Here is the question:

Greetings,

In the case of an active shooter shelter in place order from one's institution, is a given department/library serving the public obligated to prevent members of the public from exiting?

At any point is the department liable for the safety of a person who chooses not to shelter in place and instead exiting the department/library?

At any point if a person is prevented from leaving is the department illegally detaining a person?

Dr. Steve's Answer:

Good questions all. I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice, but I think the short answers are no, no, and probably not.

Here's a parallel to your scenarios: Most states, cities, and counties - that interact with local or national media people - allow them to get close to a crime scene or large-scale emergency (as long as they won't destroy evidence, reveal parts of the investigation, or interfere with the incident). Some cops call this the "media's right to die" rule, which means they can get close to a house with a SWAT incident, where the bad guy is shooting at everyone, or stand 20 feet from a burning house as the firefighters use their hoses, or film some other harrowing event close up.

This closeness comes with the implied warning that the cops/fire aren't there to specifically protect them as they respond. If they want to film, it's completely at their own risk.

In your library situations, our duty of care for adults leaves the building once they leave the safety of our shelter-in-place advice. If they want to put themselves in harm's way, that's on them. If they ignore or decide against our safe harbor, that's their right and we cannot/should not stop them. Let's say they decide to leave a safe room and by doing so, bring attention to the shooter of its location. We can't force them to stay or be quiet, even if it puts the rest of us in peril.

The only exception I would make is for juveniles. I think we have a higher duty of care for those under 18 and we would be within our right to keep them from leaving a safe room, for example: a 12-year-old gets scared and tries to bolt through a locked door, we prevent that for his own good and ours.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Dr. Steve

Follow-up from the Same Individual:

Thank you for taking time to answer. Unfortunately, it was a situation I was faced with several days ago when our institution had an active shooter shelter in place order. I was faced with either allowing persons to leave on their own volition or saying no they could not leave once inside the library. No one has complained at the decision--I suspect because they too don't know what the right answer was. However, we were sheltering in place for 3 hours before getting an all-clear from campus police. I've raised the questions with campus police and they too don't have an answer yet. So, I will continue to ponder what the best solution is.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. It's more than our campus police offered!

Dr. Steve Reply:

Ugh! Three hours! If it was a drill, it was done poorly. If it was not a drill, then there needed to be better communication with your facility. No drill should last three hours and no real event should go that long without an update as to what is happening, where, and why. Thanks for the conversation on it.

Three library scenarios, three different responses for you to consider:

Scene A). A six-year-old and his five-year-old brother begin to argue over a book each wants to read. They both are tugging on it and end up rolling on the ground. Their parents are not nearby. You walk over and _________.

Scene B). Two college students from different schools start arguing in the library. You’ve heard that they both play on their respective football teams. One is the size of a refrigerator with feet; the other is the size of the double doors at a convenience store. They begin to throw punches. Your library does not have a security officer, or if you do have one, he or she is not a Jiu-Jitsu expert. You walk over and ________.

Scene C). Two men who you know to be chronically homeless and longtime alcoholics start arguing in the library. Both men are sitting at different tables, about twenty feet apart. Their verbal disagreement has been going on for about 30 minutes. It started in low tones but by now they are screaming at each other. They each get up from their seats and begin to move closer to each other, slowly at first, but then picking up speed. You know them both by name. You walk over and ________.

As always, when discussing possible safe and secure solutions to Scenes A, B, and C, the acronym the kids like to use applies - YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary, meaning there is no perfect answer. (Wise consultants like me - and I have real scars on parts of my body to prove when I once wasn’t so wise - say things like, “Well, it depends…” when asked what they would do in library security situations with no easy answers.) But as in life, some answers are much better and more useful than others. Let’s take a quiz and then review:

Scene A: You walk over and . . .

1. tell the kids to stop fighting, stand up, apologize to each other, and agree to share the book.
2. grab each kid by the shoulders, pull them up on to their feet, and tell them they are in violation of library rules.
3. pull each kid apart, scold them about fighting in the library, and escort them to the library front door and tell them to leave.
4. watch for a bit and decide to ignore it. Boys will be boys. They will work it out. It’s not your job to break up fights.
5. make an announcement over the library PA, requesting the parents of these boys please come to the Reference Desk immediately.

Scene B: You walk over and . . .

1. watch the fight until one of them gets hurt. Then you go and call 9-1-1, requesting the police and ambulance.
2. from a safe distance, you start yelling, “Stop fighting in the library! Stop fighting in the library! Stop fighting! Stop!” When they do, tell them to leave, one at a time, and not continue the fight outside or you will call the police. Visually check both for serious injuries that may require paramedics.
3. get close enough to try and intervene by getting in the middle, between the two men. It’s your job to protect the library from damage and on your watch, this can’t continue.
4. assemble several of your co-workers into a group and tell them you are all going over to break up this fight. There is safety in numbers.
5. leave the area immediately, taking as many people as you can with you, moving to a safe place, to call the police, preferably behind a locked door.

Scene C: You walk over and . . .

1. Observe and monitor the argument. Make sure they see you standing nearby. Your non-verbal presence can de-escalate things without you having to say a word.
2. Ask them both to sit with you at a nearby table and you can all try to talk things out to a safe conclusion.
3. Call them by their names and tell them to stop arguing and that you won’t allow them to get into a fight and scare everyone. Remind them that you have the power to ban them both from the library, but you won’t if one leaves quietly and the other leaves a few minutes after that.
4. decide to just go about your business. They do this all the time and they won’t really fight this time, either.
5. watch and wait until they actually start hitting each other. Then you’ll either go over and try to break it up or call the police from your cellphone as you stand there.

Best Answers: Scene A: 1, Scene B: 2, Scene C: 3. Bonus: I’ll take 5 as a reasonable answer for Scene B as well.

Let’s go over why certain other answers are just dead wrong, foolish, and even dangerous for you or other staffers or patrons.

In Scene A, (2) is wrong because we don’t ever correctively touch people of any age, unless it’s to defend ourselves from an attack. (3) is wrong because we don’t put young children out on the street in front of the library. (4) is wrong because we don’t stand around and wait for one or both kids to get injured or injure themselves. And (5) is wrong because it takes too long, it’s potentially publicly embarrassing to the parent, they may not hear the page, or even be in the library at all.

In Scene B, (1) is wrong because both fighters can get hurt or their brawl can even spill over and hurt someone standing too close. Neither scrapper may want the police involved (it’s called “mutual combat” in many Penal Codes) and an ambulance may not be necessary. (3 and 4) are wrong because you and/or your colleagues could get seriously hurt trying to break up a fight between adults, which you or they should never do. In this scenario, you and your co-workers need to be “professional witnesses,” ready to help create a Security Incident Report and/or call the police if the situation continues to escalate.

In Scene C, (1) is not enough or a response action by you. They may not see you and they will definitely need your help to tell them to stop, back away, and get told not to fight, so as to save face without having to look weak in front of the other person. Too early for (2) since they are both angry enough to be able to fight, even if they really don’t want to. (4 and 5) are just wrong because we can’t fully predict their future behavior based on their past behavior. They probably won’t continue to fight if you verbally stop them, but they probably will if you do nothing.

If you haven't been to Hawaii, it's worth going. Each island offers something different in terms of land and water activities, great food, unspoiled vistas, casual dress, and beaches (covered with white sand or covered in black sand, making small waves or generating huge waves). It's all about the tropical scenery, volcanoes, fun shops, roadside seafood restaurants, leisure tanning, fruit cocktails, and of course, the temperate weather. I have been to Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, Lanai, Molokai, and Kauai; all lovely and peaceful in their own ways.

The Hawaiian people are long known for their warm hearts, their focus on the values of family and children, and their respect for the ocean, animals, plants, and islands. They are a nurturing culture, knowing that where they live is beautiful and deserves protection, respect, and constant care. And their culture is service-oriented, since they know the tourism industry on the islands is one lifeblood (with the US military bases the other) and an economic bedrock on which their past, current, and future success are built. You can't even imagine how tough the two-year pandemic was on the travel and tourism industry in Hawaii. Things are only now starting to get back to normal.

The Queen's Medical Center, or the Queen's Hospital, as it's known, was founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, and is located in downtown Honolulu on Oahu. The mission of the hospital at its founding was to provide healthcare for all Hawaiians. Queen's former CEO Art Ushijima, who retired in 2018 after 30 years there, was the shepherd for many service quality introductions and improvements in this massive healthcare system. I know all this firsthand because my father, Dr. Karl Albrecht, and his training staff (including a young consultant named Steve Albrecht) worked at Queen's for several years, under Art's leadership, training to make service excellence a part of Queen's healthcare mission as well.

It was during this time, my dad coined the phrase at Queen's called "The Spirit of Service." This idea was created using a mix of the "Aloha Spirit" that is so much a part of Hawaiian culture and a service orientation that puts the patient (also called the "customer," internally at Queen's, and now at many other hospitals around the country) at the absolute center of the total hospital experience.

As I have mentioned in several Library 2.0 articles, podcasts, and paid webinars on customer service in the library environment, the Spirit of Service is defined by my father like this:

"An attitude, based on certain values and beliefs about people, life, and work, that leads a person to willingly serve others and take pride in his or her work."

This means you care about your job, your co-workers, your bosses, and our patrons, so you do work that you are proud of. The Hawaiians have taken ownership of this idea. Can you see how it would work in your library, with your colleagues? What steps will you need to take, at every level where you work, to make your library organization part of this spirit?

