The master thesis discusses the experience of Slovenian reference librarians dealing with difficult users. The purpose of this master thesis was to find out what percentage of reference librarians deals with difficult users, what types of difficult users are deemed most prominent by surveyed librarians, what are the most common motives for the development of issues in communication or conflicts, how surveyed reference librarians experience interaction between them and difficult users - if they experience stress, how they solve conflicts - what actions they take and what are their recommendations to other reference librarians when dealing with difficult users. We conducted a survey and several interviews. We found out that difficult users are not commonly observed in a public library by the surveyed librarians. The most prevailing type of difficult users are those who behave inappropriately or otherwise don’t adhere to library rules. Difficulties in communication and conflicts are most commonly seen at the circulation desk, during a process of borrowing a book or returning one. Stress among surveyed librarians is common when dealing with difficult users, on the other hand burn-out is not. Surveyed librarians solve difficulties in communication and conflicts by explaining library rules to users. Surveyed reference librarians recommend other librarians to stay calm and professional.
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