Bits 'n' Bobs

1) The Blended Librarian: Blending Instructional Design, Technology, and Librarianship

http://www.blendedlibrarian.org/

We briefly discussed this Web site in my Instruction Methods for Librarians class. I haven't gotten a chance to deeply explore it yet, but I've heard tell it's a good resource for anyone who might ever have to teach patrons how to find and use stuff that involves technology.

2) Black Belt Librarians: Every Librarian's Real World Guide to a Safer Workplace, Warren Graham, Pure Heart Press, 2006.

This past week I was telling my co-workers at my other library about how exciting UGL has been this semester, now that people have moved inside to escape the cold. I was explaining that the police were required at least three times on each of the past two Saturdays, and on each of these days within the first 15 minutes of working I watched someone being dragged out of the library in handcuffs. While the police seem to be spending a lot of time in the library lately, I've become somewhat desensitized and mostly find their visits a good source of entertainment. I was further explaining that as it gets colder people seem to be getting crankier and more confrontational, especially when I tell them they have to go to P/K or SEL to get a particular book.

Minutes after explaining all of this, I flipped open the November 15, 2006 issue of Library Journal and found this review on page 18:

"There was a time when talking too loud or returning a book late were the worst library offenses. Times have changed, with recent shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, rapes, and even a car purposely driven through a library wall with lethal intent. Since security isn't covered in MLS programs, librarians must seek professional help, and the expert they turn to most often is Warren Graham.

Graham has spent 25 years in security, including 17 at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC, before retiring in 2006 to establish Warren Graham Training and Consulting. He regularly travels across the country to all varieties of libraries providing security training; his book Black Belt Librarians (Pure Heart Pr.) details his methods. Graham told LJ that he gets "a great sense of fulfillment helping libraries control their environment."

Communication is key
If there's a single golden rule, Graham said, it's to "never think about confronting the patron. It's all about communication. If you think, for example, 'The patron is doing something that is against the library rules so now I need to confront him about it,' you'll tense up mentally and physically. You'll be working against your own viscosity. Most patrons will comply if you ask them the right way, and that is what I train staff to do."

Library location rather than size is a more important factor in security, and even facilities serving their patrons well aren't immune to confrontations. Says Graham, "It amazed me during my 17-year tenure at the library in Charlotte that although the level of service provided to the patron continuously improved (with Internet access, for example), the stress level of the patron gradually increased. All libraries share the challenge of communicating with the stressed-out patron in the most effective manner."

Geriatric fisticuffs
Graham has seen a lot in his career, as his book attests, and he shared a favorite war story: "On 9/11, just a couple of hours after the Trade Center attacks, I was called to the reference area to break up a fight between a 78-year-old and a 68-year-old. One had bitten the other on the shoulder, and when I arrived they were still swinging at each other--swinging very slowly, but with bad intentions."

I had two thoughts while reading this article: 1) This should be required reading for every librarian, especially for those of us lucky enough to work in Club UGL in the winter, and 2) I've yet to see a fistfight at UGL. I have seen the prelude to what might have become a possible beating/shooting (one of the police visits during the past two Saturdays that did not lead to an arrest -- all turned out well, however, thanks to the successful intervention of our gatekeeper, monitors, and police officers). I have seen Girl A chastise Girl B after Girl B borrowed the scissors to cut the end of her "cigarette," thus causing a strange combination of tobacco and tiny white crystals to snow down on the counter in front of me. But I have yet to see a fistfight. Especially a geriatric fistfight.

Somehow I feel strangely cheated.

3) Reference Triage
Sometime during the move I misplaced (read: lost) my copy of the GSA handbook, and we don't seem to have a copy at the desk. Could someone refresh my memory as to what preference, if any, we give to patrons when we have a whole herd of them crowded around the desk and someone on the phone? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this? Occationally a line will build up when I'm hunting the catalog for a particularly wily book or teaching a patron how to use the databases. I try to perform reference triage by answering directional questions right away, and making the others wait. However, this means that the flow of my conversation with the patron at the desk is constantly interrupted, and the people in line get tired and go away (sometimes after only a minute or so). Does anyone have a better method of handling all this?