Did you know the concept of "Aloha Spirit" is actually statutorily mandated in Hawaii? Look at this government code for your proof of how Hawaiians are expected to function when engaging with taxpayers, tourists, other departments, their bosses, and each other:

From Chapter 5 of Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes:

5-7.5 "Aloha Spirit".

(a) "Aloha Spirit" is the coordination of mind and heart within each person. It brings each person to the self. Each person must think and emote good feelings to others. In the contemplation and presence of the life force, "Aloha", the following unuhi laulā loa may be used:

"Akahai", meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness; 

"Lōkahi", meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony; 

"ʻOluʻolu" meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;

"Haʻahaʻa", meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;

"Ahonui", meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.

These are traits of character that express the charm, warmth and sincerity of Hawaii's people. It was the working philosophy of native Hawaiians and was presented as a gift to the people of Hawaiʻi. ''Aloha'' is more than a word of greeting or farewell or a salutation. ''Aloha'' means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. "Aloha" is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. 

(b) In exercising their power on behalf of the people and in fulfillment of their responsibilities, obligations and service to the people, the legislature, governor, lieutenant governor, executive officers of each department, the chief justice, associate justices, and judges of the appellate, circuit, and district courts may contemplate and reside with the life force and give consideration to the "Aloha Spirit". [L 1986, c 202, § 1]

QUESTION:

The scenario that we get most often is a group of 4 to 10 youth tweens and/or teens taking over an area in the library, being loud and disruptive, play-fighting, yelling, and laughing loudly. What is the best way of dealing with this?

ANSWER:

Many thanks for your comments and for attending my Library 2.0 session yesterday. Here are my thoughts on your situation.

1). A lot of this seems like the usual attention-getting teen behavior, which is amplified when they are in their groups. I would guess one teenager sitting at a desk studying does none of those things. My suggestion would be to watch the group and try to determine who the pack leader is, that kid who the others seem to listen to. See if you can pull him or her aside one day and offer some choices, e.g., "When you all are in the library, we don't mind if you do A, B, or C, but you can't do X, Y, or Z here." (Pick the things you, the staff, and other patrons can most tolerate for A, B, C, and the things that hurt the library business the most as options X, Y, and Z.) This echoes a form of my usual phrase: "You can't do that if you want to stay here," which tries to guide patrons to make a behavioral choice that is of their own making.

2). A more ramped-up option is to kick out just one kid, who is the most troublesome, to "thin the herd," as it were. If you could kick him or her out for the day or week, especially without the others knowing you have done it, it can send a message to the group that they are individually vulnerable to being kicked out as well if they don't stay quieter. You can shortcut the usual group dynamics - with teenagers egging each other on to be more disrespectful to staff - by extracting one or two kids, so the rest of the group learns their usual loudness has consequences.

3). You could use guilt, saying to the group that the play fighting is "scaring the younger kids who see you and who don't realize you're just joking around and are frightened that you really are fighting."

Regards,

Dr. Steve

(ASK DR. STEVE is a new and regular feature of the Dr. Steve Albrecht blog on service, safety, and security at Library 2.0. To submit a question for Dr. Steve, please email askdrsteve@library20.com.)

A man has been arrested for the stabbing of two employees at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A security video shows a man jumping over a reception desk at the building and stabbing two workers last Saturday after he had been denied entry to the museum and had previously had his membership revoked.

In this short video, Dr. Albrecht breaks down what is known about the incident and gives thoughts on this parallels library safety and security concerns and lessons. If you are not a member of Library 2.0, please consider joining (free) for additional service, safety, and security content--as well as our mini-conferences and webinars, and the chance to network with over 47,000 community members.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

When it comes to thefts in your library, not everything may be as it first seems. It's certainly possible the patron who put that DVD or book into his or her backpack and walked out the front door with it may have meant to check it out but just forgot. People can be distracted by the complexities and urgencies of life and these things happen. It's also certainly plausible the patron who actually steals a book from the library may really want to read it, just doesn't have the time or inclination to get a library card, and may even return the book when finished. It's useful to give patrons the benefit of the doubt that the vast majority want to do the right thing.

As a crime, stealing is all about intent. Did the person mean to do it or was it an accident due to forgetfulness? Consider a similar scenario: A female patron goes into your women's restroom and uses the facilities. She stops to wash her hands at the sink and takes an expensive watch off her wrist and puts it on the counter as she does so. She leaves the library and drives home. In her driveway, she realizes she no longer has the watch and calls the library in a panic as she races back over there. A staffer checks the restroom - no watch is on the sink counter. She arrives and checks the whole restroom for her watch, but it's gone. The patron says, "Call the police! I was robbed!"

Was she robbed? No. That would involve someone using "a weapon or force or fear," like pointing a gun at her, or grabbing her wrist to get her to remove her watch and hand it over. Did someone steal her watch through a distraction, by covering it with a jacket as she washed her hands and then lifted it away? No; she was alone. Did she lose her watch? Yes. Sad but true. She can call the police all she wants; they aren't coming for a lost item. Additionally, the difference between a theft and a robbery is an important one in the library setting. If someone walks by and takes a patron's cell phone without him or her noticing, that's a theft. If there is a tug of war between the patron and the thief, that's a robbery. Losing that same cell phone is neither.

So, now let's consider some useful ideas for preventing thefts of library equipment, staff personal items, or patron's items.

Protecting Library Property:

Affix engraved or riveted asset tags on all high-dollar (pawnable) items. These labels should say "Property of XYZ Library" and be attached to library property that has high theft potential, like laptops or desktops from the PC lab; video game consoles; flatscreen TVs; tablets; or projectors. The presence of these tags, which should be hard for the thieves to remove, can help make these items less likely to be purchased by (legitimate) pawnshop dealers. There is a similar parallel in the automotive industry, as some parts dealers, car dealers, and repair shops are engraving expensive catalytic converters with "Property of [Owner's Name]," to make them less likely to be stolen and harder to sell to (legitimate) metal recyclers.

Continue to use cables and locks for all portable high-dollar electronics. Some libraries start out using these "anti-walk-away" devices and slowly stop, as staffers get tired of locking and unlocking them. This is an example of "not trading security for convenience," meaning keep on using security procedures and devices, even if there has never been a theft or loss. Once we start to feel like security tools are a waste of time, well, you can guess what occurs next: "What happened to our 36 laptops?"

Remind all staff to keep unused doors locked, including those leading to storage closets, utility rooms, IT server rooms, training rooms, conference rooms, staff-only rooms and offices, auditoriums, theaters, and warehouse-access areas. A thief who gains entry to an unlocked room only needs 30 seconds to walk in and out with a portable/pawnable target.

Always remember that thieves in the library don't fit a "profile." They could be any race, any age, and any gender. I have seen kids as small as 7 steal and adults as old as 85, male and female both. Don't be shy about assertively contacting patrons who appear to be stealing or getting ready to steal, if your eyes saw what they saw. Don't make false accusations, but don't rationalize theft behavior by thinking, "She must not have meant to do that" or "He probably did that by mistake."

Protecting Staff Property:

Remind all staff to keep careful track of their personal property while on the library floor. This includes their personal cellphones, car keys, purses, wallets, lunch boxes, or any other enticing item which is with them or near them (and not safely stored in the employee's locker, desk drawers, or staff-only access areas).

Remind all staff to keep track of portable library property, including (metal) building keys, key cards, library-issued cellphones, security radios, first aid kits (which may have Narcan injectors inside), and the above-mentioned electronic devices.

Helping Patrons Protect Their Property:

Many patrons place too much reliance on staff to babysit their stuff. Just like staff cannot watch patron's children at all times for them, they cannot babysit their personal possession either. We need to give gentle but constant reminders to patrons, to tell them to take their purses, backpacks, wallets, watches, or phones with them when they leave their tables. How many times have we heard the surprised complaint after a theft that, "I was just gone for a minute!" or "I only turned around for a second and it was gone!"

Watching for Thieves:

Some thieves steal to support a drug habit, others to feed themselves or their families, some steal on orders from their gang leaders, and still a small segment steal because they have a psychological compulsion to do so, even though they don't need the items to sell or to improve their lifestyles. Unlike professional thieves, who steal a warehouse full of iMacs or a semi-truck full of Sony Visios in the wee hours, most thieves in the library show noticeable pre-theft or "casing" behaviors as they stroll through your facility.

The most obvious pre-theft behavior is also not the best for a thief to do to get away unobserved: staring at what he or she wants to steal. They will often make at least two passes by a table, desk, display cabinet, or counter before they grab the item and either run out with it or hide it in their clothes or bag. Either while they are casing or just before they put their hands on it, is the perfect time for you to say, "Hello! What brings you into the library today?" or "What can I help you find today?" to knock them off their path from ideas to actions. You might be just in time to hear them mumble, "Oh, nothing, I'm good. See ya . . . " as they leave the library empty-handed.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

You’ve heard of “New Math?” How about “New Meth”?

Word on the street is that there is a new menace, a more powerful (and even cheaper version) of meth, that is chemically different than the previous meth. It's cheaper and more prevalent than cocaine, and it is the drug of choice of many people living on the streets in squalor, because it makes them feel energized (as opposed to depressed), hyper-aware, hyper-vigilant, and in control of their current situation because all of their neurons are on fire.

This newer version of powdered methamphetamine is either smoked or snorted and can make users unpredictable, confrontational, and all-too-often violent. All library staffers need to recognize the warning signs of what Emergency Room physicians call "meth psychosis." This is a set of irrational and intense behaviors that many chronic meth users will display.

