by Sarah Statz Cords
Lately I have been collecting “work ennui” stories. The other night I went out to supper with a friend who works in a bookstore, and he regaled me with tales of how he and his co-workers keep thinking the Twilight* phenomenon has to die sometime. A friend of mine who works as a librarian and readers’ advisor recently confided that she is disenchanted with her work, with RA questions coming fewer and farther between; another librarian friend tells me stories of the staff cuts at her branch. And then I read articles like the Annoyed Librarian’s recent post about getting distracted and disengaged in your library and find that many professionals feel they have to follow new trends and try to remain enthusiastic so they can keep their visit and circulation statistics up (which, let’s face it, is also kind of depressing).
So I find myself wondering what you think: What are library staff and readers’ advisors to do? I’ll admit I was never really able to answer that question during my years working in either academic or public libraries. I always had a good feel for what made my job frustrating (boy, did I!) but I never could quite figure out how to conquer those frustrations. What do I mean? Well, do any of these experiences seem familiar to you?
I may not be able to offer much but commiseration. But I really want to know: are you frustrated? What kinds of issues in libraries, and on public service desks, are plaguing you? For some reason I feel that if we had a better picture of our shared challenges, we might also be better equipped to share solutions.
Or, maybe I just want to explore the Dark Side of RA. Anyone else?**
*Every reader/bookseller/librarian has books that they weary of; Twilight is that book for my friend.
**Here’s a tip: You can type anything into our comments name field, even “anonymous.”
LibDir,
Thank you so much for giving us the director’s perspective. Your enthusiasm and appreciation for the hard work your staff is doing is inspiring, to say the least.
I can certainly understand “whiney” in the current situation. I wish I had more to offer in the way of help but I would like to thank you for your recognition of the hard work of your staff and for the RA efforts you make in between all of your other work. And, I also appreciated your note about talking with readers while shelving–it may not be glamorous work, but it has to be done, and often that’s where readers find you most accessible for questions and conversations.
As a director in a small library with an entire staff trained [mostly paraprofessionals] in RA, it pains me to see that expertise unused because of too few staff members and too few hours of library service. We have volunteers shelving, keeping our public access computers up-to-date and calling about reserves that have arrived and materials that are overdue. Of course, since they are volunteers they don’t always arrive, but most let us know so we can plan our days accordingly. We also have one self-checkout station. Still, we have lines at the circulation desk and “back room” folks taking 1-4 hours a day from their work in technical services and administration to cover reference and circulation. We do as much RA as we can, but feel really stretched when someone who is used to relying on our knowledge of mysteries, romances, science fiction and fantasy [genres we have studied in depth] can only be given minimal help because of time constraints. We’ve set up an RA bookshelf with the traditional titles like “What Do I Read Next”; put our RA notebook out for all to use;produced displays, bookmarks and shelf talkers; and put links to Reader’s Advisor Online and Novelist on our website. However, there is little time to point these out much less help someone learn how to use them.
My library staff is the BEST. They try to talk with patrons about books at the circulation desk and while they are shelving [no more pages]. We make notes of requests and interests and do RA in the few quiet times. No one in public service has “off desk time”. We are really good at switching “Windows” from check-out to RA sites. The scene is grim. We wish we could provide better RA service and could continue learning but there is no money for continuing education, not even travel money to go to consortium user group meetings….and FY2011 is expected to be worse. Yes, we are frustrated…..and I am whiney.
OAP,
First off, you’re talking with a longtime paraprofessional here, so none of this “only” or “just” stuff.
I believe your estimate of twelve hours. When I worked in circ that was probably the largest part of our day, which we just worked at continuously: checking in returns and processing holds. Over the course of our 12-hour days, if we got through all the holds we had for patrons, we were doing great–and we had lots of days where we didn’t get them all processed and just had to dig in the next morning.
It’s just not possible to read everything our patrons might read, so I’m glad you can find resources to help you learn about other books. I understand that we don’t get time to read at work (I don’t agree, but I do understand), but I do wish we got more time to talk genres and RA methods with our co-workers, and to read more review sources. That would be a start.
Some days dealing well with angry patrons is just a matter of luck. You hang in there and hopefully it will get easier, or at least less unpleasant.
I work in a small library system. We have a limit of only 15 holds per card (but as many cards per family as there are people). A conservative estimate of the time spent processing holds at my branch EVERY DAY is 12 hours. There would certainly be wide-spread staff protest if that limit were raised to 20, although a small segment of the patrons would be thrilled.
Although my best RA is done when I can talk about and recommend books I have read, I am not able or willing to read everything patrons might be interested in, so I use books, articles and websites like this one to help in areas I don’t know about.
I have often heard the wish repeated in my library system that there was more time to read at work.
