Aaargh!

There are two kinds of people who work in public services at the library.  There are the helpers, whose goal is to help people check out materials, find information, attend programs and take advantage of all the services the library has to offer.  These people are the kind you want to run into at the circulation desk.  They will go out of their ways to enable you, and are likely to cut you a break if you need to bend the rules a bit.  The other kind are the guards.  They want to guard library materials from human use, guard the rules from being broken, and guard themselves from having to do too much work.

Helpers ask themselves, "why shouldn't I do this?" when faced with a quandary.  If they can't find a good reason to deny someone a service, they will provide it.  Guards ask themselves, "why should I do this?" and will go through a laundry list of rules in their heads, often hitting on one that will allow them to say no.

Many of us have encountered these people at a service desk.  Sometimes, bad managers make people this way.  Basic management classes teach that managers must enable their subordinates to use their own judgement in customer service situations, rather than having a rigid protocol.  Sometimes, that impossible person behind the desk is backed by a micromanager.

I have learned, however, that as often as not, the manager is in the back pulling her hair out because this person behind the desk cannot figure out that she wants people to use her library.  I have worked with at least one guard at every library I have worked at.  Now I manage one.  Guard mentality is a part of someone's nature, and it's very hard to train it out of him.  I will never understand why these people go into service positions, but I really wish they wouldn't.  Aargh!