The information about this new type of meth comes from my drug abuse training colleague, Keith Graves, a retired narcotics detective and patrol sergeant from a Northern California police department. Keith holds a unique training certification; he's known as a DRE or a Drug Recognition Expert. He was the Drug Investigator of the Year for the California Narcotics Officers Association (where I'm also a member), so he knows his stuff.

Here are some quotes from a recent blog Keith wrote on his website (www.gravesassociates.com) about the disturbing differences between new meth and old meth.

"You can't even call this methamphetamine anymore. The methamphetamine of today is made differently than it was just a few short years ago. With this change in manufacturing, there was a huge change in the way users reacted to this new meth and now methamphetamine is a major factor in police [contacts]. Simply put, methamphetamine is causing psychosis that is leading to paranoid behavior that leads to deadly interactions with law enforcement. Police [contacts] and methamphetamine go hand in hand. Methamphetamine addicts are often paranoid, suffering from meth psychosis, and can become extremely violent. This makes them a danger to both themselves and to the police officers who are trying to help them. Many times, when police officers are called to a scene where someone is high on methamphetamine, they are met with violence."

Let's begin with a description of what is out on the streets today, by hearing more from Keith:

"Methamphetamine is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, or injected. Methamphetamine is now considered a serious public health threat due to its increased popularity and severe reactions to users. The drug is made in illegal labs in Mexico and then transported across the Mexico/US border. Methamphetamine is very potent and can be very addictive. In years past, methamphetamine was made with pseudoephedrine. To stop the manufacture of methamphetamine in the United States, the federal government clamped down on pseudoephedrine by restricting its sale. In a few short years, meth labs all but ceased to exist in the United States.

"However, Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (Cartels) started to make methamphetamine using phenyl-2-propanone ("P2P"). This is an old-school method of making meth taken from the 1980s. Unfortunately for meth users, this "new" P2P manufacturing method was causing severe psychosis in meth users. When people are high on methamphetamine, they can be very aggressive and violent. They may also act impulsively and make poor decisions, which can lead to dangerous situations. This psychosis is often called meth psychosis. 

"This a mental health condition that can occur when someone uses methamphetamine. It is a type of psychosis, which is a mental health condition in which people have distorted thoughts and perceptions. People with methamphetamine psychosis may experience hallucinations, which are seeing things that are not real. They may also have a heightened sense of awareness and feel like they are in a state of constant danger. When people are high on methamphetamine, they can be very aggressive and violent. They may also act impulsively and make poor decisions, which can lead to dangerous situations."

Here are Keith's suggestions as to how to safely talk to suspected meth users in your library:

"When you encounter someone that is experiencing meth psychosis, keep a social distance from them. Basically, a 7-to-10- foot radius. You should also not deal with a person experiencing meth psychosis by yourself." [Albrecht: As I have said on many of my training programs, change the "ratio of confrontation," by getting help from a co-worker, boss, or security officer - if your library is staffed with them. I hope it's obvious to all library employees, by this point, that if you think you need to call the police to get them to better deal with a meth user who is out of control, then call the police.]

"Talk to the person in a calm and soft voice. A meth user hears sounds at a fast pace and a high pitch. A side effect of a meth high is a constant buzzing sound in the background. Keep them talking. Silence can mean that the suspect's paranoid thoughts have taken over and anyone in the area can become part of the suspect's paranoid delusions.” [Albrecht: As I always say in my library trainings with any patron who is not in emotional self-control, stop saying, "Calm down!" to people who cannot calm themselves.]

”Move in a deliberate manner. This will lessen the chances that the person will misinterpret your actions. Keep your hands in sight. Because of the paranoia, your hands should be visible to the person. If your hands are not visible, the person might feel threatened and become violent."

Taken to an extreme, meth users can give themselves permanent brain injuries (and damage their eyes to where their pupils no longer open and close normally). They can develop schizophrenic tendencies, which can make them hard to manage and treat, even in a hospital setting. Meth is a bad-news drug and always has been. This new stuff is even worse.

My thanks to Keith Graves for his knowledge and safety suggestions.

Training Sidebar:

One way to help you more accurately identify meth users in your library is to remember that every day is "MOTHERS" Day.

• Mouth - Users can show a white, slimy coating around their lips and on their tongues. The drug causes their mucus membranes to work harder.
• Odor - Users can give off a chemical smell, mixed with dried sweat. Regular bathing and careful hygiene are not high on their to-do list. Imagine how you would smell if you stayed up for three nights, sweating, running around your neighborhood, and getting involved with other people, usually in an aggressive, intrusive, and impolite way, all while wearing your same clothes.
• Twitching - Users shift from foot to foot, touch things around them, and cannot stand still for even a short moment. They may constantly pick at or adjust their hair or clothing, twitch their hands, head, and shoulders, and generally act like someone who cannot control their movements (because they can't control their movements).
• Head - Users will have their heads on a constant swivel, mostly because since their nerves and senses are heightened abnormally, they are quite sensitive to background noises, loud inside sounds, and even distant outside sounds. It's not unusual to see meth users started by the sound of a passenger jet flying by.
• Eyes - Normal pupils, in regular room light, typically have a diameter of 3 mm to 6.5 mm. People whose pupils are dilated by stimulant drugs, like cocaine and meth, will have eyes that look like dinner plates (10 or 11 mm). The difference is not subtle. (Google the phrase "meth eyes" for many examples of "blown out" pupils.)
• Rapid Pulse - While we aren't taking the pulse rates of any of our patrons (even if they ask), we can know that the pulse rate of a meth user is often 100 to 140 beats per minute, far above the normal 60 to 90 bpm range most of us have.
• Speech (Rapid) - Users will use rapid, disconnected, erratic speech, often with themes of paranoia, hypervigilance, and their sense that someone (the police, the government) is "out to get them" and they need to fight back or flee. (Think of the phrase "word salad" when you're in contact with suspected meth users.)

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

In my earliest days watching library staff interact with patrons, I was always amazed at the power of those elderly female staffers, who I affectionately called the “Little Old Lady Librarians” or LOLs, for short. They just had an obvious knack for taking care of large and small behavioral issues with certain patrons. Why? If I had to guess, it was because even the most difficult, challenging, entitled, or rude patrons suddenly complied because the LOLs reminded them of their mom, grandma, auntie, or other older female relative who told them how to act, at home and out in public.

I had several encounters working as a library security consultant where staff would ask me to help them intervene with a particularly difficult patron, with mental health issues, who was angry, and under the influence of something. I asked this person to leave and he cursed me out. But when the LOL asked him to leave, he said, “Yes ma’am. Sorry to have been a problem” and he left. This happened more than once, with different patrons, and I was always pleased and amazed at their fortitude when dealing with patrons who wouldn’t comply for me or other staffers, but yet did, for them, every time.

Perhaps my usual demeanor was to blame for the challenging patrons’ replies back to me. I’m not a smiler by nature (bad teeth as a kid, all caps now) and my personality tends towards the direct command or abrupt request, especially when I’m stressed or tired. My approach with certain angry people has ranged from grudging compliance all the way to a challenge to fight. By contrast, the LOLs are always firm but pleasant, something their many years of life experience and skill in dealing with all kinds of people, in the many jobs they have held, certainly helps them. No civilized human beings want to put their hands on a LOL, no matter how many life problems they are carrying around. They see a compassionate person in front of them - who reminds them of someone older and kindly in their lives, either vaguely or quite directly, and because of this mostly positive influence - they go along with her requests.

The Little Old Lady Librarian could be described as a trope, a cliche, or a stereotype, but regardless of what we call her, her methods work with patrons who may not comply with other staffers or even when asked by library leaders. I have met LOLs who were part-timers, volunteers, longtime library workers, and even directors. They all shared the same tool: they have the “right touch” when it comes to getting recalcitrant patrons to go along or leave. They can align themselves with those patrons by being compassionate and assertive.

I speak of the concept of alignment often in my live training programs and recorded webinars. As a service and security tool, it suggests we get patrons to go along by being more like them. Maybe alignment is based on age, race, gender, or simply the style of dress matches the speaker and listener (or what body language experts call “mirroring”). There are many reasons why human beings align - or affiliate, as the social psychologists like to say - because most people want to be like others. The LOL asks them to stop doing something or leave and because of her non-threatening, non-authoritative demeanor, they can comply and save face in front of her, especially in public and in front of other strangers.

What skills can we learn from LOLs? They:

• Have a firm but fair hand.
• Provide equal treatment of all who follow or don’t follow our rules in the library.
• Are skilled at empathic listening.
• Offer a no-nonsense but also a kindly demeanor.
• Display a non-aggressive posture, coupled with an assertive request for compliance.

I’ll put it this way: If you have ever worked with or for or around a LOL in your library, you probably have more than one story that proves my point, where she rode to the rescue and saved the situation. LOLs are a treasured part of the library staff. Learn from yours.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Real life rarely imitates the training experience. Except when it does. There is much value to "practice makes perfect" and "perfect practice makes for perfect execution." In other words, what we do in training we can remember and use on the library floor.

One way and one place to get it right is by using role-play scenarios, for about 45 minutes or so, at staff meetings, to practice what to say and how to say it, for more challenging, complex conversations and service interactions with patrons. One employee plays the part of the staffer and another plays the part of the patron. They each can add their own approach (and twists and turns) to the following 12 scenarios here, with an eye toward improving, problem-solving, and perhaps most importantly, by creating a common response that is used staff-wide, in similar situations, so we show a consistency of message.

The role-plays should only take about five minutes. At the end, the group can give both role-players some feedback as to what they heard and saw (body language is a big part of our success with challenging patrons too) and what they liked and what they might say or do differently. The goal is to be supportive and informative for all in the room.

