[OPLINLIST] Suggestions on dealing with "disgruntled" patron

[Ed Rossman]

Hi Linda,

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but this is an
important learning moment for you and your staff. As I
see it now, librarians had better learn to deal with
the rowdy, uncivil , or mentally imbalanced people in
society coming to the libraries to only use the
internet. They're fine as long as they're
non-disruptive to others. But oftentimes they aren't.
If not checked, they will drive out traditional
library users. 

The non-traditional library user today, who doesn’t
give a fig about books, reading, or learning, may be
the traditional library user tomorrow, for those
libraries still open. 

Because as funding gets tighter, more and more
citizens will refuse to fund public entities that
spend taxpayer money offering internet access to
people with no respect towards others, who're
disruptive, and who intimidate people from using
services and space that all should be allowed to share
peacefully. 

I would not pay 30 dollars a month for a health club
if it was going to let in any obnoxious, selfish,
non-paying person who'd sit on a machine not
exercising but staring at me, or swearing  about my
heavy breathing on the bike next to them,  and the
staff ignored their behavior because more people in
the place "looked good". For-profit places won’t put
up with that. But that's the way many libraries
operate today, which is a dis-service to the taxpaying
“customers”. It’s also wrong that your employees are
verbally abused for doing their jobs. You really have
to have this patron’s behavior taken care of! 

Before taking any action, check with the local police
first about this person, they probably know them and
will offer you support if there could be serious
problems enforcing standards. Make sure you do have a
written code of conduct or policy regarding behavior
in the library. In my agencies, we always checked with
the local law director to insure policies, procedures
and incremental sanctions were within the law. If this
is an ongoing problem, based on previous infractions
you may want to present the person with the policy
(with at least 1-2 other co-workers with you, or a
policeman specifically called to help you enforce the
ejection), and send the person out for at least a
week, preferably 30 days to break her “regular” habit
of coming into your place.  Make sure you have the
ejection letter given to her and properly documented
and handy to the staff in case she returns when you’re
gone.

If she does return, don’t be confrontational. Simply
call the police and inform them that she is
trespassing. Let them do their jobs and take her away,
giving her whatever fines, etc. are part of your areas
penalties for such behavior. 

In my book I have 2 chapters devoted to Intervention
and Confrontation within libraries. Here’s one of the
resources I cite, a page on violence
prevention/reduction:
http://www.teachersworkshop.com/twshop/vioprev.html

Keep fighting the good fight,
Ed Rossman
Author, Castles Against Ignorance: How to make
libraries great educational environments
http://www.castles411.com



From:	"Linda Swartzel" <swartzli at oplin.org>
Date:	Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:41:16 -0500
Subject:	[OPLINLIST] Suggestions on dealing with
"disgruntled" patron
We are a small library – our Internet computers are in
sight of and within sound distance of the Circ desk. 
One computer is near the return carts for the
Children’s Room.  We have no security guards – library
staff only.
Into this setting place a patron who is always
disgruntled and seems to border on paranoid.  She uses
the Internet computers on a regular basis, oftentimes
coming in to use them several times a day.
She has accused a staff member of purposely slamming
books on the cart she happened to be sitting near. 
The phrase was something like “Stop slamming the G _ _
D_ _ _ books on the cart!”  The staff member
apologized (although she had done nothing wrong), and
in an effort to be polite told the patron to have a
nice day as she was leaving, to which the patron
replied “You have a nice day too, B _ _ _ _!”
The patron has accused a staff member of “jinxing” the
computer she was working on – the patron says the
computer works when this particular staff member is
out of the building, then freezes up when she is here.
 She has shouted at the desk staff when she was
leaving that she’s “looking for a job, not a Man!”
implying that we are watching and making judgments
about her Internet usage.
 The staff is concerned that the patron could go
beyond abusive language at any time.  Have any
directors or libraries out there dealt with similar
situations? Beyond the foul language the patron hasn’t
done anything, but there is a feeling that the patron
could become physical at any time. 
 Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Please
call me or reply to the list.
 Many thanks,
 Linda Swartzel
Phone - 513-897-4826
Fax – 513-897-9215




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