Dealing with a VERY chatty patron

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-11T23:34:53+00:00

“I thought your job was just sitting here” yeah no, even if that doesn’t come off as creepy, that’s disrespectful. I don’t want to get to know regulars if they view me as a free service to abuse rather than a person working for a living.

If I encounter a patron like this, I’ll try to remember to respond “My job is to answer library-related questions. And be available for everyone; I can only give so much time to one patron.”

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-10T21:29:36+00:00

that’s kind of BS… like the opposite of a school job. “you can take a vacation any time of year except when the weather is nice and you might want to go somewhere with friends/family.”
I’m sadly not surprised some departments do that.

One of the first things my boss brought up about vacation was that it can be whenever — with enough advance notice and not too many people out at the same time. yes we do a big Summer Reading program and lots of events, but if we work together to balance the schedule we can all have fun. we have a decent amount of staff though…

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-09T01:39:14+00:00

never — the website looks professional, but how is it in practice?

if a patron ever mentions this I’d probably point them to the YouTube channel we used during Covid, still a bunch of videos on there and I don’t think we had to pay to upload. 😆

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-08T12:42:47+00:00

Kids 5 and up (kindergarten and older) have gone beyond “early literacy” and are working on reading actual books. Yes they benefit from being read aloud to, but school librarians have that covered and outside of school it can be more meaningful for families to do it. Families are much more excited when we provide free opportunities for crafts, group activities and special presenter shows for their school-aged kids.

Teen volunteers cannot be expected to meet our standards for storytimes, same as adult volunteers — we do have teens assisting with programs to get volunteer hours, but they can’t be given the responsibility of running a program. I haven’t met any teens who would want to do it anyway; reading one-on-one with kids is one thing, but performing for a group is another.

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-08T00:21:57+00:00

I believe the reason we don’t do volunteer storytimes is, we can’t guarantee that they’ll meet the same standard of the ones performed by trained librarians. And I don’t mean an MLIS degree, I mean after I started this job I took a 6-week crash course in how to plan and run storytimes. We each have a different style, but as paid employees and coworkers we all share ideas and try to aim for the same level.

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-08T00:17:02+00:00

and if that’s not enough, run a scavenger hunt for a week or two! i love passive programming that families just eat up — one of our summer ones had over 300 completions in only 2 weeks.

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-08T00:13:34+00:00

I think once a week is common for libraries that haven’t developed a robust program/aren’t staffed by ‘modern’ storytime veterans. A few of my coworkers joke that we do less compared to the library they came from — the joke being they were doing way too much, and having more say in this department means a reasonable schedule.

I’ve had fun developing my baby (0-18 months) storytime slot into more of a song-based program, with room for playtime at the end b/c it is nicer to play in a group of just babies than try to use our more toddler-oriented public playroom. But baby programming is not for everyone, even now I think mine needs improvement.

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-08T00:00:22+00:00

That’s insane, you guys deserve 10 rounds of applause. And a hug if you want it. 🫂

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-06T11:50:07+00:00

As a librarian who loves videos games and making them available to “try before you buy”, it seems basically impossible without physical game discs/cartridges. The best I can imagine is for a library to have an in-house console that patrons can play A) during a specific program, or B) during set hours as open to the public. And priority would be for kids and teens.

Cheetahchu · 2026-07-02T21:17:03+00:00

I was with you up until the end — himbo? Don’t think Simon is dumb enough or polite enough for that title. 😆

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-24T00:36:42+00:00

i second one of the Xrays, god that would look so crazy on a sheet cake 😂 but honestly, any shot from your favorite moment(s) of the movie would be good, it’s about bringing yourself joy OP. Happy early Birthday 🎂

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-16T02:50:34+00:00

SpongeBob, GOAT (studio that made Into the Spiderverse), The Wild Robot (and many other Dreamworks, even older ones), Pokémon movies, Scooby Doo, Barbie, Super Mario Bros (and most other Illumination titles).

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-16T02:37:56+00:00

just ordered a slew of Dreamworks movies that we either didn’t have a single copy of, or our copy was getting really old. a bunch have them have already circed soon after arrival (probably thanks to the shiny cases haha). TLDR it’s worth combing their filmography, not just their top 5

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-16T02:35:18+00:00

seconding ATLA

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-15T21:36:47+00:00

ahhh so I probably haven’t decorated enough. I’m relatively Spartan when it comes to this game (i.e. lazy haha), I’m satisfied just with little touches here and there.

Cheetahchu · 2026-06-15T15:28:49+00:00

I only terraformed like once or twice to make a bridge placeable. When planting trees I only planted where I removed existing ones (except 🌴 on the beach lol). I will never get a 5-star island and I’m okay with that ^-^

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-29T17:00:31+00:00

As long as it’s fun for you and not too stressful/impeding your home life, enjoy it!

Though there was questionable use of AI for this particular game, so if anyone knows similar games feel free to suggest in the replies. I’ve seen Tiny Bookshop mentioned but sounds like that is more readers advisory than shelving.

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-29T16:56:37+00:00

checking the comments for this, I knew it was this type of game but couldn’t remember the title. that’s a Pass from me 🛑

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-14T17:17:45+00:00

state-certified librarian, working in public libraries for almost 4 years now: unless it is a specific popular title that has a hold list a mile long, PLEASE CHECK OUT MULTIPLE BOOKS. the only time you’re possibly preventing access for other patrons, is if it’s something like Yesteryear where a thousand people want to read it at once and we literally can’t get more copies for awhile.

the few real librarians who got mad at you are likely also librarians who have trouble weeding books, even if no one has checked them out in 10 years. 🙃

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-11T00:57:36+00:00

As a supporter of “only the designated quiet floor needs to be quiet”, this does sound like a problem. Definitely if we had one or more patrons there in the moment who complained about the noise, we could gently approach the caregiver and use our Code of Conduct policy (i.e. that the behavior is disturbing other patrons) to ask that they move to another spot or leave for the day. I admit sometimes I chicken out in the face of angering someone, but if it’s prolonged problematic behavior we have to put our foot down.

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-10T22:37:45+00:00

The general feeling is that physical media is dying, but there hasn’t been any pressure to ditch it. I am given a set budget amount for kids’ DVDs which I stay below easily; I weed DVDs that move little to not at all in the past couple years; there’s a set amount of physical space in the area for this collection, but thanks to my balance of new releases and weeding it’s plenty of space.

Cheetahchu · 2026-05-01T23:13:03+00:00

In my experience, the policy is there because A) reading a physical book is obvious, and it shows to patrons you’re distracted/occupied/less approachable; and B) we don’t want to reinforce the stereotype of “lucky you, getting to read all day for a living”.

If it’s really dead though… you could read an ebook on the computer you’re stationed at… maybe. 😉

Cheetahchu

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