[Publib] Latecomers to story hours

[Donna Jo Atwood]

Years ago when I worked down in the children's department, we had so many
interruptions that we finally asked late comers to please wait for the end
of a story before entering.  That kept the disruption to a minimum, as we
usually after each story had a "get up and stretch" song or activity.  At
first the policy annoyed the chronically late, but everyone seemed to
adjust.

 

Donna Jo Atwood
Reference Librarian
Olathe (KS) Public Library 

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Kevin M. Davis
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 3:34 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Latecomers to story hours

 

Though late arrivals can be rude and disruptive, they are to be expected,
particularly with any program or service that involves children.

 

As a parent, when I discover an eruptive diaper just as I'm rushing out the
door with my daughter to make it to story hour in time, would you prefer me
to take the time to change her and end up running late, or to arrive on time
and proceed to stink up the place?  I'm gonna bet the other patrons, at
least, would prefer the diaper gets changed.

 

>From the harried parent's point of view, it seems the policy is one that is
basically saying "we don't care what your reason is, you're late, go away!"
I gotta say, I'd be perturbed, too, if my library took that attitude with
me.

 

Late arrivals are disruptive to the program and disrespectful of the
presenter and others, but they are to be expected.  Unless there's a
particular reason for locking down the story room, it would seem that the
late arrival policy is one meant to enforce courtesy more than anything else
and, if that's the case, that's a hard policy to defend.

 

It's always good to step back and think about who serves who in the
library-patron relationship and to think about how a proposed policy fits
into that dynamic.

 

 

 

Kevin Davis

Director of Libraries

City of South Portland, Maine

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of George Hazelton
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 2:14 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Latecomers to story hours

 

How many of you folk in Library-Land will not admit kids and their parents
if they are late to a story hour?  Do you post a statement to the effect
that those more than X minutes late will not be admitted?

 

We've had a patron bring her toddler to a story hour TWENTY-FIVE minutes
late and become livid, enraged, when she was not admitted.  She called two
county commissioners, and has just finished chewing out the library
Director, telling her that she ran the library like a Nazi, and that she
might be endangering her job.  She also threatened to call the newspapers to
view the offending sign.  I wonder what she'd do with a real problem. 

 

George Hazelton
Assistant Director
Henry County Library System
1001 Florence McGarity Pkwy
McDonough, GA  30252
Phone:  770-954-2806
FAX:    770-954-2808
email:    ghazelton at mail.henry.public.lib.ga.us

 

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