As an introvert who has worked in retail and public service for 15 years, I appreciated hearing that. It can be hard.
- Then another regular patron who also likes to talk to himself decided to monologue at me and a coworker for a number of minutes, first about his coordinated outfit and how much it cost at Walmart, then how he owns the Walmart, and he's the best surgeon in the world, a truck driver who has had to deal with drug trafficking, a Tennessee state trooper, a Chicago cop for 10 years, he's looking for a good woman (but she doesn't have to be Kim Kardashian), and that the university hospital had him locked up for awhile and now he owes them $38,000.
- I've had a few older patrons call over the years and ask if we have a particular book that I find is independently published through Amazon. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes they're ebook-only, or aren't available through a distributor the library uses (we don't necessarily order through Amazon), or it's the author himself trying to "drum up" attention for their book that no one has heard of. Today it was someone who genuinely wanted a book by someone who studied here locally a number of years ago, but it's only available as an ebook, looks self-published, and according to WorldCat only 2 libraries in the world own digital copies of it anyway. Yeah, we don't have it.
- I'm trying to beat my record for fewest calls received on a Sunday (13!) and one patron has messed it up this week by calling me three times and just saying (through a poor phone connection) "INFO" (meaning the Information Desk, but a "hi" or even asking your question would be a little more polite)
- Seeing an updated event in our calendar is not enough for this particular community partner. They want an email confirmation that it has been updated. Even though they got that previously when they originally made the event, and this was changing the date... which can be confirmed on our public calendar. Sigh.
- When that one patron who insists on using the "express" computers (that have a time limit of 15 minutes) instead of the other public computers with no limits, and complains that the express computer is taking too long to reboot after his third or fourth session on them. One - that's not what those computers are for. Two - these are old computers. They will take a long time to reboot.
- Sometimes you get a reference question from one of your regular patrons, and they aren't looking for anything too specific - what they want is something quick for you to print out so they can feel they are getting that query sated. I aim to get them accurate information, but usually they don't care about that so much. They want something that confirms their bias, or gives them a quick overview, and then they walk away. If it takes too long to give them SOMETHING they get annoyed.
- I appreciate when someone wants to renew their library card and they live outside the state. We don't offer a non-resident patron option, so they are out of luck. But that does mean they can get a brand new account in their new state! And hopefully love that library as much as us!
- Patron called, wanted to know why her account couldn't access one of our digital services. That would be because she has $88 in replacement fees for four items that haven't been returned. Turns out it's her kid's card she's using. She wanted to know why she couldn't get a card for herself over the phone (I explained you can get a temp card for digital access on our website that's good for two weeks, but for a full card you HAVE to come into the building with photo ID), said she had terminal cancer, and then didn't understand why she couldn't pay the replacement fees over the phone (we have no way to do that - it's all through the website, or you come in person). She hung up on me after saying she would call back and get someone else. About 10 minutes later she did, asking for the Children's Desk. They clearly gave her the same responses that I did, because she called again asking for the Help Desk. Now, Help Desk is our circulation desk, and they don't normally take phone calls. That's what my job is. Also, both folks at the Help Desk were busy. But one of them is our Customer Service person who handles issues like this. Patron wanted to talk to him NOW and not leave a message for when he's not busy. I managed to get our Customer Service person free for five minutes, he explained everything that I had said, and we hope that's the end of that for today.
- Nope, she emailed in (which gets routed to our Info/Reference Desk), so they called me about it, and we THINK she's paid the replacement fees, and though there was a delay, it went through and she should be able to access our digital services on her kid's card now. What an ordeal!