and breathe

I know there are many people (Carolyn;-) who are having a much worse time than I am right now. I however, am having an extremely difficult time finding a real library for my needs assessment. "Oh, you mean the one due in less than a week? Yes, that one."

I am worried about getting this completed - especially since I haven't even been able to get it started! Martin did not work out because they are in the middle of their SAC evaluation and have been doing assessments over every aspect of the college all year. No real need for an amateur to play there. Pulaski public felt they were too small to give me the kind of experience I needed. I didn't want to attempt any elementary libraries since I am not currently a teacher. Loretto High already had Priscilla and the Lawrence County High was not very welcoming when I did interviews. Linda had a suggestion, but since there was no feedback today, I am afraid that is also not going to pan out. I am going to try the Lexington (AL) Public library tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if it will work out and part of me is tempted to just pick an area and do an interview and ask for the information I need without discussing that it is a "needs assessment".

I have gotten such negative reactions to that phrasing. I can understand. No one wants a person that doesn't know the situation to waltz in and tell them what they are doing wrong and "oh, by the way this is how you fix it." I have tried this in person, over the phone, and by email and I have struck out every time. I keep reminding myself that it is not personal, but someone please smack me if I am ever that unresponsive to someone who needs my help.

This is perhaps even more funny because we are studying customer service as much as reference tools. I am really starting to understand why Dr. Speer is trying so hard to drive home the point that the patrons need to be listened to and helped - no matter how insane the question sounds at first. It is not a case that anyone has been outright rude, it is just that I have gotten the impression that I had nothing to offer and I wasn't wanted in their playground. Yikes! Elementary school all over;-)

Okay, enough about me. Hopefully tomorrow will go well and I will get the information I need to do a needs assessment.