You have got to be kidding me (Long Vent)

deburnin

The library I work at has a FB page. I have been in charge of the updates on said FB page for six months now. No one else posts although other co-workers have access to the account in case I am ill or they believe something needs to be put on the page. Tonight I long into my FB account and see that I was tagged in a photo by a co-worker I really can't stand (she got crabby when I denied her friends request the first time so now she's on limited profile and can't see anything but I show up on her friends list).

We recently got vending machines at the library to help raise some extra funds because our budget was cut by 19% and took pictures of it to promote it in the local paper. So okay posting those is a good idea, but who ever decided to post as the library for the ensuing conversation did a horrible job at presenting the vending machines... Since it was the co-worker I dislike who tagged me and she worked this evening I'm assuming it was her.

Not only are there typos, but she made us as an organization look bad and a patron called us out on it in the comments. She decided to tell them that the reason we are allowing food and drink in the library is because we can't monitor what people are doing. While we are not babysitters, I think that just makes us look irresponsible. Saying we are short staffed and unable to monitor the library as we used to (which is 100% true) would have been fine. Saying something along the lines of "As we are unable to control what people choose to do with book when they take them home, we have decided that the rule of no eating or drinking in the library has become outdated," would have been perfect, IMO, and it's what I've been telling patrons in RL. Instead she posts this garbled post: 

"We cant monitorl everthing customers do."

Also, there are peanuts in the vending machine because this certain co-worker wanted them. She fought tooth and nail for there to be something with nuts in the vending machine. Oh and guess what? A patron complained on the photo with good reason...

I have no clue how to go about cleaning up the drama that is ensuing. She quite obviously has no idea how to handle it and the vending machines are quickly turning into something negative instead of a positive addition to the library. Even though I have seniority over her at our branch, she's in a higher position and older. Since I'm the only one who usually handles the FB page I'm also worried about getting flack for it. I don't know if I should go through the librarian that I'm close with or take the issue right to the director or just see what happens when I got into work again on Thursday.

I feel like at this point it's just turning into a huge PR nightmare and since the librarians do not check the FB page on a regular basis they could have no idea that it's going on. 

Has anyone else had issues like this? I could really use some advice on how to handle the situation or if I should even bother? I mean, the FB page is "my turf," but I'm almost as low as you can be in the library hierarchy... Ugh.

prodigalgirl

Could you "clean up her mess" by deleting that post and then reposting a well-written explanation for the vending machines?

What a ridiculous situation.  She sounds like a gem!

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_got-kidding-long-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:0e2e7f59-2f03-4c69-8e0a-ea84ae9d457aPost:94eb0bc1-8451-4239-b3df-ebb83076c6ef">Re: You have got to be kidding me (Long Vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]Could you "clean up her mess" by deleting that post and then reposting a well-written explanation for the vending machines? What a ridiculous situation.  She sounds like a gem!
Posted by prodigalgirl[/QUOTE]

It may seem like stepping on toes but that was my first thought, too... If it's possible I would handle it this way, as well...

desertsun

First of all, how are your librarians NOT on the FB? I work at a library, too, and ALL the librarians are on facebook, twitter, and god knows what else. They are all about "Library 2.0." I can't believe they get paid twice as much as me to spend time on that stuff. But I can talk all day about the death of librarianship....back to YOU.

Honestly, I would probably go the the librarian you trust and ask her advice and go from there.

deburnin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_got-kidding-long-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:0e2e7f59-2f03-4c69-8e0a-ea84ae9d457aPost:2f605e72-ba8a-4aa4-a56a-4c06b33098f9">Re: You have got to be kidding me (Long Vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]First of all, how are your librarians NOT on the FB? I work at a library, too, and ALL the librarians are on facebook, twitter, and god knows what else. They are all about "Library 2.0." I can't believe they get paid twice as much as me to spend time on that stuff. But I can talk all day about the death of librarianship....back to YOU. :) Honestly, I would probably go the the librarian you trust and ask her advice and go from there.
Posted by desertsun[/QUOTE]

