Crash Course in Dealing with Difficult Library Customers

by Shelley Mosley, Dennis C. Tucker, Sandra Van Winkle

Every library experiences difficult patrons. Thorough preparation is the best defense: it's always much better to be proactive than reactive. The authors of Crash Course in Dealing with Difficult Library Customers realized that these kinds of situations a

Genres: Nonfiction

173 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than anything, these books seem to be a commiseration--it's amazing that in libraries across the country, we all have a bizarrely specific selection of "types"--from the know-it-all who doesn't NEED librarians but bullies them anyway to the lonely clinger who parks himself at your desk and refuses to budge for hours-long stretches.

I guess this is further proof that no matter how unique and special we each like to pretend we are, we really are just boring human beings who share the same "unique" traits with millions of others.

Some of the stories are very frightening, others humorous. (I must say I greatly enjoyed the story of the patron who launched a religious tirade against my favorite movie of all time, The Brave Little Toaster.) The authors' advice is usually spot-on, but I think they are a little too lenient with irresponsible parents in the library.

I imagine that librarians will be able to produce a real-life example (or three) for each "type" of patron. Hopefully most of the advice will be of use when dealing with our colorful cast of characters.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of negative patron nicknames and personal anecdotes combined with a lot of common sense advice. This title wasn't very helpful and read like one long rant. Public libraries need something more strategic than just common sense for dealing with security issues.