Patrons can be sooooooo irresponsible

It was an average Saturday at the library....lots of questions, lots of book requests, lot's of grandmothers doing their granddaughter's research.......

Anyway, I took the late lunch which meant that I didn't eat until 1:45PM. When I got back around 2:15, I was shelving the new books when I received a phone call from a young lady patron who lost her wallet while exiting the computer lab and the library. Now, I can understand patrons losing their personal items. It happens all the time. About once a week, I usually present circulation with a lost library card found in the lab, lost set of keys, etc.

But this young lady made an unusual request: Could we review our security camera shots and see 1. How she lost her wallet, and 2. If anybody picked it up. I was hesitant in my answer but I decided instead to trace her steps to see if I could figure out what happened.

So I grabbed the cordless phone and asked her to describe the exact actions she took in leaving the computer lab. She said then she stopped at the two benches under the clock to bundle up for the cold weather and then walked directly outside. As she gave each action, I scanned the floor, shelving, book displays, and even the security station to see if a wallet was at each location. I told the patron that I did not see her wallet.

I did not give her a direct yes-no answer as to whether I would access the security camera archives to determine what happened to her wallet. Instead, I told her that I would fill out an incident report documenting the fact that a wallet was lost. I did this thinking that I did not want any parties to point the finger of blame or be blamed. Simple incident--a lost wallet.

About thirty minutes later, I did review the archives which proved inconclusive.

I have been involved in a customer service industry for quite some time. And one of the axioms that I have to accept is that a patron's situation is always valid, no matter how trivial or silly or infantile it might seem to us. But, I know I have to sometimes draw the line when I feel a patron's request extends beyond the boundaries of my helping them.

Case in point from early October: I was playing the part of errand guy getting pizzas for the Reader's Advisory video cast members. I mistakenly went over to the ref desk to get a phone book to call the pizzeria. There talking with the staff was a man who earlier in the week had lost his flash stick in the computer lab. He wanted me and my staff members to canvass each and every patron to see if they found the stick....which, of course, is very impossible.

Lost wallet, lost flash stick, lost car keys......Come on people! If you're going to spend the time and energy possessing these things, then be responsible for them. Don't try to bully library staff into being caretakers for your personal items and, also, don't take advantage of us just because we have technologies (like security cameras) which might help you find your lost items.

We staff members do believe in service but we are also capable of knowing how far to extend that service.