The Difficult Patron in the Academic Library

Summary

Faculty members depend on the resources and services provided by the libraries to teach, satisfy the curricular needs of the students, and conduct their research. Students need the library for many reasons, among which are to complete their assignments and to expand on what faculty covers in class. The patron/librarian relationship in the academic library is not always perfect. Issues which students and faculty face in the academic library environment are completely different from those in the public library. Identifying the characteristics of the difficult or problem patron in academia is a little more difficult than in the public library. Are what librarians face when dealing with faculty and students more issue-related than just dealing with problem patrons? The authors will identify, from the librarians' perspectives, some of these often called difficult patron issues and offer solutions to try and preempt these issues before they become problems.     

The Problem Patron

Summary

Library staff and other patrons encounter patrons who are one or a combination of the following: mentally ill/disturbed, homeless, street persons, angry, aggressive, unreasonable, rude. Commonly referred to as “problem patrons,” they appear in any type of library: public, academic, institutional, corporate and special. Most of them behave poorly because of their own troubles. The history of “problem patrons,” various types of problem patrons and their identifying behaviors are discussed in this paper. In attempting to define “problem patrons” the information provides a framework for understanding the problems of challenging patrons and for learning to discriminate between problem patrons and patrons who have problems.     

Zen and the Art of Dealing with the Difficult Patron

Summary

Half the battle of dealing with a difficult patron is changing one's own perspective. This paper uses core Zen Buddhist ideas and viewpoints to discuss ways of dealing with difficult patrons. The basics of Zen Buddhism are explained and Zen concepts such as Openness, Mindfulness, Compassion and Beginner's Mind are applied to problem solving within the context of library public service. The paper also explores the difference between “difficult” and “problem” patrons in order to help readers determine when a Zen perspective is useful.     

How Psychotherapists Handle Difficult Clients

Summary

Although librarians occasionally encounter difficult patrons in the course of their work, psychologists work with difficult clients much more frequently. This raises an interesting question-how is it that psychologists are able to manage these trying individuals, and in some instances even help them improve? This study attempts to answer that question by investigating how psychotherapists define, cope with, and treat difficult patients. It explains the psychology of difficult clients, techniques psychologists useinworking with them, and how these might be utilized by librarians. The importance of seeing difficult clients as a means of personal growth is also emphasized.     

Self-Help Legal Materials in the Law Library: Going a Step Further for the Public Patron

ABSTRACT

Service to pro se patrons continues to be one of the core issues facing law librarians. The current downturn in the economy makes this issue more critical than ever. This article provides one way to better meet the needs of this growing class of law library patrons.     

The Problem Patron and the Academic Library Web Site as Virtual Reference Desk

Summary

Emerging technologies continue to offer librarians new opportunities to improve user services. Comment and query links on some library web pages are absorbing a significant share of the customer service workload previously handled by traditional reference desks. Fa miliar types of patron problems of course continue to crop up at the “vir tual reference desk.” New and different aspects of patron problems also appear. Originating with the experiences of a research university li brary's web group in dealing with incoming user messages, this study examines the challenges as well as advantages of dealing with “problem patron” phenomena in a virtual environment.     

The Difficult Patron Situation

Summary

Problem/difficult patron incidents that occur in libraries are on the rise. Library administrators and library employees have attempted to decrease the number of incidents by providing staff training and formulating policies and rules to control the situation. The purpose of this article is to share the proactive steps that the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library, Penn State University Libraries, took to prevent or decrease the incidences of difficult patrons as the library prepares to relocate. The focus was on assisting the frontline staff members, who work on the reference desk, to acquire the competencies they need to provide consistent quality reference services to patrons, and to reduce incidences of unsatisfied, difficult, and problem patrons.     

Difficult Library Patrons in Academe

Summary

Difficult patrons have been considered primarily from the perspective of the problem behaviours they present in libraries. Many have attempted to define the problem patron and to provide advice and develop guidelines for frontline public service staff. To understand the difficult patron in academic libraries we need to answer three questions-How well do we know our patrons? Do we unwittingly create difficult patrons through our failure to appreciate their needs? Do we regard patrons as difficult because the way they use libraries and conduct their information research does not match our idea of how it should be done? The answers to these questions suggest that we need to reconceptualize both our patrons and the services we provide. Library staff need to see difficult patrons not as problems but as challenges to the service ideas and standards we hold. A paradigm shift is necessary if we are to reconstruct our beliefs about our patrons, their information seeking behaviours, and the services we provide to meet their needs. Some strategies for developing the skills of library staff to work effectively with difficult patrons are presented.     

