The surly patron with the wine-destroyed book returned to Bethlehem Public Library. He visited the ADMINISTRATOR in charge of circulation. His tail was tucked between his legs. He grinned sheepishly. He apologized to her for his poor behavior. He said he would pay for the book. Charmed, the ADMINISTRATOR said, more or less, Aw Shucks. Don't worry about the book. Just pay the replacement fee. This is what the ADMINISTRATOR reported to the CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT. What does this mean? A lot. For one thing, it means the circulation department, following the rules, was not backed up by its boss. It means the CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT, which had been treated rudely and received an apology from no one, now feels like a collective numbskull and is further alienated from ADMINISTRATION. This alienation is pretty thick in my library. Not a good thing. Granted, the circ clerks are not librarians, but they do represent the library and are a pretty caring bunch overall. There is tension in my library. The librarians and the circ clerks seem to have a lot more in common than either group has with the ADMINISTRATION. Our present Executive Director is retiring soon. I hope the new librarian will be more of an anarchist, as this Administration is too puffed up with oligarchical methodologies for the good of sharing information. Of course you could say the Administrator who decided to love the mean ol clerk-bashing book-destroying codger did it for for more love--that of sharing the library's resources. Sure. Maybe she exonerated him so that he'd come back next time. Take out more books. Spill more wine. But something's wrong with this picture. I mean if you can't SHARE good will among your co-workers, how are you really going to share it in the broader sense? Anyhoo, my library keeps on spending SO much money on books. Which I love. BUT, if the guy'd been reading a book digitally when he lost control of his glass....
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