I am a regular patron here at the Baldwin Public Library here in Baldwin, New York and I come here because it's a good environment for doing my own thing without distraction. The place is nice and comfortable enough. However what has struck me in the 2 years I have been a regular patron is how unfriendly the reference women are-ok they;'re not all women but they are mostly women- as well as the circulation desk, and for that matter from what I see, the maintenance department. The workplace culture here is for whatever reason very poor much worse than at other libraries in the area.
The reference desk sets a very negative tone. A friend I know who works here-he's a nice guy, so no he doesn't work at reference-told me that they often have meetings where they study from prepared sheets which tell them what to say to patrons in answer to various questions and in response to various situations. To me this says it all. Why do you need a list of likely questions to tell you what to say? Do these folks so totally lack any sense of social instinct or common sense" Evidently, yes. I mean it seems to me it's obvious the way you speak to patrons-basically how you speak to customers at a private business: in a friendly, helpful way. Maybe they should call up Cablevision and talk to a customer service girl to get what they should sound like.
I would love to see these sheets, but judging by their general conduct it seems that the rules they follow is to not smile, be very unapproachable and where possible, lecture adults as if they're children. Act as if the patron is the enemy that you have to keep a close watch on rather than the whole point of your job. Most of all don't ever smile, or be friendly-that's a sign of weakness! Let these patrons know whose boss- you're not their mother! You have better things to do than waste time listening to their tom foolery. There are shelves to be stocked! What these people don't get is that their job is essentially customer service, nothing else. Right now libraries are in trouble and they would be wise to make people want to be here rather than drive them out.
Then there are The Trustees. I capitalize them as they are this big, mysterious entity that no one seems to know anything about but everyone knows they're out there. These trustees seem to have a lot of time on their hands. Otherwise I don't know why they would spend so much time hanging around the library, "undercover" trying to catch people talking or eating or behaving "inappropriately."
The best way to understand the poor way the staff here acts towards patrons is to compare it to other libraries. At Freeport and Rockville Center I have been floored to be actually greeted by a smile and friendly "Hello!" rather than a scowl, or a suspicious stare. After speaking to a reference woman at Rockville Center once I was compelled to tell her that our exchange was a better conversation than I have ever had at Baldwin in 2 years.
I do have some friends among people who work here-of course not in reference. It turns out they are not any nicer to employees than patrons. As a few friends have told me, the library now plans to cut library hours starting in January down. Currently it is open 9-9 5 days a week, 9-5 on Saturdays, and 1-5 on Sundays. Evidently they're going to cut back on a few days-which are not yet known-to close at 6. This is a bad sign because it reminds me of the time I used go to the library in Fitchburg, Mass that was at first a full time library, but within a few years was down to be opened only one and a half days per week.
I fear these cuts are just the start. There's no question that in this age of the Internet, Amazon.com. etc .libraries are largely a relic. The reason I spend so much time there is basically because I don't live alone and I like to spend some quality time here in my PC here on the Internet.
Of course they are now cutting back the hours of employees, particularly the part timers. The PTs at this point feel they need some sort of voice or ability to fight back. The powers that be-ie, The Trustees-have responded to the PTs request for union representation by taking back a small raise which comes to about $.20 cents an hour. This is illegal but who's going to call them on it? The Trustees have now hired a lawyer who they are paying $125 an hour to bust this talk of unionization.
Think about that: they are coming down on PTs because they say they don't have the money to pay them, yet they can afford to spend an extravagant sum on a lawyer, who incidentally has a history of embezzlement. As it is Baldwin Library employees do worse than their counterparts at almost any other library here in Nassau County-the best estimates is they make about 20 percent less. There are people who have worked here for 10 years and make $8 an hour-the wonder of not indexing wages to inflation.
Ultimately the question is who are these Trustees? The library is a NY state institution so how are they able to intercept funds, break the law by cutting raises if the PTs don't cease and desist from forming a union, and hiring expensive lawyers to bust union activity? Figuring who these folks are and whose interests they serve is the first step in this inquiry. What is clear is that whoever they do serve it is not the people of Baldwin.
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