When I turn my live training library groups loose on these role-plays, I give them the obvious caveat that it's always easier to play the part of the patron, because you can go off in a dozen different directions (some that have little to do with the foundation of the role-play scenario but are just fun to be a bit wacky). All the while the patron is spinning, the employee is trying to listen empathically, come up with what seems like the best answers, stay within policy, follow the Code of Conduct, and provide good service.

I always tell my training groups to go easy on their co-workers and start to come around and comply once they realize the employee is using good de-escalation skills, customer service skills, and communications skills. No sense in beating up on a colleague who is trying his or her best. The group feedback should be supportive and forgiving. These scenarios are tough because there are no perfect answers, ideal solutions, or flawless words to use. Your best efforts may be thwarted by an eccentric, rude, stubborn, indifferent, or angry patron, who also happens to have poor listening skills, either in general or because of the situation in particular.

These 12 scenarios have come to me from library employees over the years. After 21 years as a library security consultant, I can make up my own, certainly, but I like getting these scenarios from staffers who have had to deal with them. Get to work on these at your next staff meeting and see what answers you can develop for your team.

1. A patron is using the Internet and soon goes over his one-hour time limit. Other patrons are lining up at your desk to use the Internet too. One patron says to you, "Hey! I'm next and he's hogging the computer. I need to get online now! Either you do something about him or I will!"
2. An adult comes to your desk and it's clear she's very angry. She's accompanied by her 13-year-old son. She says, "Yesterday, one of you people told my boy he had to leave because he was making too much noise. I want somebody to tell me why he was told this and I want to speak to the one who made him go!" (Yesterday was your day off and the employee in question is off today.)
3. An elderly gentleman is at the circulation desk trying to check out two DVDs. His borrowing privilege has been revoked due to overdue notices, big fines, and missing items that were never returned. He says to you, "You're just picking on me because I'm old! I know my rights! You have to let me have this stuff!"
4. During a summertime field trip sponsored by the local Day Camp, you see several children riding on the book carts, jumping on the tables, and pounding the computer keyboards. You approach the camp counselor, who tells you, in a defensive way, "What's the big deal? They're just letting off a little steam. Weren't you ever young once?"
5. Two teenage couples are in the library near closing time. It's clear from their physical behavior that each is highly interested in their dates. Both couples are making out quite visibly and other patrons are embarrassed. One of the boys stops his activity and says to you, "What are you looking at?" The other boy joins in and taunts you with the same question.
6. An older woman approaches you to complain about noise being made by several middle school students. "Libraries are supposed to be quiet places. What's wrong with parents these days? Those kids should be kicked out! What are you going to do about this?" You've been busy with another patron and haven't heard any more noise coming from the students than other adult users.
7. A man in his late 50s who frequents the Genealogy area almost daily is now seen with a young boy of about 10, playing video games on the man's laptop computer. It's clear they don't know each other too well. The man and the boy have both been seen in the library before but never together. Today, it looks like they're leaving together. You approach the man and he says, "Go away! My new friend and I are doing fine without your help."
8. Every Friday when the Library closes, a nine-year-old girl is out in front of the Library waiting for a ride. As the Person In Charge, you ask her if someone is coming for her; she tells you her mom was supposed to pick her up before closing time. She appears mature enough to take care of herself, but still has that look of unease. It's already 10 minutes past closing and other staff want to go home and get on with their evening plans.
9. A middle-aged man likes to dominate all conversations in the library. His voice is loud and other staff and patrons seem rattled or offended by his language and mannerisms. He comes into the library about once per week but doesn't seem to remember how to use the Internet, so he makes a lot of demands for staff time to explain the simplest things to him, over and over again. Staff are not sure if this is real or he is messing with them.
10. A big burly guy comes into the library and seems very intimidating. He always wants to use the exact same Internet computer each time and he gets visibly upset when another patron is using "his computer." He has confronted people who get too close to him or who ask when he will be done using the computer. Staff are afraid to speak with him because he seems angry, suspicious, and even a bit paranoid.
11. A first-grader comes in every Saturday morning with her grandmother for children's reading hour. The child seems happy playing with other kids but appears fearful of her grandmother. When it's time to leave, the child cries and doesn't want to go. The grandmother gets angry and pulls her roughly out the door.
12. A 30-year-old man who is developmentally disabled spends all his time on the Internet. He needs to be reminded of the Internet usage rules and not to make fun of other people or to stare at young women in the library. He gets dropped off by his caregiver, who rarely stays very long with him once he's inside. The female staff feels uncomfortable around him, because he stares at them, although he has never said or done anything inappropriate toward them.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

The scope of the criminal gang problem in this country is hard to measure accurately. We know from FBI, Department of Justice, and state and local police statistics that there are around 33,000 known gangs, with over 1 million active members. This includes people engaged in "criminal activity, using a gang name, insignia, colors, hand signs, initiation rites, a code of conduct, and other forms of affiliation that show an organized approach to their illegal activities." Examples include street or prison gangs, most often organized by race; motorcycle gangs; white supremacy gangs; or the more well-known organized crime gangs, like the Italian Mafia seen in the movies, but also consisting of multinational gang members from hundreds of countries around the world.

When it comes to street gangs, most of their activities center around drug sales; extorting "street tax" money from other gangs and business owners; burglarizing homes or businesses; robbing people or businesses; stealing cars; stealing large amounts of retail goods; protecting their territory/turf; and using retaliatory violence against each other. We see near-daily stories about drive-by shootings that leave ordinary innocent people, or their kids, dead from getting caught in the crossfire. In other words, you do not want a street gang to occupy your library. And yet, it happens.

Many gangs use a "rings of membership" model to signify who does what, based on their status. The "OGs" or "Original Gangsters" are either the founders or related to the past founders of the gang; some can range from 30 to 50 to even 70 years old. The "Shotcallers" are often the ones who organize most of the activities and keep the peace inside the gang. They report to the OGs. The "Prospects" are prospective members of the gang, who are trying to earn their way into full membership - through selling drugs, stealing, and harming rival gang members (or the responding police). The "Wannabes" are young people who may not ever rise to the level of full membership, but hang around the gang for status, protection, and support. Some gang members allow females as full members, but this is rare, and many young women never go past "Wannabe" status, even though they engage in just as many dangerous, illegal activities as the male full members. (Females often carry guns, drugs, and money for other gang members, knowing that the police are much less likely to search them.)

Some gang members may go to the library for the simple reason that they are in middle school or high school and need to do their homework. Some gang members attend school and graduate and go on to college. This path to an education makes it easier for them to leave the gang life, which as you can imagine, is not as easy as quitting a job at a local fast-food restaurant and walking away. (The phrase, "Blood In-Blood Out," signifies their usual entry and exit from the gang.)

More likely, gang members will meet at the library because it is perceived as a safe place, or is "neutral territory," a building in between gang neighborhood jurisdictional lines. Most often, gang members see the library as an easy place they can steal from; mark, tag, paint, etch, or scratch their gang name, street nicknames, colors, or monikers into the walls, restrooms, or into materials; sell drugs; recruit new members; or intimidate other kids or adults. Their usual interactions with library staff can range from neutral to polite, to harassing and threatening. (I worked on a threat assessment case in Los Angeles, where a female library employee was dropped off for work each day at the facility by her brother, a longtime prison gang member. He was shot and wounded by a rival gang, in front of the library, two separate times. She was a good person; he had some issues. Not an easy case to manage.)

Let's acknowledge that six kids sitting together is not a gang. But as quoted here by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry website, these are the warning signs for possible gang interest, activity, recruitment, exploitation, and potential membership. Library leaders and staffers should pay attention to these warning signs and potentially problematic behaviors in children, students, and young adults they see in their facilities:

"There are many signs that parents and guardians can use to tell if a child may be involved in gang activity. These include:

• Having unexplained money, expensive new items, or clothing.
• Wearing clothing of all one type, style, or color, or changing appearance with special haircuts, tattoos or other body markings.
• Using of hand signs, special slang or words with hidden messages, or having gang graffiti on walls or personal items.
• Associating with known gang members.
• Withdrawing from family, not obeying curfews, changing or worsening attitude with adults and peers.
• Using or possessing drugs.
• Carrying weapons."

Your first step, should you have fears and concerns about gang activity in your library, should be to set an in-person meeting with your local police or sheriff's department, preferably with an officer or deputy who has beat responsibility for your area; a School Resource Officer (SRO) from a nearby campus; or a detective with the Gang Unit. Explain the situation you're seeing and ask for their advice.

You may be able to get immediate (better) help and support from a local gang prevention social services agency. Most of these groups are founded and run by former hardcore gang members, who have made it their mission for the rest of their lives to promote an anti-gang message to the kids and young adults they encounter, especially those who are in the "Prospect" or "Wannabe" stage of involvement. These men can speak the language of the streets on your behalf, and talk to current or possible gang members about staying away from the library. Their guidance and wisdom for these types of interventions far exceed what the police could do. Seek them out.

Second, immediately remove any library materials that have been marked with gang signs. Have the janitorial, maintenance, Public Works, or Facilities staff paint over or repair parts of the library that have been marked. The reason is simple: tagging, left unremoved or unrepaired, just encourages more of the same. Worse yet, rival gangs will come into the library to paint, pen, or scratch over the first gang's marks. This type of escalating behavior among them often leads to retaliation violence.

(Best to do all repairs before or after business hours, so no one connected to the gang sees this activity being done. To them, painting over their gang marks is akin to painting over the Mona Lisa. The fact that they don't take kindly to it shouldn't stop you; just be discreet when making all repairs.)

