Ado Annie Librarians
Stop saying “no”! Perhaps librarians need to listen to a little Oklahoma with Ado Annie singing “I’m just a girl who cain’t say No” to help get in the service mentality. Take one day and track how many yes’ s and how many no’s you share. Make sure you count all the various ways you say NO. For example, I hear “No. That’s not allowed. That violates our policies. I don’t have time. You’ll just have to look on your own. It’s not in. We don’t own it. We don’t do that. We don’t allow that. We can’t have that. We don’t like that. Students aren’t allowed to … We can’t afford that. We don’t have that. We’ve never done that.”
Nearly twenty years ago during library school training there were a couple messages that helped form my character:
Instead of pointing, get up and take them there.
Say “YES”, say “maybe”, say “I wish I could” and reduce the “no’s.”
Look for opportunities to change the no into a special yes. Friday at the very end of the day, two boys were desperate to take out an extra book for the weekend. They wanted to read it while they stayed overnight and they’d been waiting for it to return for 3 weeks. Why should I say “no” when they could simply take it, enjoy it, and bring it back for someone else on Monday? We have made it a habit of allowing an extra book if it’s for research and they are in good standing. By saying yes, will this help instill good memories of libraries as special places where good things happen?
There’s a reason why the top of my doorway in the hall has a banner hanging saying “Welcome Back”. Am I creating an environment of positive learning? Do students value boundaries as part of our team management of their/our library?
