Stephanie and all--
The best article I ever read on publisher/dealer sales calls was written by P. Michael Whipple in Callaghan's _Communicator_ v. 1 no. 2 (October, 1986). I found it when I was cleaning my office.
I don't have time to summarize the whole thing now--will do so the first week of November if anyone is interested. He posits that calls should be planned by both the rep and the librarians.
As for unscheduled calls, I have refused to take them for years. To me, the rep is saying that his/her time is more valuable than mine. Back in the day when most reps were male and most librarians were female, I regarded it as a feminist issue and took great umbrage at the unfortunate rep. The last time one snuck in past the guards (this was before the Oklahoma City bombing tightened security exponentially), I darn near had a guard escort her from the building.
-Kay Collins, Head Librarian US RRB
(for 5.5 more days)
Standard Disclaimer Here
-----Original Message-----
From: stephanie davidson [mailto:chickeninthewoods@gmail.com]
Posted At: Friday, October 22, 2004 8:01 AM
Posted To: Library Group Mailbox
Conversation: a general plea regarding email v. phone
Subject: a general plea regarding email v. phone
Recently, I've been finding that many email inquiries to vendors are
being returned via phone (or unexpected drop-in visits). While I
consider the possibility that this is an effort to make a more
personal communication (and I appreciate that), it can prove to be
very inconvenient when I'm hard to reach. As a reference librarian, I
spend a lot of my day at the reference desk, out of my office in
meetings, teaching, and meeting with students in my office -- all
periods of time when I'm not able to take a phone call, but in between
which I can read and respond to email. I rely on email both for
moving projects along and for maintaining a record of that
communication, and unnecessary voice-mail-phone-tag can frustrate both
of those efforts, and waste a _lot_ of time.
Anyway. My $.02 Friday rant.
-- Stephanie Davidson Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Library (203) 432-7535 stephanie.davidson
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