Secret Shopper – RA Dos and Don'ts

I drove 20 minutes to a public library in another county for my covert mission. My goals were to obtain a library card, learn how to access the library’s Novelist database remotely from my home computer and ask for help in finding a good book to read.

I had hoped to get the card the day before but there had been a snow storm so instead I found myself at this new library on a busy Sunday afternoon. To be fair the library seemed to be understaffed and very busy with people who could not get out the day before due to the adverse weather conditions. Despite the busy conditions, the woman at the front desk was very friendly and helpful and I had my new library card (a reciprocal card) in about 20 minutes. I then made my way in search of information and a good book.

I wasn’t used to the library layout and though there was signage from the ceiling it took me awhile to find the reference/information services desk. The first thing I noticed as I approached the desk was its height. It was almost chest high – perhaps 48-50 inches -- and the information services worker was seated behind it at a lower level desk behind a computer monitor. The staff member was typing when I approached. I stood at the desk and looked at all the materials on the bar but the woman at the desk did not look up. She made no effort to acknowledge my presence or offer any assistance. After awhile I interrupted her typing by tapping my new library card on the counter and saying, “I just got my library card. Can I access the Novelist database remotely from home with my library card?”

“I don’t know,” she responded.

I explained that when I had tried it from home before it had prompted me for a library card and pin number. She replied that I should be able to use it from home then but she was uncertain if I could do it today because she did not know how quickly my information would be entered into the computer.

I followed up with my real question, “Do you offer a service to help readers find a good book?”

And she laughed. I need to stress that during the entire exchange this library professional had not looked at me. She kept her eyes trained on her work on the computer monitor.

“Have you tried the bestseller list?” she asked. When I told her I hadn’t, she wheeled her chair back to a shelf where photocopies of the New York Times Book Review Best Sellers list were affixed to shelf. She wheeled over and gave me a copy of the list. When I did not move from the information counter she asked, “What do you like to read?”

I told her the last book I read that I really enjoyed was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. She began typing on her computer again and I assumed (because I knew her library had the Novelist database that I wanted to access) she was using Novelist to look for read-alikes. As she was typing she said, “I don’t know much about that book.” So I explained that it was historical fiction set in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi. Because she kept typing and didn’t ask anymore questions I kept talking, telling her that it was told in three voices one of which was a recent white college graduate who wanted to be a writer and two black maids.

She then read from the monitor, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Olive Kitteridge and Sarah’s Key.” And she began reading a description of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. At this point I thought she was giving me read-alikes from the database. When she finished reading the description I said, “Do you have that book?”

She said, “Let me check.” I guess she was then checking the card catalog. She said, “It’s checked out and it has holds on it.”

She then started reading me the description of Sarah’s Key. Again I asked, “Do you have that book?”

Her answer again was, “It’s checked out and it has holds on it.”

So I thought I would try I a different tactic and I looked down at the best seller list she had given me and pointed at random at one of the titles. “Do you have The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown?”

She checked the computer and said, “It’s checked out and it has holds on it.”

Since she didn’t offer any further assistance I asked, “Where do you keep your current fiction titles?”

She pointed toward the front of the building and said, “Back up in the front. I am sorry I couldn’t help you find what you needed.”

It wasn’t until I took a closer look at the three sheets of best seller lists she had given me that I realized all the titles she had been reading off the computer were from the January 24, 2010 Paperback Best Sellers list. She had not used any of my personal information about what I liked to read. She had not used her library’s database Novelist to find read-alikes. She had asked me if I tried the best seller list and she just offered titles from that list.

She did not follow the tips offered in the RA to-do and NOT-to-do List by Mary K. Chelton. This library professional did not appear “askable”, she did not say “hello” and she did not project friendly behavior. And though she did ask about a book I liked she did not use any of the information I gave her to offer a “good read.”

This library professional exhibited some of the strategies of negative closure detailed in the article Strategies and Counter-Strategies in the Reference Transaction by Catherine Sheldrick Ross and Patricia Dewdney. She used strategy #3 when she implied that I should have checked the best seller list first before asking for reference help. She also tried strategy #4 by trying to get me to accept the more easily found information (the best seller list) instead of the information I actually needed. And she used strategy #8 by explicitly stating that the search has reached a dead end with, “I am sorry I couldn’t help you find what you needed.”

Without realizing it I employed the counter strategy #5 of “realizing the staff member is not going to do anything further to help and so keeps the process going by talking.” I just kept telling the library professional about the book I enjoyed because she did not ask for any details and I knew she needed information to find a read-alike.

While I was at the library I believed she was doing her best to help me and she just didn’t know how to help. After I realized all she had been doing was reading titles from the best seller list, I believe she was just trying to get rid of me.