[Publib] Overdue notice language

[Chris Ely]

At 09:00 AM 1/5/2008, Robert L. Balliot wrote:
>I have had very few patrons that I would consider to be rude.  Maybe 
>one out of a hundred. So, I am unable to relate to the phenomenon 
>that you are describing in Texas. What I do take from your comments 
>is that in your situation the library is so undervalued that use and 
>non-use of the library could be determined by something as benign as 
>a conversational tone in an overdue notice.

I was not referring to a situation specific to my library, but a 
generalized situation that I see described often, not only here, but 
in other library venues. Every library has rude patrons now and again 
(even if it's just someone having a bad day), because in every 
situation with human beings involved, there's bound to be a rude 
person eventually. The question is which side of the counter are they on?

>Perhaps you need to take your library in a completely different 
>direction and focus on making personal connections.

That's really amusing, because I know almost all of my patrons by 
name, and most of the time I can pull up their account without even 
asking their card number.

>Then, you would not need to worry about a herd of rude patrons who 
>might stampede at the first sign of creativity.

I personally am not worried. I was only pointing out that such 
"creativity" may not come across as such to all of our patrons, and 
may very well backfire with some. Be creative, be personal, but when 
you start getting complaints from patrons, perhaps you should take a 
look at *why* and ask for input from others. Which is what I 
*thought* we were doing here -- giving feedback requested by a fellow 
member of this list.

Chris Ely, once again not talking about any specific incident or 
situation in the Whitewright Public Library

=====================
Whitewright Public Library, Whitewright, Texas
www.whitewright.lib.tx.us  <librarian at whitewright.lib.tx.us>

"Pathetic human race. Arranging their knowledge by category just made 
it easier to absorb. Dewey, you fool, your decimal system has played 
right into my hands." Futurama