Reply to comment

American Libraries ran a story last week about NYPL and their new crisis call guidelines. They created guidelines after they fielded a call on ASK NYPL, their virtual reference service from the police about a girl threatening to throw herself off a bridge. Her only identification was her NYPL library card.

The author, Matthew J. Boylan, interviewed similarly sized library systems, suicide experts, and legal professionals. Had he asked us, we could have shared our expertise with him too!

AskUsNow! has Crisis Guidelines? 

We do! Our original suicide guidelines were put together by a team of AskUsNow! liaisons in August/September of 2008! Our latest iteration are the Crisis Call Guidelines. Jennifer Blunt, licensed social worker and Caroline County AUN provider contributed to these in a HUGE way to get them where they are today.

She's also lead crisis call trainings which are archived for your viewing pleasure.

Have we had a lot of questions like this? 

At AskUsNow! we've run into only a handful of crisis calls coming into the service in the last seven years. The suicide threats have all turned out to be pranks, but the other distressed customers have all gotten assistance and a referral to a hotline or service that can help. 

We are in a unique position with this service allowing anonymous users to be a safe place for people to go when they don't feel comfortable telling their problems to anyone else. No, we're not counselors, but we are in a people-oriented service-based profession and we have the unique opportunity with these customers to offer an ear, and resources or referrals that will help them.

You may never have seen these kinds of questions at the physical reference desk - well no wonder. As a kid i wasn't about to ask my parents about topics uncomfortable to me let alone my librarians! VR offers a unique experience in that i can speak to another human being without them ever knowing who i am. It's safe, and we have a responsibility to our customers to take their questions seriously and get them the help they need.

If you do not feel comfortable taking a question like this take a look at the guidelines now for some DOs and DONTs so you're prepared if it happens. And remember, you can always call me or one of your colleagues in for backup.

Just like our distressed customers, you don't have to go it alone.