Two Extremes
A grad student brought his laptop to the desk in a tizzy. He was trying to access an online article, but the database was requesting a login or $15 for access. I took a look, and the article was out of the date range for the package that we subscribed to. To say he was peeved is an understatement.
"This is ridiculous. It's a very popular journal for this field. You should have this. All the other universities have this."
(All the other universities? Are you sure? Have you made an exhaustive survey of all other universities?)
"I'm sorry, the article you want is just not in the date range."
"Who can I speak to about this because it is really unacceptable."
(I love being bottom of the totem pole. Here let me hand your unreasonably demanding ass off to someone who is paid a lot more to deal with you.)
And I still tried to help the grad student instead of telling him to go away.
"Here's that contact info. We could ILL the article for you, and it will be emailed to you in a day or two."
"No, that won't do. I have to have it TONIGHT."
(Tonight? Did the professor give you a pop paper? Do professors give pop papers? It seems they must with the prevalence of students who must have articles that night for papers due the next day. I mean why else could it happen? /sarcasm)
And I still tried to help the grad student instead of telling him to go away.
"May I see the search results for this journal title?"
"Yeah, sure."
I did a catalog search for the journal title and what do you know, the complete print run of the title was available in Big Research Library, and Big Research Library was currently open. He could go check it out.
"This should be available online. Everyone else has this available online. I don't want to have to leave and go get it." BIG RESEARCH LIBRARY IS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!!!
I started backing away while smiling and grinding my teeth. "I'm sorry, I can't help you anymore."
That's right. I'm telling you to GO AWAY.
He sort of stared at me a second. (What? Is it unheard of for someone not to bow over until their back breaks to help you?) And then he walked away.
He was so lucky. If I hadn't been still weak from bronchitis, I would've bashed him over the head with his laptop.
I went back to my desk to recuperate, and my phone rang. A female University Z employee had a DVD that another employee had checked out, and she had kept it late. She wanted to pay the late fee for the other person and get the DVD checked out to her over the phone if possible. She wished to show the movie to a class.
I tried to help her out, but unfortunately, she was a new employee and didn't have a library account yet. I renewed the DVD for the other employee so that person wouldn't continue getting fined and advised the caller to visit any of the libraries to create an account. I also told her how to get an ID since it didn't seem she had one yet. She was very appreciative and asked for my supervisor's name and email. I gave them to her and thirty minutes later, I got this email.
Customer Service: It's a roller coaster ride.
"This is ridiculous. It's a very popular journal for this field. You should have this. All the other universities have this."
(All the other universities? Are you sure? Have you made an exhaustive survey of all other universities?)
"I'm sorry, the article you want is just not in the date range."
"Who can I speak to about this because it is really unacceptable."
(I love being bottom of the totem pole. Here let me hand your unreasonably demanding ass off to someone who is paid a lot more to deal with you.)
And I still tried to help the grad student instead of telling him to go away.
"Here's that contact info. We could ILL the article for you, and it will be emailed to you in a day or two."
"No, that won't do. I have to have it TONIGHT."
(Tonight? Did the professor give you a pop paper? Do professors give pop papers? It seems they must with the prevalence of students who must have articles that night for papers due the next day. I mean why else could it happen? /sarcasm)
And I still tried to help the grad student instead of telling him to go away.
"May I see the search results for this journal title?"
"Yeah, sure."
I did a catalog search for the journal title and what do you know, the complete print run of the title was available in Big Research Library, and Big Research Library was currently open. He could go check it out.
"This should be available online. Everyone else has this available online. I don't want to have to leave and go get it." BIG RESEARCH LIBRARY IS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!!!
I started backing away while smiling and grinding my teeth. "I'm sorry, I can't help you anymore."
That's right. I'm telling you to GO AWAY.
He sort of stared at me a second. (What? Is it unheard of for someone not to bow over until their back breaks to help you?) And then he walked away.
He was so lucky. If I hadn't been still weak from bronchitis, I would've bashed him over the head with his laptop.
I went back to my desk to recuperate, and my phone rang. A female University Z employee had a DVD that another employee had checked out, and she had kept it late. She wanted to pay the late fee for the other person and get the DVD checked out to her over the phone if possible. She wished to show the movie to a class.
I tried to help her out, but unfortunately, she was a new employee and didn't have a library account yet. I renewed the DVD for the other employee so that person wouldn't continue getting fined and advised the caller to visit any of the libraries to create an account. I also told her how to get an ID since it didn't seem she had one yet. She was very appreciative and asked for my supervisor's name and email. I gave them to her and thirty minutes later, I got this email.
Dear Vampire Librarian's Boss,
I want to commend your staff for great service tonight when I phoned Library X about a DVD I wanted to borrow, already checked out by a colleague. The Vampire Librarian was extremely patient and helpful and went above and beyond to get an answer for me.
I so appreciate being treated like that, and it reflects so well on the hard work you all do.
Many thanks,
Random University Z employee
Customer Service: It's a roller coaster ride.
Labels: Reference Questions
posted by Vampire Librarian at 1:02 PM
9 comments
