Is There Any Urgency?

     Usually I would ask a patron the question “Is there any urgency for you to have the book?” when I fail to find the item s/he is looking for at the branch and have to place a request from other branches, especially when disappointment or frustration, like a quickie brush of makeup, blemishes on the person’s face. Chances are, half of the patrons would tell me that there is a specific date for her/him to have the book at hand, either because of a due book club reading or a school’s reading assignment.

     Upon hearing there is urgency I would try my best to locate the item and, at the same time, ask the person if s/he is willing to drive within 30 minutes’ road trip. If luck is with us, I would make phone calls to ask a shelf check and have the patron write down her/his last name on a small piece of paper. Once the search is complete, I would tell the person which branch to go to showing the map, writing the address and phone number in case s/he gets lost.

     If the person is not able to drive that same day, then I will search the branches with direct route to my branch to speed up the fill request procedure and hope the item would be delivered before the due date the patron gives me. Or, I would try the downloadable media catalog to see if there is an e-book available for the patron who owns an e-reader or a desktop or a laptop. If this is the situation I would ask if s/he lives in the city for one has to be a city resident to access e collections of ours. Then I would make sure this person knows her/his password. Then, after handing that person download instructions, I would use my computer to demonstration how to download the e-book from our catalog.

Follow up is not enough, a good librarian has to follow through making sure, at least trying her best, that the patron in front of the information desk would have something from this branch to take home even though there might not be a real book to check out and take home.

     Sometimes miracle did happen. More than once, as I emptied the chute the book I tried hard to locate and request for certain patron just been dropped over the night. And as I checked it in, the status showed it was available. Right away, I filled the request for the patron I served the day before. As I placed the request slip of paper inside the book, the excitement and satisfaction would feed me full the whole day and make me feel really good.

     To me, it won’t hurt to ask one extra question to the person in front of me. If I am not quite satisfied myself how this person could be happy as well. And I like challenges and problems; they empower me, educate and train me to be a better librarian. They are opportunities to find better solutions and better services. The best training a person can possibly gain is through serving, through the patrons who trust you and plant their hope upon you. That kind of joy and satisfaction through such encounters are similar to drinking a glass of water: only when you, yourself, have the water touch your lips and mouth you would have idea if the water is hot, lukewarm, or cold for you.

     Do it then you would understand!!!