I had a patron the other night that wanted "5 books on segregation, congregation and disintegration and if you can just get those for me". After some questioning I figured out that apparently she wanted books on segregation in prison (there aren't any) then she told me she just wanted the numbers for books on segregation. Ten minutes later she came back and said, "Jesus is teaching me a lesson in patience today"...mutter mutter...and then something about how I had sent her to the wrong place. She then tells me she had asked me for books on prison and to give her the call numbers for books about prison. I said it is a broad topic and can she give me some more information so I could narrow it down and find the "right" books. She said it didn't matter, she can write a paper using any books about any aspect of prison and just give her the numbers.
My question is, if she came back again, what should I have done? She was highly agitated and impatient and was perhaps having a slightly different experience of reality than most of us. Do I put up with her abuse? (She was extremely rude to me) This is obviously not the first time someone has been rude to me while working this desk, but is there a point where I put my foot down and just say I can't help her? I gently suggested she try the OPAC and you'd have thought she suggested I sell her child to travelling gypsies. There was no way to make her happy, so how could I politely say no?
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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1 comment:
Congratulations! You have won the Diplomatic Phrase of the Year Award, for this stunning little gem:
"She was highly agitated and impatient and was perhaps having a slightly different experience of reality than most of us."
As for your other problem...
I've had similar conversations, but perhaps with slightly less rude people. If I can't coax a more specific topic out of them, I generally search for the exact terms they said. This usually produces a large list of results scattered around the library. I show them the list of results, point out general call number areas where there seem to be a lot of books, and politely say that that is the closest I can get without a more specific topic. At this point I've seen one of two things happen. Sometimes the students see the long list of results, realize the problem, and try to narrow down their search with me. Or they they choose to roam the stacks until they figure out exactly what they're looking for. They're not always happy, but they generally aren't foaming at the mouth.
All this is nice, but from your description, I have a feeling your patron wouldn't have particularly cared hearing an explanation that searching for "prison" isn't very efficient. If I were in your shoes and Angry Crazy woman returned, I think I would probably make another half-hearted search on the catalog (while muttering something about the complexities of the LC system) and repeat my point that without more specific details I could only get her in the general area. I would then head home, put my feet up, have a stiff drink, and remind myself that I really do enjoy public service.
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