Gang members are hypersensitive to being embarrassed or slighted, especially in front of their peers, their rivals, or their girlfriends. Be careful not to disrespect a male or female of any age, that you suspect may be a gang member or otherwise affiliated with a gang. They have long memories of any encounter where they felt talked down to or were treated in a dismissive or condescending manner. You can still be firm, fair, consistent, and reasonable as you apply library policy or your Code of Conduct, just keep your tone and body language neutral and professional. Choosing the right staff member or library supervisor to say what needs to be said can help a lot too.

I have heard some library directors use the bold step of having the police issue gang members a trespass warning or even getting a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against a group of known (or what are called "documented") gang members. This step is not without its real perils. Talk to the police in detail before you go in this direction, as it is an all-in, go-nuclear decision. (These people are not great rule-followers and don't like being told what to do or where to do it.)

Last, your highest-risk activity, in terms of solving the problem of gang activity in your library, would be to meet with the teenagers or adults you see or can determine are the leaders. I have seen this work in high-stress situations (one of my colleagues, who was the Security Chief for the Washington DC school system, did it safely and it led to a successful "peace treaty" between several school campuses and the gangs). The right person from the library is the key to this being a successful, useful, safe meeting. Explain your expectations, carefully, without threats, and ask for their help to get their crew to leave for good or comply with library rules.

Gangs have infiltrated every state, most cities, and even many small towns. Pay attention to what you see and get help to address it, safely and early.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

One way to think about how to be a better library leader is to think about who was a good leader for you. A useful exercise in improving your leadership skills--especially in the area of being firm, fair, consistent, assertive, and reasonable--is to take a pen and a pad and make a list of the traits, behaviors, characteristics, and even eccentricities of the best bosses you ever worked for.

And don’t just consider your previous library bosses for this list; go back through every job you ever held and consider how you were treated, led, taught, praised, disciplined, and communicated to by your direct supervisors. Some current bosses say that their best boss was their first boss, or their best experience was in a fast-food job, or while working for a family-owned business, or that their best boss was their first library boss.

Of course, this list is not complete until you consider the dark side. If one side of your page contains what was so good about certain bosses, the other side must describe the truly horrible bosses you worked for, and how you survived their alleged leadership skills.

When I use this "Best Boss-Worst Boss" exercise in the basic HR/supervision classes I teach, I get quite a range of interesting replies. On the Best Boss list, the participants write traits like: great listener, mentored me, treated everyone fairly, used lots of praise, kept the group informed about issues, went to bat for us with senior management, gave out assignments fairly, taught me how to do my job better, gave me the freedom to learn and make mistakes, caught me doing things right, and was always available but didn’t micromanage me.

On the Worst Boss list, I often see comments like: alcoholic, liar, screamer, slept at his desk, stole money from me, timed my bathroom breaks, took credit for my ideas, couldn’t or didn’t want to communicate, was never satisfied with my work, never praised me or anyone else, never taught me anything, seemed bothered when I asked questions, didn’t make eye contact with me, threw us all down and blamed us in front of senior management, gone all the time, micromanaged me.

If you look at your list side by side, you can say that many of the Best Boss characteristics are the opposite of the Worst Boss characteristics, and vice-versa. The context of these work situations is a part of the comparison as well. What some employees think of as a "micromanager" might simply be a boss that sets the performance and behavior bars high and demands results. What some employees label "bosses as missing managers" might simply mean that they gave every employee the freedom to do their jobs without too much unnecessary over-the-shoulder scrutiny, thereby expressing confidence in their people.

As you consider the items on your "Best Boss – Worst Boss" list, ask yourself these questions: “Do my employees ever make their own lists? Do they compare me to the best boss or the worst boss they ever had in their careers? Do they talk with each other about my leadership style?” The answers are: yes, yes, and only on days that end in the letter “y.”

This list-making process can be eye-opening. What are the traits and behaviors you need to do more of and which ones should you stop doing? What are the things that the best bosses in your career did that you want to emulate and which ones from the worst bosses do you want to avoid? When it comes to supervising, leading, and disciplining your people in the library environment, which list do you want to end up on?

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

The American Management Association is the oldest training company in the US. It was founded in 1926 and has trained over 10 million people. Of the 160 business seminars it offers, for business owners, leaders, managers, and first-line supervisors, the most popular learning program is a two-day workshop called "Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers." 

This program is not popular because it's the easiest to attend or the shortest (others don't require nightly homework like it does and are usually three or four days in length). It's popular because it's the most necessary training for business success for current and future leaders. To help you promote in your career as a library leader, you must be able to "speak the language of business," which is about understanding budgets, monitoring spending, understanding payroll costs for existing or future staffing levels, controlling costs, allocating assets, counting inventory, and knowing how to read and interpret the often interrelated financial reports.

As a library employee wanting to move into a supervisory, management, or leadership role, it's critical for your success to acquire a knowledge of basic financial statements; understand the "Accrual Process," the "Accounting Equation," and what "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles" means; understand liquidity, leverage, and profitability through understanding cash flow; calculate fixed, variable, overhead costs, and a break-even analysis; be able to read, interpret, and explain a Balance Sheet and Income Statement; understand operating and capital expenditure budgets; understand employee and payroll tax reporting requirements; and know how and why to measure the Return on Investment for departments, projects, and strategic plans. 

And speaking of budgets and their importance, I contacted my (far wiser) colleagues for their advice on getting a better handle on public agency budgets:

"Get in good with your Finance Director and get some simple explanations of how your particular library's budget process works. Get their help to move money around if you've over/under spent in certain areas."

__________

"Budgets offer an opportunity to set goals for the organization with a spending plan. The budget is a guide. It doesn't mean there won't be exceptions. It has to be realistic from the beginning, i.e., because you want to spend $xxx, you can't just say revenue is going to be $xxx. It's a tool to help management understand both the revenues stream(s) and expenses of the organization, and which expenses are fixed and which are variable."

_______

"When we think of budgets or budgeting for work, we often think we must have some sort of financial background or that the `finance person' will or should be the one to set and monitor the budget. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Managers and supervisors need to know how to establish, use, and defend their budgets. Begin with the end in mind. I still love this phrase from Steven Covey and it applies to budgets: '1) Know where you want to go, 2) What you need to accomplish and 3) How much it will take to get you there.' In other words, a budget is that road map that you set in the beginning with the end in mind. Knowing this information, keeps your program running and your staff employed."

_______

"Understanding funding sources. It's likely the majority of funding comes from General Fund sources (versus Revenues) and therefore is subject to the approval of Public Officials (usually the City Manager or County Administrator, then the Mayor and Council). Does your city or county have a one-year or two-year budgeting process? There is not any latitude to change funding allocations throughout the budgeting cycle unless you're able to reallocate within your approved budget, so you have to anticipate needs. Think strategically and long-term. Big items like Capital Improvement projects must be planned for many years out. Foundation support (like the Friends of Library) is where special projects and discretion may provide additional funding to get non-budgeted items. Maintaining public support and having advocates who will fundraise from a non-profit perspective and people to write letters or speak at public comment during budget hearings can 'save' or raise the importance of library initiatives as a City Manager or County Administrator tries to balance the needs of all City or County departments. It's important for them to share the reality of the public budgeting process to encourage staff to be fiscally prudent. The majority of a budget will go to personnel-related expenses so there is little discretion 'to find extra money to spend.' Salary savings from open positions are usually available for departments to spend, depending on the spending philosophy of the City Manager or County Administrator."

_______

"Know your library's part of the overall budget expectation. How did the budget pan out for last year? On the nose, under, or over? How are budgets determined? Do you have a say in your budget needs? How is the budget matched to the department's needs? Once you determine your department needs have you involved your team in finding ways to improve the department? Once you've empowered the team to help drive the department goals, you can look for innovative ways to close the gaps. You can determine the costs of improvements and team investments and forecast by monthly milestones. Measure the team's success in milestones and forecasts and reassess and adjust by mentoring your team. The real key is to know the mission, assess the team's ability to get ahead of the mission, and determine the investment needed for team growth within the department's role in the overall mission. Success comes from the innovation of empowered employees that feel valued in the organization's mission."

_______

"Budgeting helps to track (and control) actual expenses and future expenses as well. Set a budget based upon fixed costs and revenue (income). Do it for each month, anticipating additional expenditures over and above fixed costs. Control your discretionary spending and live within your budget limits. Make staff additions with the budget in mind."

_______

"Budgets are a forecast and recognize that many expenses are variable and as such a function of revenue. Use the budget as a benchmark to measure variations from the forecast and expose potential problems. If revenues exceed the budget, then your variable expenses should follow suit. If revenues drop, variable expenses should drop also. Non-profits like libraries require budgets to provide blanket board approval for expenditures by the management. While we may also use the budget to benchmark performance, we're primarily using it as a preauthorization to spend funds within the limits of the budget. Budgets should be built around staffing requirements (how many people, of what job description/pay rate are required for each shift). Include adding hours to accommodate an unanticipated peak period or subtract hours during less peak hours. Another rookie mistake: accidental overtime. Overtime results in premium pay (1.5 to 2x the original rate of pay). Similarly, if breaks or lunches aren't taken on time, then premiums or penalties must be paid. All of these things create the potential to overspend the budget. Tight control of the  breaks and lunches, and careful scheduling can help avoid these penalties and premiums."

