Dear All,
This is a message to any library staff who are involved in managing
behaviour in educational libraries.
In general, my colleagues and I have got the whole conflict management
thing off-pat, what with all the training around and all the
assertiveness and "broken-record technique" and dealing with difficult
people sessions, we feel we are quite confident dealing with incidents
as they occur.
We have a policy of floor walking here which gives us lots of
opportunities to pre-empt behaviour issues and offer help before it is
requested. Hard on the feet but, it does work.
However, we have noticed that in general 16-19s don't give us too much
trouble, beyond the usual "argy-bargy" and cheekiness which we have come
to expect and maybe even enjoy.
Mature students do present us with more difficult problems however. We
are conscious that even when we approach with a friendly helpful
attitude we encounter some very aggressive attitudes. Has anyone else
noticed that some older students are very easily offended by requests to
comply with Learning Centre rules? More to the point, has anyone
discovered the turn of phrase or kind of approach that can convert a
sensitive 30-50 plus student into a co-operative and easier to assist
customer?
I will be happy to summarise answers for the list of course. Your
insights will be much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Jacqueline Thomas
Lewisham College
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