[Publib] "Sorry to bother you . . . "

[Karen Mahnk]

This is also my reason for spending my hour at the reception desk
(we're a small library & all staff gets an hour at the front desk each
day)  simply doing immediate tasks that are short & don't take me away
from the station/desk. I fill check the paper in the fax machine, wipe
down the phone, etc. & then stand there browsing through ie. an ALA
magazine or children's mag - since I do the youth collection
development but don't deal with the kids on a daily basis. I won't
read books for the very reason that I then appear absorbed & folks
tend to think they are "bothering me" ..  It's preferred that staff
shelve books nearby  because  that makes us look busy but  it's my
obsevation that it makes patrons  have to look for us &  wait for us
to get back to the desk..  Standing at the desk browsing a magazine
seems to make patrons/customers very comfortable  with "interrupting
me" - I look as if I am just waiting for someone to help  & I am
immediately available to them....As short  a time as it is that
patrons have to wait at the front desk while a library staff member
jaunts back to the desk from the stacks, it bothers me personally that
they  have to stand there looking around for a person for even 10-15
seconds...
Just my HO.
Karen Mahnk,
Reference Librarian
Lake Park Public Library
529 Park Avenue
Lake Park, Fl., 33403
561 881-3330 Fax: 561881-3336
kmahnk at lakeparkflorida.gov
www.lakepark-fl.gov




On 5/19/06, Joe Schallan <jbsphx at cox.net> wrote:
> Sara Weissman  <weissman at main.morris.org> writes:
>
>  > There is something terribly wrong if a patron begins with
>  > "I don't want to bother you, but ..."   What body language
>  > engenders that?   What message are we conveying?
>
> They ARE bothering us, and it is almost impossible for our
> body language NOT to convey that.
>
> Let me elaborate.
>
> Every public library I've worked in (in my case, three)
> loaded up its reference staff with enough "off desk"
> responsibilities and tasks that the librarians felt compelled
> to take their work to the public desk with them, just to
> make some sort of stab at keeping up.
>
> So at all these places, librarians were very busy,
> heads down, working on their stuff.  OF COURSE
> patrons will feel they are bothering such librarians, and
> OF COURSE such librarians will be hard pressed not
> to convey "I'm being bothered" body language, especially
> if the patron has come up to the desk exactly when
> the librarian is now making the 17th attempt to
> complete the sentence in the report she is writing.
>
> This is, of course, a tough nut, and I don't have a
> universal way of cracking it.
>
> Has any place tried mandating that staff are
> not to take work out with them to the public desk?
> Do patrons then complain to city council about
> observing idle librarians during the inevitable slack
> times?  (This actually happened in one city I know
> of.)   Or at the least think to themselves what a cushy,
> low-stress life it is to sit idly at a desk and get paid
> for it?
>
> All I know is that if you try to work at the desk to fill
> the slack times, then patrons are going to feel they
> are bothering you.  I don't see how it can be otherwise.
>
> And really loading up your librarians with tasks and
> deadlines, to the point where they are desperate for
> time, is a surefire way to absolutely ENSURE that
> there will be very bad body language indeed.
>
> - - - -
>
> I've often thought I should be wearing a large button:
> "Just trying to use my time well when none of you
> need me, but if you do need me, IT IS OK TO ASK!"
>
> Joe Schallan
> Phoenix
>
>
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