#and if they can't *do* the work it shouldn't be staff's job to babysit them because no one wants to hurt someone's feelings | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gen-is-gone · 2 months ago

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something something manage expectations something something small town library something something volunteers should not be entrusted with even half the shit they cover here when they by definition have no professional stake in the library and are not held to professional standards

*sigh*

#megan whines into the empty abyss of cyberspace #adventures in L Space #the inevitable teething problems with tiny (or not so tiny) libraries #or any municipal organizations really #you can play it loosey goosey when the community is very small (you shouldn't but you can more or less get away with it)#but as communities grow you have to establish actual rules beyond just vibes and personal judgment calls #you have to have clear and fair procedures in place and you have to hold the people contributing to the same standards #and in the case of libraries you can't have desk volunteers who treat the work as a hobby and like their personal visiting hours #and if they can't *do* the work it shouldn't be staff's job to babysit them because no one wants to hurt someone's feelings #by asking them to leave #we gotta go ten rounds on a circ change that will make staff and patrons' lives easier because it might confuse the volunteers #and volunteers are not held to equitable professional standards w/r/t to shit like basic computer literacy #and then people have the audacity to talk shit about abq's 'bureaucracy'#whevs it is still better than the abq trainwreck but also I'm allowed to shit talk them bc I lived thru it for most of a decade #you don't get shit talking rights in the state's most isolated rich fake rural enclave

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