There are lots of approaches to improving your financial literacy, using either online courses from training companies that specialize in one-day or multi-day seminars; local or online college and university classes, extension courses, or certificate programs; or through self-study programs offered by financial education non-profits or associations. Ask for mentoring from the financial professionals in your library, city, or county. Get directions, a lesson plan, and supportive career guidance from your Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, Finance Manager, Budget Director, or similar experts. They recognize the value of the data they create and interpret; they will want you to appreciate it just as much.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

You may have seen the police come into your library, or have responded from their desk inside the library, and have not been pleased with their methods. It's also possible that you have seen the police respond to incidents, ranging from a serious, life-threatening situation to a low-risk call for their services, and have been happy with the results. As a taxpayer and an employee, you have every right to question the methods of how police do their work. Are they being fair, legal, ethical, safe? Are they treating people who are out of control with empathy, and not taking things personally? Do they make arrests with the least amount of force necessary, to keep the arrestee, themselves, and the public on the scene, as safe as possible? The old saying, "No one hates a bad cop more than a good cop," has never been more relevant than today.

Most people get what they know about cops and their methods from TV shows and movies - which are not always the most historically accurate resources, to be sure. Perhaps it would help your understanding of how the police function, both in your library and in your community, by getting a better sense of their work culture?   

Every profession has a collection of behaviors that contribute to its workplace culture. Some of these are learned by new employees as they start the job, just by what they observe. Others are taught to new employees by longtime employees, who say, "Here's how we really get things done around here." Some workplace cultural norms are defined in the policies and procedures manual; others are expressly trained to all employees by the leadership team (or through the company or agency lawyers). 

Some workplace cultural traditions are deeply ingrained, going back decades, to when the business or profession was first founded. (Librarians know why a barber pole sign outside the barbershop has red stripes.) 

Some workplace traditions weren't illegal or highly inappropriate "back in the day," but they certainly are now. This includes pranks, hazing, bullying, sabotaging someone's work, sexually or racially-themed attacks, or trying to drive certain people (most often women and minority applicants or employees out of their jobs).

All five military service agencies (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines) have long-standing traditions. (The Space Force is too new to have any.) Some of these come with rituals, rites, and elaborate ceremonies. (Your Homework Assignment: Ask any current or former Navy sailor what event took place when he or she crossed the Equator at sea for the first time.)       

Bankers have a workplace culture, as do truck drivers, airline pilots, lawyers, hairstylists, and even librarians. They all use jargon, slang, and coded language unique to their professions, as a way of communicating quickly and effectively amongst each other.

Now imagine that your work culture told you from Day One on the job, that, "You could be killed while trying to protect the people you serve. Cops die in spectacularly bad ways, every day, mostly in shootings and car crashes. By the way, welcome to the Police Academy." This is what happens, even today. Besides a military basic training/boot camp experience, I can think of no other profession that indoctrinates its new members this way. Officers and deputies are taught constantly to think about “Officer Survival” and that “Hands Kill” on every call they go on or every stop they make. 

Consider how that influences their interactions with people, most of whom are not posing a threat to them. "Because of our uniforms and badges, everyone already knows who we are and why we are there. We usually know almost nothing about the people we encounter while doing this job." This creates a mindset that affects how they work.

On that happy note, consider this list of factors that make up the police culture:

• It's a calling, not just a career or a job.
• A male-based work environment; women have to work much harder to be accepted.
• Some hazing of probationary employees. (Much more happens in the fire department culture.)
• Paramilitary structure, with military-influenced job titles.
• Pride, bordering on arrogance, about their chosen career.
• Fearful of losing face in front of the public, which leads to the need for constant fear control at scenes.
• 24-hour business means a 24-hour lifestyle (work, sleep, go back to work, respond to calls, discuss work, repeat). 
• Highly-specialized career; highly-screened applicants; takes a long time to get hired; lengthy Academy and first-year probationary employee training process.
• Alcohol-centered culture.
• High suicide rate. (More cops kill themselves each year - 160 to 180 - than are killed in the line of duty - 125 to 150.) 
• "Five-year disease" by new employees who get too salty, too soon.
• Injuries are a part of the job.
• Potential to witness death or be killed on the job, or see co-workers injured or killed.
• Close friendships and work relationships, that can last for life.
• Lone Wolf workers; much of their work takes place alone.
• Peer support, unless you make an unforgivable tactical mistake.
• Wary of senior leadership. Everyone above the rank of Lieutenant no longer remembers what it's like to do "real police work."
• Distrust of the need for getting clinical help, and most clinicians, for depression, suicidal thoughts, PTSD, or marriage counseling.  
• Need to "pay your dues first" before you can act like a veteran.
• More community suspicion and fear, when compared to firefighters, who are usually much more beloved.

None of the above ever excuses the behavior of unprofessional, rude, dismissive, poorly trained, or dangerous officers who arrive at your library. If you're not getting good service from them at your library, it's time to call the Watch Commander and have a conversation about what happened and how it needs to be better. 

But, if you are truly empathic about the needs of your patrons, can you also be just as empathic toward the police officers or sheriff's deputies who come to your library, with the primary intent of protecting (themselves and you) and serving (you and the patrons)? A little understanding of how their culture orients their worldview can help you understand why they do what they do.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

As a longtime HR trainer (uh, that would be me) once said in a daylong team-building training program, “When it comes to your bosses or your co-workers, you don’t have to love everyone you work with. You don’t have to like everyone you work with. We aren’t asking you to socialize after work with anyone you work with. We are asking you to get along, to tolerate each other, in the time and space we provide here. Our customers expect it, our organizational leaders expect it, and you should expect and demonstrate cooperative, supportive treatment by and from each other.”

This is, of course, easy to say and hard to do. For many reasons, personalities collide in the workplace and people can grow to despise each other. In my experience, this most often occurs in two distinct ways. It can start from the get-go, where two employees take an instant dislike to each other on Day One and it never gets any better. Or, more likely and more common, it builds and builds over time, as each employee shows various eccentricities, quirks, and work or personal habits that irritate the other to the point of frustration.

Also, in my experience, one or both of these employees lack the empathy, patience, maturity, social skills, and most importantly, don’t have the Social Intelligence to get along successfully, even when others around them can overlook the Little Things and work together until quitting time.

Social Intelligence is our collective ability, as collaborative citizens and cooperative employees, to read the room and say or do the right thing in that room (or public space) when engaged with other people. Not saying and not doing the wrong thing are definitely more important than keeping quiet on either. Too many people lack this skill and blurt out things they instantly regret--or regret too much later to do anything other than apologize (which they either don’t do or also aren’t very good at doing).

Since we all have various irritants (again, except me) most employees can overlook them when displayed irregularly or even regularly by their co-workers. But some just cannot--or not without help, encouragement, or commands from their bosses--no matter how much they try. Whether it’s an instant dislike or it festers over time, two employees not getting along in public workspaces is bad for business. What I most often see in these situations is not so much open hostility but the more common “silent treatment,” where the employees will just not engage with each other, ever, beyond saying, “Good morning” and “Good night” and even that is a struggle for them to say with any sincerity.

In the Library World, guess what? Our patrons don’t care if we get along as co-workers or not. They don’t care if there are bad feelings between employees. They just want to come to the library and be served professionally, get the information or help they are looking for, and go home. It is up to each library employee to say or do the right things to get along, both in front of the patrons (who don’t want to see us air our dirty laundry on the floor) and just as important, behind the staff doors as well.

It’s not enough for bosses to ask two warring employees to cooperate and collaborate; there has to be a method used that clears the air first. Below is a process a supervisor or manager can follow when there are two employees who can’t or won’t get along. Bosses need to follow these steps as closely as they can, in order to get real and lasting results. You’ll note this will take several meetings with each employee to be able to identify and iron out their differences. This is not a one and done approach; it takes effort on the part of all three of you.

1. Meet with the Employee #1 alone. Ask what Employee #2 does to make it hard to get along, communicate, interact, or to work together. Get specific answers, using examples. Don’t let the employee rely on name-calling, labels, non-specific examples, or sweeping generalizations (“She always. . .” or “He never. . .”) about the other employee to make his or her point.
2. Ask what he or she is willing to do differently to get along with Employee #2.
3. Bring up the idea of using Ground Rules, which are mutually-created, mutually-agreed-upon do’s and don’ts for both employees. Ask Employee #1 to have some examples of useful Ground Rules ready for your next meeting. (Ground Rules are simple, declarative steps both sides agree to, that will guide their future interactions. Examples: “Return my emails or voice mail messages within 24 hours.” “Don’t put me down in front of patrons.” “Explain the reason why the patron needs help, instead of just dumping him or her on me and walking away.” “Come back from your breaks and lunches on time, so I can take mine.” “Stop criticizing my new ideas in our staff meetings.” “Don’t undermine me in front of our boss.” If they can’t think of any because of the stress of the moment, you’ll need to provide some examples. Be ready to do so.)
4. Meet with Employee #2 alone. Ask what Employee #1 does to make it hard to get along and work together. Get specific examples.
5. Ask what he or she is willing to do differently to get along with Employee #1.
6. Mention what Employee #1 said he or she was willing to do to get along more effectively and then gauge the reactions of Employee #2. Introduce the idea of the need for Ground Rules between the two and ask Employee #2 to have some examples ready by your next meeting.
7. Meet a second time with Employee #1 and reaffirm the value and validity of the Ground Rules he or she had suggested will help.
8. Meet a second time with Employee #2 to go over his or her Ground Rules. Explain the Ground Rules offered by Employee #1.
9. Discuss with Employee #1 and Employee #2 whether they need a final closure meeting, facilitated by you. If so, get them to review the Ground Rules with each other, talking face to face, not just speaking to you. If no final group meeting seems needed, ask for their immediate compliance with the agreed-upon Ground Rules.

