Personal Boundaries
Your job is patron-facing, which means we expect you to interact with the public professionally. That being said, here are some things we do NOT expect you to put up with:
Harassment
Bullying
Abuse
Inappropriate behavior or comments
Here are some real-life examples of the above:
Patron wants to check out a book, but every time you reach for it they pull it back from you and laugh.
Patron starts asking you personal questions that you don’t feel comfortable answering (“Where are you from? What is your race?” etc.).
Patron is making inappropriate comments about your body (“You’re so beautiful, I wish you were my girlfriend!”)
Patron having normal conversation with you, but they are using the desk/your workspace to do their stretches.
If a patron is making you uncomfortable by their words or actions, and you are not sure whether or not it qualifies as any of the above, flag a supervisor down.
In addition to pushing boundaries, some patrons may be exhibiting erratic or threatening behavior. Some real life examples of this:
- Patron wants to talk to you about how they need help using the internet because they are going to become the head of the FBI.
- Someone starts loudly playing a guitar and singing on the main floor.
- Patron starts cursing loudly and is making other library patrons uncomfortable.
- Patron slides down the stairwell railing singing at the top of their lungs.
- Someone seems confused.
The above examples may sound funny in retrospect, but in reality they could be indicative of someone in a mental health crisis, a health emergency and/or drug use. Even if you don't feel personally threatened by the patron's behavior, there is a chance that their behavior could escalate and affect other student employees or library patrons. For this reason, you should always advise a supervisor if someone is exhibiting unusual behavior. Exhibiting unusual behavior does not always mean that we will need to intervene, but supervisors do need to be aware so that we can monitor the situation.
In addition, everyone in the library must abide by our Building Use Policy. Please take a moment to review it now to make sure you are able to refer to it if needed.
Escape tactics:
Walk away. Try to flag down a supervisor if you can.
Hang up the phone. Let a supervisor know what happened.
Block the person on the chat. Let a supervisor know what happened.
“It’s been nice chatting with you, but my supervisor has a project that I need to complete in the back.” Walk to the back and try to flag down a supervisor.
If you ever feel that you are in any danger, call Campus Security and/or 9-1-1. You can also call Campus Security by picking up the phone and dialing their extension (x2222) and leaving the phone off the hook. Security staff will know to check the cameras.
If you do end up ever needing to call 9-1-1, please try to give Campus Security a follow up call so that they know why 9-1-1 was called.
Incident Reports
If you are in a situation where you or another employee needs to call 9-1-1 or Campus Security, your supervisors will ask you to complete an incident report. The purpose of the incident report is to collect as many details as possible about what happened so that library admin can follow up on the incident, if needed.
If you are asked to complete an incident report, please make sure you are completing it during paid time—if an incident happens at the end of your shift, you can talk to your supervisor about extending your shift by 15 minutes so you can be paid for your time while you complete the report, or you can complete the report during your next shift. Ideally, you should complete the report as soon as possible after the incident, so you can remember details. Include as many details as you can when completing the report.
You will be asked to include information like names of employees and patrons who were involved, and the names of the security officers who responded to the call. During an incident, try to gather as much of this information as you can, but don't sweat it if you didn't get all of the details—just do your best.
The Incident Report Form is saved at both service desk Chrome tabs.