Book Review-Defusing the Angry Patron

Defusing the Angry Patron by Rhea Joyce Rubin
Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. 2000
ISBN 1-55570-372-0

There you are, working the public service desk at your library, providing excellent service, assisting patrons and connecting them with their information needs. Each patron leaves your desk with a smile, happy and satisfied with the service you provided... Then she comes in... The patron that mentally forces you to retreat under your desk, or worse, drives you to prepare for verbal combat. Both reactions give off distinct body language or verbal cues that have a negative influence on those around you and the unfortunate side effect of allowing this patron to have power over you.

Defusing the Angry Patron by Rhea Joyce Rubin offers a strategic step-by-step guide for Librarians or Paraprofessionals exhausted by their own reactions by providing suggestions for ways to neutralize this behavior while sending away, even the most bitter patron, satisfied. The author writes from many of her own experiences as a former jail librarian as well as from her service in the public library setting. In addition she draws references from school and university libraries and offers her findings as a work book, prompting the reader to role play creating an experience appropriate for any library setting.

Rhea Joyce Rubin begins by explaining anger itself. Possessing a greater understanding of the emotion allows us to react in a more rational manner or side step situations that escalate to anger. Ms. Rubin discusses this further by suggesting precautions that can bring patrons and staff together in a better frame of mind to conduct library business including appropriate signage and staff behavior. Most notable is the chapter, "How to Do it: Twenty Basic Strategies for Defusing Anger." Here the author asserts that an encounter with an angry patron should not leave one person feeling like the loser, each participant in the end should feel comfortable with the outcome. In addition, Ms. Rubin also discusses active listening skills, allows the reader to work through challenging mock situations and provides suggestions for managing personal anger.

Defusing the Angry Patron is highly recommended for any public service staff member within the library. The book is appropriate for staff training courses as a workbook or to merely provide role playing ideas for the instructor. The layout and content make the book easy and enjoyable to read as many of those in the A How To-Do-It Manual for Librarians and Paraprofessionals series. Some of the information provided may seem like common sense, however the author arranges the material in such a way that allows the reader to experience many situations from both the perspective of the staff member as well as the patron.