As far as what plagues me, although I have had many trainings and read much on the subject I never seem to get very much better at dealing with angry patrons, but I will keep trying!
Sarah,
Frankly, I think that’s a very valid concern. Although I also believe that it may be important to start training and utilizing volunteers in a more useful fashion, I also wonder if that won’t get people started thinking, why do we need people trained in library work and with library degrees to do library work? Anyone can do it, right?
One of my many (1) concerns is if, when the economy gets better and governments actually start to see increased revenue, “they” will look at how libraries attempted to handle circulation etc increases with decreases in staff, materials, etc (you can’t judge by circulation figures just how much stress it put on staff, or if librarians were shelving on a regular basis, therefore working harder not smarter), and they say, well, perhaps this is a new benchmark. You’ve done such a great job, you can keep doing it!! It’s a trap and I’m fearful of falling into it.
Well, CM, having too much to do and not enough time or people to do it is a sure-fire way to lose “oomph.” Although I understand the necessity for working with collection agencies (as someone who worked a lot of circ), I agree with you that perhaps there is a better time to start and go about it.
We are glad to provide a place to discuss these frustrations. I’m trying to think of ways now that we could build on these frustrations to find some solutions, but I must confess I worry about the economics of library systems. There must be a way to save costs or earn revenue that doesn’t always involve cutting staff or book budgets. Is there any way to encourage or train volunteers to become printer/copier troubleshooters, or answer phones? Or will that only encourage the current trend of cutting staff and lowering salaries?
The staff at my library has lost it’s “oomph” lately, too, mostly due to extreme staff and wage cuts and a 2-week furlough looming over our heads. Our administration has also implemented some punitive measures, I feel. Starting Tuesday, a collection agency began calling patrons that owe $25.00 or more. This is the holiday season, why start now? We are in a county with astronomical unemployment, it’s Christmas, and we are going to start demanding money? Bad public relations when we are looking at a possible levy in a year or two. We have also had a now 6-month purchasing freeze that has really affected our patrons. I am now finding myself in a position of running the circ desk, helping patrons, fixing computers, making copies, sending faxes, etc, etc. This leaves little time to actually talk with someone about books, the part of my job that I love dearly. I try to start each day with a better attitude, but find it more and more difficult. Thank you for voicing your comments, and allowing us to voice ours.
MJ,
I have always been completely frustrated by the “over there” or a vague directional point as an answer for RA questions. Now, when someone’s asking where the bathroom is, or if you’re the only one staffing a desk you can’t leave, I get it, but if people have overcome their reluctance to talk to you about books or fiction, I think it’s safe to assume they wouldn’t mind having a bit more of a discussion about reading, especially if you go to the shelves with them. But I suppose this is again a function of people feeling stretched or that RA is not their mission or job duty. (Or of colleagues who are just putting in their time, and we’ve all had our share of those, too.)
It’s a great first step if they don’t mind if others are doing it, though…I’ve seen workplaces where effort is regarded more with suspicion than acceptance! Hang in there.
To be honest, my RA frustration at our library has to do with fellow staff members who don’t get RA and don’t seem to want to. They always say “but I *never* get RA questions!!!” …. which would be fair, except I really don’t think they’re interested in RA things the way they do show a (commendable) interests in the students otherwise – it doesn’t occur to them to talk about “just fun books” with students, and that comes across as disinterest or downright don’t-bother-me-if-it-isn’t-academic, which is why they don’t get asked.. I got an RA question from a student I’d never met before while I was covering the guard’s station, for Pete’s sake! And it is darn frustrating to instruct my student circ staff “hey, if a student says “where is your fiction” don’t just say “over there”, send them to a reference librarian or at least try to figure out what they’re looking for if the librarian is busy”…. and then hear that ref librarian answer the question with “Is it for class? No? Well, most of the fiction is in PR or PS, but you should browse the rest of the P’s if you are interested in non-English-language authors” without asking any more follow-ups!!!
At least they are quite happy that other people are doing it (directly and indirectly via displays, etc.) and supportive of such efforts as long as THEY don’t have to do anything…. it could be worse.
Sarah,
Oh, that makes sense (re: holding down the queue to hold down the demand/buying) but that just totally seems like the wrong way to go about it. Does that much time really get spent in your library pulling holds that weren’t picked up on time? A person I worked with once had the idea to put a $.25-cent charge on all holds, which cleared when they picked them up (meaning for every book they skipped picking up, they owed a quarter). I think that’s at least as good a revenue idea as the $1 charge for frequent card replacements.
I so didn’t mean to make you tired; I’m sorry. I’m also not sure how to keep up with the shell game. But I believe this: the people in the know are the people on the front lines, and until we take some of their plans, needs, and ideas into account, we’re not going to get anywhere.
