[Publib] Trouble in the LA library.

Thu Oct 25 20:25:57 EDT 2007

Greetings,

I am not sure what 'serious issue' has been defined. I
think the comment made earlier was that someone was afraid
of teenagers.  I am not sure if a director or board can
guarantee that staff will not be afraid.

I had a staff member who was very fearful of reptiles.
When we brought in snakes and other like critters for a 
children's program, the staff member could not be present.  
There was no danger from the snakes to the staff or
kids, they were contained.  But, the fear of the staff
member could not be overcome.

Is that a security issue?  I think the staff member felt
it was. So, it was as real as their feelings.  The same
is true for other fears.  If we wanted the staff member
to feel no fear, we would never bring in slithery critters
as part of educational programs. There are so many phobias
out there, that if we started down that slithery
slope, it seems that we would have nothing to offer
anyone.  We would merely be accommodating fear.

If staff are fearful of teenagers or other patrons, what
should you do?  The fear is as real as their feelings
and their insecurity becomes a lack of security.  Do
you keep teenagers out of the library? That just does
not seem like a good option.

My feeling is that training staff can be the best method
of reducing fear.  I have trained to do things that I
was very fearful of doing. With knowledge I reduced
my fear and replaced insecurity with security.
I have helped to train thousands of other people too
and the benefit when you have dangerous work to do
is enormous. 

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-441-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Diedre Conkling
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:23 PM
To: PUBLIB
Subject: RE: [Publib] Trouble in the LA library.

It was clear before.   However, it is not a new comment.  We have heard it
before on the list.  Who made the comment was extremely unimportant.  It is
a serious issue and any good library administrator is probably trying to
deal with all of the conflicting pieces of the issue.  Sometimes this is not
immediately clear to staff because it can take longer than anyone wants.
Other times there really is a disconnect between the director and staff and
patron needs.  Each situation can be somewhat different.  It is just that
generalities (ex. only 3) are usually not true.

--
Diedre Conkling

  Lincoln County Library District
  P.O. Box 2027, Newport, OR  97365
  Phone & Fax:  541-265-3066
  http://lcld.library-blogs.net/
  Work:  diedre at beachbooks.org
  Home:  diedrec at charter.net

---- Judy Anderson <libraryanna at msn.com> wrote: 

=============

Just to make it clear, I'm not the one who made the comment about library
directors.

Judy Anderson

> Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:59:42 -0700
> From: diedrec at charter.net
> To: publib at webjunction.org
> Subject: RE: [Publib] Trouble in the LA library.
> 
> I imagine that the majority of us know that the statement below is far
from true.  Library administrators struggle with these issues all of the
time.  No one wants staff and patrons to be in an unsafe environment.  And
we also want to have the libraries be friendly places open to all members of
our communities.
> 
> Finding the best answer to the issues involved may not be easy and may
take trying a number of things until a combination of things begins to work.
This is probably not done overnight.
> 
> 
> ---- mklibrarian at gmail.com wrote: 
> 
> =============
>
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-library25oct25,1,4325441.story?page=
1&coll=la-headlines-california
> 
> Sue wrote:
> > Of course, this is not a new issue.  Security is a problem for all urban
> > libraries...
> 
> Judy wrote:
> > It's not limited to urban libraries...
> 
> And while staffers struggle with and talk amongst themselves almost
> constantly about this plague, we think there might be as many as three
> library directors or board members in all of North America willing to
> discuss it or even admit that there's a problem.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Diedre Conkling
>      
>   Lincoln County Library District
>   P.O. Box 2027, Newport, OR  97365
>   Phone & Fax:  541-265-3066
>   http://lcld.library-blogs.net/
>   Work:  diedre at beachbooks.org
>   Home:  diedrec at charter.net
>    
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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