Yesterday started off a little early. I had to drive up to the Cumberland Public Library, which was hosting a workshop that was sponsored by the Rhode Island Library Association and the state Office of Library and Information Services. As you can guess from the title of the post, it was about dealing with difficult patrons.

It was a workshop that came about because a number of library directors got talking about how they have been dealing with a growing trend of challenging patrons. Some of you probably remember my post a few months ago about almost having to call the police because some guy flipped out over computer use in the library. The most recent incident took place at a library that ejected a patron for being loud and saying unwelcome things only to learn the patron had Tourette's Syndrome. The patron is likely to sue the library and the town.

The workshop was focusing more on diffusing these problems before they became major issues. It was presented by a panel of four people, including representatives from the mental health care community and a lawyer to talk about the legal issues involved when working with people with emotional disabilities. They suggested building a safety plan that includes keywords to ask coworkers for helpw hen things start getting bad and suggestions about how to deal with someone through body language and eye contact.

One really good thing about the workshop is that I had done pretty much exactly what I was supposed to do to try to diffues the situation I had been in a few months ago, which was surprising since I really had not had any training for dealing with someone who seemed to have forgotten to take his meds. I have since learned that he was arrested and banned from another library and been banned from four others. We never actually banned him.

After each of the four presenters gave their little spiels, the floor was opened to questions about specific issues that some people have had to deal with or are dealing with in their libraries. One library asked about dealing with people from group homes and some challenging situations we all face because of behavioral issues and attending couneselors that seem to ignore them because they are using the library as a form of "babysitting service" in order to get a break.

Another library seemed to be a nexus of psychotic behavior. They have one patron who has a record of pulling a gun on town officials who is spending quite a lot of time hanging out at the library. They also have another gentleman who seems to keep his wallet in his pants, though not in any of his pockets! I mean he keeps it in his crotch, which brought about a round of laughter. He has to whip it out everytime he has to check out something so he can get his card out. We were all wondering why he would do that until the library described how large the wallet was.

I bet you never realized how weird things can be at the library. We get all kinds!