The Compleat Library Patron

No abstract available for this article.     

Library Information:

No abstract available for this article.     

Family Communication Patterns and Difficult Family Conversations

Difficult conversations among family members can impact the health and structure of familial relationships. The reported study investigated potential antecedents and outcomes of difficult family conversations. Perceived consequences of, reasons behind, responses to, and results of difficult conversations were considered, and the family communication patterns (FCP) framework guided the examination. Although the majority of respondents feared negative consequences prior to conversations, most reported positive results. The type of response received from conversational partners was associated with the eventual result. Counter to predictions, data analysis found no relationships among the family communication styles proposed by FCP and the antecedents and outcomes of difficult family conversations. These results suggest that the need for engaging in difficult conversations may outweigh family communicative norms and potential family consequences. Practical implications of the findings, including how therapists or counselors might communicate the benefits of discussing difficult topics generally and of avoiding negative reactions during such conversations, are considered.     

论数字图书馆的用户管理与用户服务模式

分析和讨论了当前数字图书馆的用户管理模式和用户服务现状，提出了新的用户管理模式和用户服务模式，认为数字图书馆合理的用户管理模式是IP验证加防火墙隔离方式与用户认证加访问授权方式相结合的管理模式，认为数字图书馆用户服务的基本模式是以用户为中心的集成信息服务与个性化定制服务相结合的用户服务模式。     

The Problem Patron

The problem patron poses a dilemma for many librarians, one which deserves a more reasoned examination. Based on an informal survey of 40 large, urban public libraries, a set of guidelines for managing the problem patron is offered. Further, there is a discussion of an overall strategy for increasing the competence of library staff members vis a vis the problem patron, using as an example, a program developed by the Hartford Public Library. Increased communication among librarians, the exploitation of professional expertise within each library's community, and the adherence to coherent guidelines are stressed as essentials for success.     

Patron Preferences: Recreational Reading in an Academic Library

In 2014, Sam Houston State University Library librarians distributed a survey to students, faculty and staff to better understand how the university community was using library materials for recreational reading. The survey found that patrons had preference for print materials with a growing interest in other formats. A significant number of respondents did not view the library as a source of recreational reading materials; those who did read across a broad swath of genres. Greater understanding of patron recreational reading preferences empower the library to expand the library collection to meet all patron demands.     

Gypsies,Tramps and Rage

Summary

This paper proposes that encounters with problem patrons and reader rage will continue to increase. In order for the library and its staff to survive they must adhere to some basic ideas including acknowledging that a problem exists, creating a code of conduct, hiring and training staff for the task, and providing them ways to deal with the problems and the stress.     

Becoming Mobile: Reference in the Ubiquitous Library

ABSTRACT

Library patrons are adopting mobile devices for personal and other uses. The ubiquity of mobile devices will lead to changes in how and where learning and education happens. Libraries have wanted to become ubiquitous by making resources and services available anywhere, anytime. Reference librarians can use mobile devices and applications to include services in mobile learning environments. Challenges to libraries include uncertainty about which technologies to adopt in a rapidly changing technology landscape, the cost of technology adoption, staffing for 24–7, diversity of needs and preferences among library patrons, and the need to offer stable, consistent services. The combination of mobile librarians, mobile patrons, and mobile content provides an opportunity to move closer to the ideal of the ubiquitous library.

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 51, Issue 3, pages 279–290, 2011. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2011.556942.     

“读者决策驱动”（PDA）应用视阈下的图书馆角色重申与转型

在经费削减文献资源价格一路上扬的背景下,图书馆“藏”与“用”之间的矛盾愈显尖锐。图书馆人不得不以经费与资源之间效益最大化为方向,寻求解决的方案。文章从读者决策采购（PDA）的定义及其本质入手,分析了 PDA 在馆藏建设方面的存在的局限性,最后针对PDA 的应用实践带给图书馆的危机,探讨了不同类型图书馆角色重申与转型的问题。     

The Pro Se Patron

Abstract

The author contends, based on articles published in recent years discounting the legal obligation of law librarians to pro se patrons, that law librarians have a paramount ethical obligation not to cause harm, and thus to avoid the practice of law from the reference desk. As a result, the attorney patron and the pro se patron cannot be afforded the same level of legal reference service. The attorney is the conversant intermediary between the legal materials (and the librarian) and the client, whereas the pro se patron is the client with a layman's dearth of basic legal knowledge.     

基于读者调查分析的图书馆2.0应用思考

通过一次主要针对图书馆2.0应用的读者调查,详细介绍了调查内容、分析过程等.最后,依据调查结果给出了图书馆2.0应用的建议.