<div>The reason they aren't on the FB has a lot to do with us being understaffed. There's only the children librarian, who does pretty much everything, and the director, who likes to talk big but really doesn't do anything. They also aren't very tech savvy. It takes them a lot longer to do anything on the computer. Once they found out that I got accepted to grad school for library and information science I got a lot more extra responsibilities on top of the extras I'd already had... And I get paid the massively small bucks for it all, but it's good experience.</div><div>
</div><div>I did decide to call the librarian I trust and she did know because a page had called her cell phone this morning to let her know (I didn't want to both her at home). She said she's going to talk to the director about how they want to handle the situation, but probably won't talk to the co-worker who posted it because she's stressed about the budget cut... We're all stressed about the budget cut and the possibility that our library might close. I don't find that an excuse to slack on being professional.</div>

desertsun

I totally agree with you deburnin --- now, when budgets are tight, is the BEST time to be professional and put your best foot forward. Why would anyone support keeping a library open when its professionals can't spell?

Oh, and sorry if I offended you with my "death of librarianship" comment. I just mean the field is undergoing vast transformation right now, and librarians in 5 years will bear very little resemblance to librarians of the past, IMHO. You HAVE to be knowledgeable about digital information management these days to be competitive. The field's changing faster than a lot of MLS programs can keep up with.

deburnin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_got-kidding-long-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:0e2e7f59-2f03-4c69-8e0a-ea84ae9d457aPost:f353b3b5-1f6e-4e6a-948c-1c761668957a">Re: You have got to be kidding me (Long Vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]I totally agree with you deburnin --- now, when budgets are tight, is the BEST time to be professional and put your best foot forward. Why would anyone support keeping a library open when its professionals can't spell? <strong>Oh, and sorry if I offended you with my "death of librarianship" comment. I just mean the field is undergoing vast transformation right now, and librarians in 5 years will bear very little resemblance to librarians of the past, IMHO.</strong> You HAVE to be knowledgeable about digital information management these days to be competitive. The field's changing faster than a lot of MLS programs can keep up with.
Posted by desertsun[/QUOTE]

<div>No offense taken or disagreement here. Sometimes it drives me nuts how behind the times the director is. Not to mention that he's more about making things easier for himself than the patrons. *shakes head*</div>

leia1979

deburnin, I'm sorry your coworker was unprofessional like that. Whenever something that could be bad PR comes up, I always figure it's best to give a heads up to whomever in the organization needs to know. Being caught by surprise only makes it worse.

I'm impressed with how techy my library is. They recently switched to RFID checkout, so we don't have to scan barcodes anymore. My local library is probably in better shape than some--the city pays for it to be open 7 days a week when most others in the county are not.

deburnin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_got-kidding-long-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:0e2e7f59-2f03-4c69-8e0a-ea84ae9d457aPost:184ee18c-9e45-4be8-8c06-6bae5250623a">Re: You have got to be kidding me (Long Vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]deburnin, I'm sorry your coworker was unprofessional like that. Whenever something that could be bad PR comes up, I always figure it's best to give a heads up to whomever in the organization needs to know. Being caught by surprise only makes it worse. I'm impressed with how techy my library is. <strong>They recently switched to RFID checkout, so we don't have to scan barcodes anymore.</strong> My local library is probably in better shape than some--the city pays for it to be open 7 days a week when most others in the county are not.
Posted by leia1979[/QUOTE]

<div>Our library system is slowly switching over to RFID. It's a very pricey change though and with the budget cuts I'm not sure what's going to be happening with it. Right now all our new books are processed with the RFID tags and barcodes. Only three libraries in the system have had their collections completely converted to RFID, but they still have to use the old system for statistical purposes till the rest of the library system is on the same page.</div><div>
</div><div>We do offer e-books and e-audiobooks now which is awesome.</div>

prodigalgirl

I just keep thinking back to when I checked out a library book by filling out the card from the sleeve in the back of the book!