Handling Problem Behavior Online Rose M. Chenoweth September 14, 2010

  Library’s instant messaging  Online Reference Service  Texting

 Who will you help  Who won’t you help  What will you do  What won’t you do  How long will you search  When will you stop or refer

 Your name  The library’s name (or the service name)  How may I help you?

 Did that answer your question?  Is there anything else I can do for you today?  Thank you for using ….  Come back again…

 Don’t use jargon (OCLC, collections, stacks, databases, journal, …)  Know your policies  Understand your role  Know your resources  Understand basic customer service skills

 Probing questions  Clarify  Paraphrase

 Do you identify yourself?  Are you friendly but professional?  Are you wordy?  Do you use large words when shorter, plainer ones might work better?  Do you tell them what you are doing before you do it?  Do you explain why you not responding?

 Fight  How dare you  Attack   Flight  Disappear  Not my job  Not my fault

1. It is not about you 2. It is not about them 3. Let us put some figurative distance between you 4. Remember, you represent the library 5. So… let’s analyze and solve the problem

Active ListeningEmpathy  Acknowledge the question  Ask for more information by keying in certain words  Paraphrase what they said until you agree on meaning  I sense some confusion  You seem upset  This does not appear to be what you expected to find

From Louise Green, Decatur, Illinois  Give the patron the benefit of the doubt  It takes two.  Echo and paraphrase the patron in a positive way if possible.  Give them three tries

 Where did the conversation start to go wrong?  What could you have done differently?  Would it help if someone else reviewed this with you?

 Chenoweth, R.(Ed.). (2002) Safe harbor: Policies and procedures for a safe library. Galesburg: Alliance Library System also available at  Clearinghouse for QuestionPoint Scripts wiki QuestionPoint-Scripts QuestionPoint-Scripts  Lord, C. (2005). Defending access with confidence. Chicago: Public Library Association.