A Qualitative Study of the Types and Characteristics of Difficult Patrons in University Libraries

The phrase “difficult patron” is often associated with troubles and habitually abnormal behavior from patrons. From the viewpoint of organization, the existence of difficult patrons might signal dissatisfaction with services, collections, facilities, or with specific individual librarians. But difficult patron’s complaints may also be regarded as valuable opportunities to improve customer service and satisfaction. Hence, for the circulation librarians, learning how to interact with difficult patrons is quite important. This article reports findings from a qualitative study which investigated types and behavioral characteristics of difficult patrons in university libraries in Taiwan. Semi-structured interviewing method was used to investigate 23 circulation librarians’ experiences with difficult patrons. Based on the findings, this article discusses why some patrons are difficult as well as service strategies for dealing with difficult patrons in university libraries.