Every staff member dreads having to deal with a problem patron, but these occurrences in libraries are unavoidable. In reality, the number of problem patron situations is not great, but because they are challenging and often emotionally charged, they loom large in our overall experiences. While never fun, there is a way to prepare staff to handle problem patrons effectively and with confidence.

This course is intended to provide each participant with a basic tool-kit that can be applied to manage a variety of difficult patron situations.


COURSE OBJECTIVES

Staff completing this course will be able to:

• Apply a variety of communication techniques to positively manage various problem patron situations.
• Apply a number of coping techniques to be able to maintain composure in stressful problem patron situations.
• Determine when the problem patron cannot be satisfied and to whom and how to communicate this.
• Decide when to call for security or the police.
• Assist with reviewing, revising and/or creating library policies that address a variety of problem patron situations e.g. patron-conduct policy, unattended children policy, etc.