B,
Well, I think sometimes we’re so worried that people will be afraid to do RA if they haven’t read the book, that we really back off the statement that you really should be reading (or at least eyeballing and perusing) books that you’re sending out among your patrons. It is true that there is no way to read everything, and you often will have to work with a reader who loves titles you’ve not read. All of that said, however, I do agree with you that, even with staff and budget cuts, staff who come into contact with patrons and readers should try to have a bit of knowledge about a lot of books. Frankly, this is always where I thought professional development was missing. I would have loved maybe a monthly meeting where everyone got a couple of minutes to run down particular books and genres–the big thrillers, the popular nonfiction titles, popular romance authors, etc. I’ve blocked most of what did go on in our meetings from my memory, but I know we never took any time getting up to book speed.
Thanks for commenting, both of you.
My RA plague involves reading books. Apparently librarians who do readers’ advisory don’t need to read books to recommend them to a patron. Reading books available at the library where you work is BAD! Being able to intelligently discuss books = BAD 5/6 of the youth services librarians in our 6 library district still have not read “Hunger Games!!!”
Hold list restrictions would hold down the queues, so that not as many copies would have to be purchased (and queues monitored). It might also mean that people would be more inclined to pick up their holds, thus saving delivery time, hold processing time, hold shelf book-removal time, paging slips, and all sorts of activity. Things are getting nasty, b/c we are supposed to deal with the increased demands and not cut hours, yet book budgets and staffing get cut. How do we keep up with the shell game?
Also, the fines thresholds etc. are to increase revenue, because more and more government is supposed to have increased revenue streams. I guess they’re betting on people spending the $1 to get the card, or paying down their fines. Unless they can’t. And then where does all of this “access” go? Remember when that was the all-important buzzword?
I’m tired just typing this.
By the way, the 20-item hold list would drive me BATTY. I understand budgets are stretched tighter than ever but now doesn’t really seem like the time to restrict access to resources. And how does that REALLY save any staff time?
Anonymous:
Oh, my. What you’re dealing with pretty much puts my petty complaints to shame. All of these “ideas” do seem to be on a continuum, though–particularly the issues about looking card numbers up and fine levels. I well remember being told that once patrons went over ten dollars, they couldn’t check out unless they paid the whole thing all at once–which was really hard for good people who wanted to keep paying their fines but could only manage a few dollars at a time. Why not take the few dollars and let them check out, I thought? It always seemed so silly to turn down money in any amount.
I think even more than an issue of an attitude of poor customer service, this seems indicative of policy makers that don’t actively work with the public or have to provide customer service. It takes WAY longer to fight with patrons than it does to compromise a bit–say, “well, I can look up your card number this time, but then a note will go on your card that we have to see it next time to allow you to check out”–and how are you supposed to explain to the man trying to get a job that he can’t try until he pays up, in full, with money from a job he doesn’t have?
Thank you so much for your input. I wonder. How can we make those making policies work with us to both provide fair and better customer service, which I would think would go a long way toward improving our morale at work? I’d love suggestions if anyone has them. Open letters to library management? Suggestions that policy makers make better policy by spending at least ten percent of their work hours staffing a service desk?
I identify with all the frustrations you listed, but I think what concerns me most is the punitive attitude my library seems to be taking lately. First we were told we could no longer look up a patron’s library card number by using their drivers license. To check out a book or put a book on hold or use the computer, the patron had to have their library card with them. If the patron left their card at home, we were supposed to send them to the Circulation Desk to get a new card (cost $1). Circulation could no longer check out books using the person’s drivers license. This at a time when anyone anywhere can go to any store, pull out their drivers license and have the clerk look up their credit card number. Then we took the book request link off the webpage, pretty much indicating we didn’t want patrons’ input on the collection. Then we limited the number of items a person could check out to 50 (which sounds like a lot, but if you are reading parents with a couple of reading kids, 50 books is not that much). Then we put a limit of 20 books total on your hold list, which distressed me because staff was also included in this limitation. The capper to all this was when the managers started talking about revoking computer privileges for anyone with a fine over $25. I understand not allowing patrons to check out books if they have a hefty fine,–this seems like a logical consequence of not being responsible about library books–but the computers are part of the non-book library services, like the magazines that people can come in and read or the reference section which anyone can use. To me, this would be a violation of the public library’s traditional mission to be a public safety net. Nowadays, you can’t apply for a job unless it’s online, and all government documents are online. We have a guy who lives out of his van, looking for a job pretty much every day at the library. He has a fine of $33, so he would be out of luck. I and others objected and for now this move has been tabled, with a note that it would be definitely considered later.
All of these moves are justified by our administration as “saving staff time” because our ranks have been so depleted, but every new rule actually causes more work than it saves. We think it’s PR to show the citizens they need to vote for a tax increase. It’s demoralizing to work in a place that takes such a backward attitude toward customer service.