Comments on: First Impressions and Rethinking Restroom Questions

By: Elias Varachia

Elias Varachia — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:16:19 +0000

Thank you for this wonderful reminder. I try to remind myself many times – “How would I want to be treated” and this immediately changes my attitude and response ‘with a smile ‘to the patron – no matter what the question may be.

By: First Impressions and Rethinking Restroom Questions « Burlington County Library System Clic

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:35:32 +0000

[...] First Impressions and Rethinking Restroom Questions By askbcls Put yourself on the other side of the desk and rethink why someone might be asking a particular question. In the case of questions such as �where�s the restroom?� most likely the person has never been in the building before. Yes, you�ve answered the question a bazillion times, but most people only ask the question on their first visit. Read more…. [...]

By: La question-toilettes comme paradigme d’une m�diation r�ussie « pintiniblog

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:42:07 +0000

[...] m�diation r�ussie Je m’�tais promis-jur� de ne pas parler de cet article http://www.rusq.org/2009/11/28/first-impressions-and-rethinking-restroom-questions/ (qui a fait le tour de la biblio-sph�re). Mais j’ai craqu�… Alors [...]

By: dan cawley

dan cawley — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:13:20 +0000

i’ve answered this question 17 gabillion times. golden rule: be nice. the person asking the question may REALLY NEED TO FIND A RESTROOM. FAST! excellent article, by the way.

By: Friday Link Round Up « ellie <3 libraries

Friday Link Round Up « ellie <3 libraries — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:26:33 +0000

[...] First Impressions and Rethinking Restroom Questions [...]

By: Connie Boschwitz

Connie Boschwitz — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:41:14 +0000

I work at the Welcome Desk at our local library. It is a new and grand building which I love to show off. Sort of like showing off your new home or pictures of your newborn baby. I am the first line when anyone comes into the library and I try to keep on a happy face even if my teeth are aching. I do get a lot of “bathroom” questions but realize that if they are new they don’t know where it is. We are a public service corporation and I am here to serve the public. So bring on the questions. I’ll do my best to answer them myself or find someone who knows the answers. I love my job!

By: Vicky

Vicky — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:38:35 +0000

From a practical point of view, a smile and pleasant response is a free gift that you can give out all day long, is greatly appreciated, and it will COST YOU NOTHING. At a time of budget cuts, this is something that we have an unlimited supply of; we don’t have to ask anyone to allot us with the resources. I recently had a student intern with me, and at the end of the term, I advised him to remember to thank everyone whom he met or shadowed in the library. The reason is very simple: it costs him nothing to do that, and the favorable impression he leaves with the people he thanked may help him when he needs a favor somewhere down the road.

By: Cynthia Long

Cynthia Long — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:01:08 +0000

I had moved to a new city for Library School and experienced the typical transition challenges, finding a place to live, looking for a job, trying not to get lost in a new city etc. One night at the beginning of my first semester I was so worn out and disoriented I walked up the driveway to the wrong house! The next day I asked a general question at the Library Science Collection Reference Desk. I hadn’t taken a Reference class yet. The M.L.S. candidate-in-training said to me snidely, “Aren’t you a library school student here?” Grudgingly she answered my question. I’ll never forget her attitude. She gave me a lesson in what NOT to do. We never know what personal situations patrons are balancing in addition to their quest for information.

By: Janet

Janet — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:15:23 +0000

I remember in my first job, the more I got the same question over and over, the more these people asking them were complete idiots. I should have looked in the mirror – I obviously had it backward. Somewhere along the line, I gained some wisdom and maturity, and I am now not simply okay with answering repetitious questions, but happy to do so. I went from that sullen Circ desk worker someone mentioned above, who could barely be summoned to look up from her work when asked a question, to someone who genuinely loves working with people. Even when these people come with repetitious question…and gas.

By: Pat Henshaw

Pat Henshaw — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:34:47 +0000

Right on, Lorraine! If we want to cultivate a reputation for being welcoming, we have to be, uh, welcoming–no matter what the question we are asked.

Also, what’s wrong with repetition? Teachers do it every day. After 17 years as an instructor at a junior college, I still begin every semester back where I started the semester before. I repeat, repeat, and repeat some more. As an adjunct librarian, my job is similar: at the beginning of every semester, I must explain to each student who comes up to the reference desk how to print, how to use the copier, where the bathrooms are, etc., etc.

Does this get old? Not really. I know that I’m making the library a comfortable place to be for students–and that, really, is my job. Giving that comfort may begin with explaining where the bathrooms are, and by the end of the semester I may be helping the same student research his/her term paper. In other words, I’ve taken the anxiety out of going to the library.