[Publib] 50 things...

[Mark Hudson]

I think you've misunderstood. I didn't say we should ignore them. Of  
course the librarian should acknowledge the waiting patron regardless  
of what their need is. In practice, we often if not usually end up  
interrupting the reference interaction to take care of the print  
jobs, simple tech support requests, etc. I think to a large extent  
this is because, unfortunately and through no real fault of their  
own, our "non-reference" patrons don't really understand what the  
reference desk is, and often become very impatient if their need for  
printouts, change or tech support isn't met very quickly. What to us  
is a "reference interview" they may see as idle chatter. Frequently a  
patron will just verbally interrupt the reference interaction (even  
after being acknowledged and asked to please wait a minute or two),  
essentially making it impossible to ignore them.

Of course it's a staffing-level problem. It would be much better if  
we had two librarians on the reference desk all the time, or maybe  
one librarian and one tech support person, but our staffing levels  
don't permit that and aren't likely to in the future, so we just have  
to get used to it. Often, during the day at least, there's another  
librarian in the building that the reference librarian can call, but  
not always, and even when there is that person isn't always going to  
be available at a moment's notice, given their other responsibilities  
vis-a-vis collection development, programming, etc.

-- 
Mark Hudson
Head of Adult Services
Monroeville Public Library
4000 Gateway Campus Blvd.
Monroeville, PA 15146
412-372-0500x13

On Nov 5, 2009, at 11:05 AM, Lisa Richland wrote:

> While it is important to assist a patron with an extensive  
> reference question, ignoring those with what the reference  
> librarian considers less important is counter-productive.  If you  
> would take a moment to inquire of the waiting patron exactly what  
> their need is, you will demonstrate to all concerned that every  
> patron has valid needs. At least acknowledge them with a smile and  
> a time frame (I'll be with you in five minutes) You can then dole  
> out change, send jobs to the printer, while still engaging the  
> reference questioner in further discussion.  Those people you've  
> ignored in favor of the questioner won't come back to you when they  
> have a reference need, since you ignored them. Each one of them  
> deserves respect. Think about the grand scheme of things.
>
>
> ...and that's MY opinion
>
> Lisa Richland, Director
> Floyd Memorial Library
> Greenport, NY (the last library before Portugal)
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Mark Hudson <hudsonme at mac.com> wrote:
> I agree completely. But what about the patron standing at the  
> reference desk, while the one librarian at the desk is engaged in a  
> reference interview and doing searches, who wants to be placed on a  
> waiting list for a computer, or wants to have their printouts sent  
> to the printer and pay for them (rarely with exact change), or who  
> just wants change for the vending machines? And what about the  
> computer users frantically waving at us to come over and help them  
> with their technical problems? I think the answer is obvious. The  
> person receiving reference help is the first priority.
>
> -- 
> Mark Hudson
> Head of Adult Services
> Monroeville Public Library
> 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd.
> Monroeville, PA 15146
> 412-372-0500x13
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Kevin Okelly" <KOkelly at minlib.net>
> Subject: Re: [Publib] 50 things...
> To: "Gair Helfrich" <ghelfrich at aclsys.org>, "Vicki Marsh"
> 	<vmarsh at oldhampl.org>, publib at webjunction.org
> Message-ID: <WorldClient-F200911042119.AA19566392 at minlib.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> When I work the reference desk a person physically standing in  
> front of me
> always has priority. They took the time and made the effort to come  
> into
> the library, therefore they come first.
>
> Kevin O'Kelly
> Reference and Community Languages Librarian
> Somerville Public Library
> 79 Highland Ave.
> Somerville, MA 02143
> (617)-623-5000
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Publib mailing list
> Publib at webjunction.org
> https://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
>
> ,

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