This approach uses a guided process designed to keep both employees in their respective comfort zones. Your function is to walk them through a set of problem-identification and problem-solving discussions, to keep them focused on potential solutions - Ground Rules - you can all agree upon. Continue to monitor their ongoing compliance and remind them of their Ground Rules if you see them start to slip back into their former non-cooperative ways.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

There is much discussion in the media and the workplace about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI. (Library 2.0 has a recorded webinar on DEI, presented by Dr. Karla Rhay, available for individual or group purchase.) DEI describes a collection of sought-after behaviors that provide for fairness in our hiring processes, supervision, and promotion of all employees. It seeks to provide equal opportunities and support for employees in what are called "protected classes." Most of us are in at least one: age (over 40); race; country of origin; gender; gender identity, sexual orientation; veteran status; religious or political beliefs; physical or psychological disabilities; health conditions; and pregnancy--just to name a few. DEI training programs seek to build awareness about past discriminatory practices, level the playing field of employment and promotion, and increase the creativity, problem-solving, and success of the organization, by bringing in different people who offer different viewpoints.

Part of the DEI training discussion includes the realities of our biases and the assumptions we make about each other, which are often based on sweeping generalizations or a negative encounter with one individual who certainly does not represent the larger population of a particular group. These biases often come from our environment and our exposure to what we are told to think about people different from us by our parents, family, friends, school interactions, or workplaces. They are often defined as "confirmation biases," where our negative encounters with people in any of the protected classes lead us to generalize and thereby seek to confirm, "that's how those people are." We all have our biases and part of DEI awareness-building is to change our thinking about how we perceive others. This takes effort, but the resulting changes in our perceptions can lead us to a better understanding, fairer treatment, patience, empathy, and acceptance.

We know that biases exist in our personal and professional lives. It has been illegal for many decades for companies to use biases to discriminate against people during hiring, and how they are supervised or promoted. It's unethical and can subject an organization to a civil suit. The problem with bias is that it can be subtle. When it's about skin color or gender, it's obviously wrong; when it's about bias connected to perceptions of performance, it can be nearly as harmful but less obvious. Consider if you have seen or experienced (or worse, used) any of these forms of perceptional bias at a library where you work or have worked:

Age bias – "This employee is too old or too young to do this new type of work or to figure out this complex technical equipment, or process this type of information. He or she is too old to learn new things or too young to know how to operate the way we do here or to figure it out." The assumption here is that this is a permanent condition, that they won't be able to learn it.

Experience bias – "This employee lacks the life or work experience to do what we are asking. He or she hasn't done this job or this type of work and doesn't have the technical expertise, know-how, or `time in grade.’" The assumption here is because they haven't done it before elsewhere, they won't have the capacity to learn it here.

Appearance bias – "This employee doesn't `look like' what we want our library staff to look like." This bias is often based on seeing people only by what they look like – especially if it involves how they express their creativity with hairstyles, tattoos, piercings, or clothing choices.

Motivation bias – "This employee doesn't seem to care. He or she is kind of a loner, doesn't jump into group projects, has a `lousy attitude,' seems to be standoffish, and doesn't seem to want to take on new challenges." This assumption may not consider this employee is introverted, prefers to work alone, and may even be burned out because he or she has not been praised, supported, challenged, heard, or fairly managed.

Success bias – What we predict about an employee's success in the organization often occurs because we manage him or her to that expectation. "He's probably not going to do very well" comes true, as does, "She's going to do very well here." This bias comes because of a pre-conceived notion of predicted success. Some managers and supervisors can make this one come true by what they do or don't do for their employees, right at the start.

Recognizing workplace biases is half the issue. The other half requires a commitment to see they are eliminated and that we hire, promote, and manage all library employees fairly, ethically, and equally. The adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," means we should stop perception bias, set high performance and behavioral standards, provide opportunities for all employees to prove themselves, and coach them toward a level of success that satisfies them and the library organization.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Consider how much responsibility we place on the shoulders of a receptionist at an average public or private sector front counter. I'm not talking about the entrance desk to the Strategic Air Command or a Hollywood movie studio, where we expect security to be tight and access control is the phrase of the day. I mean an office, with a receptionist in a lobby, alone. We expect this person – with almost no training beyond just good common sense and intuition – to make safety, security, and admittance decisions every day. We expect this employee to be a combination of amateur psychologist, part-time Ninja, and a service-quality champion, all without much guidance beyond, "Check the person's ID. Have him or her sign the Visitor's Logbook. Issue a visitor's badge. Call the person he or she wants to see, to provide an escort to the back office. If this person refuses to follow our procedures, tell him or her they have to leave. Hopefully, all goes well after all that. If not, call Security or the police.” 

In some US states, becoming a uniformed security guard requires classroom training and even passing a Powers of Arrest test. Most security companies worth their salt provide at least a basic round of training to their new-hires, including: how to follow the Posted Orders for the site they are sent to; municipal and state civil, traffic, and criminal laws; basic first aid; and how, when, and why to make a citizen's arrest. Some states have no such training requirements; you get the guard we give you and let's hope that officer has some life skills, work experience, job knowledge, and enough sense not to cause us expensive problems.

Back in the Library World, consider an employee - often a part-timer, a student, or a retired person, paid at or near the bottom of our wage scale - who we ask to combine the skills of a receptionist and a security guard. Behold the Library Page.

We may position these staffers at various Circulation or Information Desks, to perform reception and service duties. But they're most often seen on the floor, shelving books, clearing work areas, cleaning up messes, walking amidst the stacks, and interacting with patrons. Some libraries assign security duties to Pages, asking them to handle disputes between patrons, intervene when staff members get accosted by certain patrons, manage problematic patron behaviors, escort those patrons out of the building, or call the police. 

In short, Pages perform many of the same service and security duties as receptionists and security guards, often for far less pay and more painfully, with not much respect for their efforts. While the patrons may not know who they are, some libraries have created an erstwhile ranking system, where the Pages--who may be substantially younger, older, or thought less-educated than their colleagues (even though some Pages have library degrees)--are not held with or given the same respect as full-time or library-degreed employees.

"Not at my library!" you say. Good for you. But review the following story sent to Library20.com and see how some Pages are treated and how they perceive their status in some library organizations. This is from a recent email sent to Steve Hargadon at www.Library20.com:  

Before the pandemic, I was employed as a Page at our Public Library. There were about 50 of us in the main branch, some of who've been Pages for over 20 years. I know this is prevalent in the public library universe, but I don't understand why Pages are largely considered as disposable low-value commodities, undeserving of benefits or union memberships, As a Page, even with an MLIS, there is no path to advancement; we were hired as Part-Time Temporary labor, restricted to 960 hours/year, which negates all possible benefits. I cannot fathom the reasoning behind labeling a worker as PT/Temp for 25 years. It makes no sense in any universe.

I have always felt that if we Pages disappeared for even a week, the library would descend into utter chaos. Librarians refuse to shelve. At the library where I interned, I was told that their union forbade them from doing it.

With your Library 2.0 blogs, podcasts, and webinars, you've discussed patrons and mental health issues. At our main branch, it was all Pages (again, technically part-time and temporary, even if you've been there for decades) who dealt with the objectively difficult homeless population, primarily in the computer area, where we had 45 computers that were generally 90% occupied by the large homeless population that is in our city. We received no training, other than a trouble/incident report spreadsheet. This is a volatile population and verbal abuse was prevalent, even knife drawing. The librarians wouldn't deal with them unless absolutely mandatory. It largely fell on the Pages and the Library Service Officers (LSOs, also Part-Time and Temporary and with no real authority other than the ability to call the local police).

The satellite branches had far fewer Pages, who were regularly called upon to cover Library Assistant II's responsibilities, which were quite literally above their pay grade, with no formal or informal recognition. When we were monitoring the computer commons, even when there were 45 stations that were generally always booked, there would be only one Page scheduled for the entire room, for two or two and-a-half shifts, except on Sundays which were a very short day and computers were actually fought over; then there would be two Pages assigned per shift.  

My co-Pages (technically classified as As-Needed/Part-Time) were probably the most dedicated, conscientious, and devoted cohort I've worked with in my 40+ years in the workforce, public or private sector.  

There's a lot more I can say, but I have to wonder - why is this discriminatory disparity accepted and so common in public libraries? It does nothing but inflict pain on us, though of course the libraries or the cities that control them save money. I have no idea why this is the tradition in American public libraries, and perhaps you do, or perhaps this is a suitable topic for a wider discussion."

I don't know the answer to this employee's painful question as to why this happens in some libraries. If you're a library leader, is it time for you to review the job description, duties, assignments, task orientations, and work culture status of your Pages? This may require help and support from your Human Resources colleagues, especially if you are in a union environment. It may be time for a new look at what appears to be an ongoing and long-running issue. All library employees - part-time, full-time, interns, or volunteers - deserve respectful treatment, inclusion into the work culture, support for what they do, and praise for how they do it.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

In this third part of our three-part discussion of the pioneering customer service work of my father, Dr. Karl Albrecht (www.KarlAlbrecht.com), let’s look at his collection of ideas about what he calls the Spirit of Service. 

The Spirit of Service is a set of 20 behaviors that can help all library employees focus on not just the “how-to” part of providing great customer service (as we discussed in my blog and podcast about Karl’s booklet, The Code of Quality Service), but the “why” part about serving our patrons. 

Serving others in the library environment is all about creating a moment in time where the employee and the patron connect, communicate, and deliver or receive advice, information, services, or solutions. The concepts presented here take some thought, since they are a combination of abstract ideas and concrete behaviors. We can operationalize them throughout the library, using training, reminders, stories, examples, and praise.

