Comments on: TTW Mailbox: Heretical Ideas in Library School

By: Len Williams

Len Williams — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:11:04 +0000

I find the comment from the librarian the most balanced but in my experience there are two camps on such issues and administration always sides with the rule makers. The trust people camp is distrusted and quite rightly cause people can’t be trusted. But this is all in the past conciousness though it’s not a word that spelling dictionaries recognize is rising! However don’t forget Marx saying that “theft is the responsibility of the poor” and don’t think that excuses avarice! or in this case kleptomania. All in all people are so afraid of betrayal. Afraid to trust because it could be broken! Like a moral problem of one!

By: Leah

Leah — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:33:10 +0000

@Veronica
Imho there is a difference between negativity and realism. These are just different ways of looking at policies.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:32:48 +0000

I find it fascinating that all of the responses to this post have been so negative. They seem to be focusing on the word “policy” in the first paragraph and completely missing the spirit of this LIS student’s idea. There’s often such a negative vibe that permeates our workplace, one that makes us more eager to complain about patrons than come up with new ideas or services. Part of what makes some libraries so frustrating to work in is that librarians and staff aren’t given the freedom to innovate or develop new, more effective ways to interact with patrons. Instead librarians and staff have their hands tied by policy, rules, and the “we do what we’ve always done” mentality. I think this thoughtful, idealistic LIS student is right on the money. We need to be thinking of other new, exciting, and even “heretical” ways to help shake things up in libraries, rather than just crapping all over a new idea the way we always do.

By: Leah

Leah — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:58:13 +0000

@ Ed lol

I have been thinking about this quite a bit the past few days…hoping that my mind would change or at least find a possibility where the idea of not having rule or a code of conduct would work. And I certainly do not mean to demean the efforts of Meg. But I believe there are issues addressed in a code that are just not addressed in federal and state regulations. For example, I worked in a public library where a man would prop himself in the aisle, take off his shoes, his jacket…and basically camp out. He was reading…supposedly. So he really wasn’t loitering. But he was a nuisance. No one wants to go down an aisle where a large, pretty stinky man has sprawled out. But we had a rule about blocking aisles and therefore could tell him to move. I don’t know how else this could have been addressed.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:47:18 +0000

Let this person sit at the reference desk of a main library in a large city with homeless people filled to the gills with illegal drugs and fortified wine wandering the stacks and see how they view rules after a day of that.

By: R&I Librarian

R&I Librarian — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:05:12 +0000

This is definitely interesting although really not so heretical or earth-shattering as a proposal. (Sorry LIS student, not dissing you.)

While public policies are often very helpful for guidelines and our patrons/users benefit from knowing what the boundaries are, I think libraries (and perhaps many other entities) get bogged down by rules in the behind the scenes functioning. That is something that, so far, this discussion seems to be missing. As an employee, the less restriction and more creativity I can bring to my job, the better I function. However, this doesn’t work for everybody and some people are always going to be by the book. But that is why throwing in that statement can be helpful. For those who don’t want to bend or break, find. But for those of us who do, it gives us more leeway to think and work outside the box.

By: Meg

Meg — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:35:35 +0000

This is an interesting post, because my Library actually does exactly this. Which is isn’t to say we don’t follow federally mandated rules (like those against harassment and discrimination) but that we do ask staff to make decisions based on the patron in front of them. And give them the ability to make real choices based on patron needs. When it comes to things like legality, I think we can make a decision based on the specific instance without endangering a commitment to serving each unique patron.

Sometimes, it drives all of us crazy. It IS easier to say, I can’t do this, it is against policy. BUT a different kind of approach does allow negotiation and some risk-taking. In the end, I would prefer to discuss my information needs with someone who is free to make good decisions about how to assist me. Even when we are busy (and we do have a very high circ rate), I think patrons are more willing to be patient because they feel the service will justify the time.

By: g

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:32:17 +0000

There’s a fine line between heretical and stupid. A public library has to have rules, insipid as they may seem sometimes. I mean, as far as rules go I’d say public libraries are pretty lenient, and best of all free.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:42:28 +0000

I wonder if that library school student has ever worked public service in a busy public library. Probably not; otherwise they would be very happy to have “guidelines” and “policies” and stuff like, oh, sexual harrassment rules to protect them. Hey!! Throw away that one! And how about employment discrimination – age, race, gender, sexual orientation – throw THOSE away!!

By: soren faust

soren faust — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:24:35 +0000

I think it’s an interesting idea, but utopian and ultimately unworkable in the context of the reality that people need boundaries set for them. These boundaries are set in a variety of ways–parents, peers, institutions, society, &c.

The library has every right to demand that a certain standard of behavior is required if the person wants to use the library. To say no rules in the library is akin to saying that all laws should not exist, as well, which is pollyanna thinking at best and dangerous at worst.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:51:41 +0000

In a perfect world, yes. Unfortunately I think Codes of Conduct are necessary. In fact, I have had one really help me out when I was being followed and harassed by a patron. It is firing power for banning someone from a public place. “They violated codes x, y, z and are therefore banned”. There are legal issues implicated in banning an unruly patron from a public place. And I certainly do not feel that it was my fault, which I think this writer implies. There are circumstances where not having policies could be detrimental to a working environment.