The other day a woman came to the desk to check out a video she had placed on hold for her daughter. She said it was for an assignment for her daughters college class (she goes to school an hour and a half away in Philadephia). This was a major project and she would need the video than longer. Would we do an extended checkout for an academic project, she asked?
How long exactly was she thinking, I replied.
Through the end of the semester–middle of May.
Being the consummate professional that I am I kept my jaw from dropping to the floor and politely told her the most we could do would be to give her the one check out and one renewal for a total of 20 days.
I am not sure why by the woman proceeded to tell me about how hard it was for her daughter to get around in Philadelphia. Her school is in the northeast and it is difficult to find anything, etc. etc. Once again being the consummate professional I held my tongue and didn’t tell her this was crap–Philly is a fairly easy city to get around in.
In the end she took the DVD with its 20 day check out and I bid her a good day, my tongue being bitten for a good 10 minutes.
After she left I realized: Why didn’t the daughter get the DVD from her university Library rather than have her mother pick it up at a library over an hour away? So being the good Librarian that I am I discovered her University owned not one, but two copies of the DVD and both where available for checkout.
Should I have suggested this course of action to the woman, or would that have been over stepping my bounds?
Wow. Does that qualify as “helicopter” parenting? My parents stopped helping me with homework after spelling flash card practice in elementary school.
I would have inquired whether she had checked with the university library first. Also, I might have suggested she consider Netflix if she needed to use the video for that long a time frame. Evan purchasing a used copy online might have been a better idea for them.
The Philadelphia Free Library policy for AV is 7 days with no renewals, so she is getting a great deal for the 20 days. The University of Pennsylvania AV policy is also 7 days.
Sorry that your tongue is sore! Have a nice cold beverage to soothe it.
D.
I think giving her the solution that you did, with the additional information prefaced by something like “But you know, I was able to find out that…[insert findings]… that way she can [explain advantages for daughter]…” I think you’d be perfectly within professional bounds – she was looking for a better alternative than your library could provide… just my 2 cents…
I think that, regarding her comments for time and location restraint, that you could have suggested that her daughter check her college library. Maybe referring her to the reference librarian (if you were not he) who could walk her through the college library website.
I don’t think, in that situation, it’s overstepping. If it’s done in a polite, and informative manner, maybe she would realize that there were more options, literally at her daughter’s dormstep.