1. Service should mean something to all of us.
   
   Karl defines a service as “anything a person does that contributes something of value to someone else.” That certainly applies in the library.
   
   
2. Service is all about feelings.
   
   The service experience starts with a feeling - ours, as library employees - and ends with a feeling - our patrons’ perspective, about how they were served. Good feelings at the start of an employee-patron interaction usually leads to good feelings at the end.  
   
   
3. What is the “Spirit of Service?”
   
   Karl defines the Spirit of Service as “an attitude, based on certain values and beliefs about people, life, and work, that leads a person to willingly serve others and take pride in his or her work.” This means you care about your job, your co-workers, your bosses, and our patrons, so you do work that you are proud of.  
   
   
4. The people you serve need your best efforts.
   
   Great service providers are also great listeners. They don’t get distracted by side work or other conversations; they focus on the person they are helping. Service interactions require concentration, effort, and even stamina. Be ready to do your best, at the start of your workday and all the way through to the end of it. 
   
   
5. You have three service roles.
   
   You have your Worker role, where you do your job with a commitment to excellence, on behalf of your bosses and the patrons. You have your Team Member role, where you help your co-workers and colleagues when needed, sharing information, support, and effort. And one of your most important roles is to be a Brand Ambassador for your library. You’re always being watched and even judged by the patrons, as to how you do your job. When you wear a library name tag or a shirt that identifies you as a library staffer, the patron doesn’t care how long you have worked there or what your job title is (or if you’re tired and want to go home). They want and expect good service, so represent your library whenever you’re on the floor.   
   
   
6. Nobody is too important to serve others.
   
   Library leaders, directors, managers, supervisors, and the PIC (Person In Charge for that month, week, or shift) need to serve their co-workers and the people that work for them. Part of the role of a skilled leader is to remove obstacles that make it difficult for employees to do their work. Effective leaders know when to jump in and help their team members, especially in front of and on behalf of the patrons. 
   
   
7. To lead is to serve.
   
   Library leaders should realize the significance of their two-way relationship with their employees: they give orders and instructions and ask that work gets done, and they realize they have to take care of their employees. Understanding work-life balance is an important leadership skill. Good bosses serve their people as they ask them to serve the patrons.  
   
   
8. Everybody is important in the chain of service.
   
   Libraries may have full-time employees, part-time employees, interns, or volunteers. They are all important and they all can play an important part in providing good service to patrons. All library staffers - regardless of their job titles - bring their life history, job knowledge, educational experiences, and service skills to their work.    
   
   
9. Some of us serve unseen.
   
   If the nature of your job is that you don’t or rarely see the library patron on the floor, it’s easy to think you’re not in the service business. But even if you don’t serve the patrons, your job is to serve other parts of the library organization and serve those co-workers who do interact with patrons. Working behind the scenes and away from the public counters is just as valuable to the library as a frontline patron-contact position.    
   
   
10. Your co-workers are your customers, too.
    
    Your co-workers count on you to deliver information, projects, products, and results. Just as you have responsibilities to support your supervisors, you have an equal responsibility to serve your colleagues so they can do their jobs too. We’re all in the service business - with different customers, priorities, and deadlines - but with the same goals. 
    
    
11. Do you have the “Spirit of Service?”
    
    Are you coming to work with a positive attitude? Are you ready for your workday? Are you bringing as much energy and enthusiasm to the end of your workday as you do at the start of it?
    
    
12. The ancient Greeks called it “agape.” 
    
    This purest definition of this concept means, “a feeling of unconditional love and concern for others.” In our workplace, this idea is displayed by being unselfish, supportive, friendly, approachable, and kind, to both colleagues and patrons.
    
    
13. The ancient Hawaiians called it “aloha.”
    
    In Hawaii, aloha is a concept with many definitions. It is a spirit of oneness with the earth and ocean, with others, having feelings of love and friendship, shared through the energy of our breath (alo = deep within, ha = breath). At work, the aloha spirit is joyful, perceptive of the needs of others, and welcoming the uniqueness of every person we serve. 
    
    
14. Some people call it the “Golden Rule.”
    
    We all know the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” or “Treat people the way you want to be treated.” Because we all see our world differently, perhaps we can add to this by saying, “Treat people the way they wanted to be treated, not only how you would want to be treated.” This starts by being a good listener and asking respectful, clarifying questions.  
    
    
15. We all have to work together.
    
    You may have worked in some jobs where a few other employees spent more time complaining about the work than it would have taken to do the actual job. Work is work, which means it’s not always fun, challenging, easy, or different. Do your part to pitch in and help get the tough jobs out of the way. Working together can make the day go by faster.  
    
    
16. Caring about others starts with caring about yourself.
    
    A positive attitude starts with you. The good feelings that create great service begin with you. How you feel is often picked up on by your co-workers. You can communicate your feelings - good or bad, positive or negative - to our patrons as well. Monitor your use of eye contact, tone, body language, and general nourishing feelings throughout your workday. Make adjustments to feel better so you serve better.  
    
    
17. The people you serve may not always be lovable.
    
    The customer is not always right. Patrons can be difficult, entitled, rude, and even obnoxious. That doesn’t mean you have to be that way too.  Every person you meet has his or her own struggles, battles, and difficulties. Try not to take what they say or do personally. They’re usually mad at the situation or themselves, not at you, personally. Do the best you can to get them on their way, well-served by you.
    
    
18. You may not always be feeling your best.
    
    Sometimes being in a service job when you are not feeling very helpful, energetic, or enthusiastic will require you to rely on your good acting skills. You may have to roleplay positive feelings for the day, until you can go home and recharge. 
    
    
19. At the “Moment of Truth,” it’s up to you.
    
    Each time a patron comes in contact with any part of our library, Karl Albrecht says, it is a Moment of Truth. This includes over the counter, over the phone, in the stacks, or even online. After every interaction, our patrons make a score on the internal report cards we call carry around in our heads as to the level and quality of service they received. Successfully managing each of these important Moments of Truth is up to you.
    
    
20. We’re all in this work together.
    
    Take care of yourself, take care of your bosses, take care of your co-workers, so we can all take care of our patrons.  

Karl Albrecht's Spirit of Service Service offers 20 thoughtful, practical steps toward improving and sustaining your own brand of service excellence. 

We can customize copies of Dr. Karl Albrecht’s 20-page Spirit of Service booklet for your library, putting your logo on the cover and including a message from the Library Director inside. Contact Steve Hargadon at Library 2.0.

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Much of my work for Library 2.0 centers around the outward customer service experience: how we treat the patrons and how we can stay safe and secure while doing so. We exist to serve the public and that part of library service will always be of the most importance. 

It also pays dividends to look at how we treat each other, at every level in the library organization. Civility matters, in our interpersonal relationships with each other, whether it’s between leaders, with managers and supervisors to employees, and between employees. From the newest volunteer to the most seasoned library employee, how we treat each other and the type of workplace that we create, with conscious efforts, make a difference in retention, morale, and ultimately, how we take care of our patrons. You want to feel good about coming to work and good about doing your work, and these are separate and related feelings--you can want to go to work and not want to do your work, vice versa, both, or neither. Good feelings about both can and should rub off on your co-workers. 

The work environment we intentionally create becomes something to be proud of. It encourages library applicants to want to apply, new library employees to want to stay, and employees at other branches to want to transfer there. The reverse is true too. When we mistreat each other, when supervisors mistreat employees, or we allow a toxic workplace to grow and saturate the facility, good people quit, other miserable employees stay and make their co-workers miserable, and the reputation around town is, “This Is Not A Good Place To Work.” At a time when many public agencies and private sector firms are competing hard to get and keep skilled employees, reputations matter. When we use praise for each other and get it from our bosses, when we treat each other with dignity and respect (not just say it, but demonstrate it, daily), and when we hold ourselves and our leaders accountable to foster and nurture a nourishing workplace, it ends up improving our customer-patron relationships too.

One of the challenges we can encounter when trying to create a civil workplace comes when we create platitudes instead of action statements. The phrase, “We need to respect each other here,” sounds great when we say it during a team-building exercise or when we see it on an easel pad page, created during a staff meeting (or on one of those motivational posters with trees and lakes and kayaks). The key is to turn an abstract concept – “respect” – into operational behaviors. “Respect each other” means things like returning email messages promptly, making eye contact, not killing new ideas in meetings, and valuing lifestyle differences. It’s important to turn ideas into tools everyone can use. 

The following “Code of Civility,” created by my father, Dr. Karl Albrecht (www.KarlAlbrecht.com) offers a set of guidelines for us to get along, not just in words about polite workplace behavior, but in how to turn ideas into actions. Consider these civility steps for your library:  

In our library organization . . .

1. Our library leaders model and encourage a culture of civility. 
2. We treat each other with respect, courtesy, and consideration.
3. We value the small courtesies of everyday life.
4. We value the diversity in people, ideas, and points of view.
5. We can disagree agreeably - we don’t personalize or emotionalize our differences.
6. We resolve misunderstandings maturely, without accusing, blaming, or finger-pointing.
7. We cooperate between work groups, not putting fences between us.
8. We play fair, not letting destructive office politics divide us.
9. We share information and knowledge, understanding that they are valuable assets.
10. We expect each other to act as good citizens of our library organization.    

A complementary podcast on this topic is at https://soundcloud.com/user-311117266-556053777/albrecht-code-of-civility. 

Karl Albrecht's “Code of Civility” offers 10 practical steps we can put to use today. If you’re interested in having customized booklets with this Code printed for your library, please get in touch with admin@learningrevolution.com.