I completely agree with your point about addressing these types of complaints to people who can do something about them. I actually did email the library director who replied:

“I am so sorry to hear about the reception you received on Saturday. I’m trying to figure out what the concern was about the card, and why they couldn’t have readily understood your request for what I would call a “teen tour”. I am pleased you spoke up, so that I can review responses that would be more appropriate with staff. They missed a great opportunity to engage a new library user. ”

I ‘ranted’ on your blog because your post seemed to precisely address the root causes of my lousy experience and I thought sharing how what you wrote about actually affects a patron would add to the dialogue.

Re: the second person at the service desk who was literally side-by-side with the other person, I hoped he would have chimed in, particulary on the second question. My goodness, to leave a new user hanging over questions like “are there better times to come … is there anything you’d recommend we check out” … If neither of those staff had anything to add, then perhaps they shouldn’t be at the service desk.

BTW, I am a regular volunteer at my library and often work the service desk. I never leave a patron hanging. Never. Folks seem to appreciate that no one individual can answer every question and wait patiently while I take 10 seconds to get a discrete answer or fetch someone who can assist them.

My library background =
* Patron at 4 public libraries in Massachusetts. I visit so many to broaden my sense of the library landscape.
* Patron at Harvard Medical Library for my job.
* Patron at Mount Holyoke College library as professional copyeditor for an economics scholar based there.
* Consistent volunteer for my hometown library since 1996, doing everything from shelving, weeding, stats, service desk, processing new acquistions, ILL, entering materials into catalogue, website updates, mopping floors when ceiling leaks, dusting (sound familiar
* Friends Board of my hometown library.
* Student library staffer from 2002-2005 for the academic library at Mount Holyoke College. Because I went to college mid-career after being a casualty of the 2001 dot-com bust and had advanced tech skills – they scooped me up and had me working directly with faculty at the in-library help center and on special assignment. I was also a tech resource to the library staff … so it was a pretty rich experience.

rcn, a reference librarian in the San Francisco Bay Area

I’m also not certain what you expected from Circ Person #2. Would you have wanted them to join the conversation, saying the same thing as Circ Person #1? Where would that leave you? I think you’d be twice as unhappy to hear the same thing from another person when you already aren’t satisfied. I don’t think Circ Person #2 was holding out on you; I think they didn’t have anything constructive to add. Hence, no need to join the conversation.

The other thing I note is that you save this story for ranting on the internet rather than providing feedback to the library in question. How exactly will ranting on the internet help this library? Not a bit.

For some background: What’s your experiences overall as a library user? Have you worked in a library? Are you a library volunteer? Friend? Trustee?

I phoned the YA librarian and he totally got it. We scheduled an appt for this Saturday and he’s going to set us up with library cards, show us how to locate the book my ‘little’ is dying to read (39 Clues) and he’s going to show us around some of the cool things about their library. Whew!

A story from this weekend is pretty typical: I’ve recently begun mentoring a 12yr old girl through our local Big Brother, Big Sister program. She’s never used a library and I’d like to introduce her to one. To prepare, I went to her town library and introduced myself and my need. The staff person (pleasantly) grilled and disparaged me in a circular discussion for being an out-of-town resident inquiring about a card. No matter how I tried to explain that I wanted this to be a learning experience – that both of us having cards would make it more of a shared experience – it just didn’t sink in. She finally conceded with “okay, but you’ll have to pay $2″.

Prefacing my next question with how I wanted this to be a really good experience for my Little Sister, I asked what I thought was an easy question: “Can you make any recommendations for how to introduce her to the library?” Person stared back blankly, so I elaborated “er … are there better times to come … is there anything you’d recommend we check out …”

“How old is she?” the person asked. “12″ I answered though I’d already shared that info. “That’s young adult — so you’ll have to ask the young adult librarian and he’s not here right now.”

Person was smiling the entire time, as if that was the only requirement for good service. A second employee was standing alongside at the desk inserting paper bookmarks in a pile of books. He did nothing to join the conversation even though it seemed pretty clear it wasn’t going well. Not his job, I suppose. He did look up and smile at me though, so I got the obligatory personal touch.

I was the only patron at the desk the entire time; no one else entered the building during the 8-10mins I was there. After I left, I wonder if the staff who worked with me put two tick marks on her stat sheet for my visit…

I’m ranting here because these types of experiences have been the norm in 3 of the 4 libraries I’ve used in the past year. I continue to visit because I want to better understand how libraries work, how the public is using them today and how they might add value ten years from now. As you suggest Andy, staff communication and cross-training are vital to adding value – otherwise libraries are just buildings with books and DVDs.