#11: Don't make you tell me again →
From Emma:
I haven’t had much of a chance to practice this tip of noting accomodations in patron records, so I thought I’d just share a couple of things from the Capital Area District Library system that gave me the idea for this tip. Something that CADL did well was make it very easy for someone who couldn’t manage their account on their own to have someone else handle things for them. The library card signup form they used had two interesting sections that I haven’t seen elsewhere: “Hold Release” and “Information Release.” In these sections, a patron could list the full names of anyone they liked who had permission to pick up their requests for them or access information about their account. The person named on their list would just show their ID and tell staff members whose account or materials they were there about. I know this might be hard to understand in the abstract, so here are a few examples of how I saw it used or how it could be used:
An elderly gentleman who had trouble getting around in wintery weather had his daughter’s name listed on his hold release. She would come pick up his holds when the weather was bad using her ID, but he retained his library card so that he could come in and do things himself when the weather was better.
There was a couple who had kids that they took care of together, but only the woman in the couple was the parent or legal guardian of the kids, so their dad couldn’t sign them up for cards. The mom came in one time to sign all the kids up for cards and put their dad on the information and hold release, and every time after that their dad brought them to the library.
Another related thing I saw at CADL was while I was substituting at one of the neighborhood branches. (The branch manager there and the branch manager at the central library were two of my earliest and best role models in library work—I should probably ask their permission to mention their names here so I can be more concise). That branch was next door to a place that was an adult daycare facility, so there were a lot of patrons there who needed a lot of help with using the library and with other everyday tasks. One of the regulars had a note on her account: “Phone number on account is for caregiver, [caregiver name].” It was very helpful as a new staff member to know that when I called about her account, I’d be taking to someone who wasn’t the patron but that that was okay. Normally I would have asked “Is Patron there?” and insisted on only talking to Patron about her account, which would have been in line with our privacy rules but not very helpful to the patron. It also gave a nice general heads up whenever you were helping Patron and pulled up her account that you should be prepared to give her a little more help than you would usually give an adult library user—it didn’t specifically say that, but knowing that the Patron had a professional caregiver was a good clue to what working with her might be like and helped you stay patient and understanding even if you were having a rough day at work.
In short, as long as a patron consents to having notes like this in their record, they can be a great tool for helping staff know how best to help the patron.