De-escalation Strategies in the Library: Creating Safe and Positive Interactions

Have you experienced challenging interactions with library customers, colleagues, or community members? Do you ever find yourself unsure how to respond when a situation in the library begins to escalate? Working in libraries today means navigating a wide range of human experiences — from everyday conversations to more complex or tense encounters.

This 4-week course offers a supportive space to strengthen your communication skills, explore ways to create a welcoming environment, and prepare for difficult interactions. Whether you're new to de-escalation techniques or looking to refresh your approach, you'll gain practical strategies you can use right away — both to enhance everyday customer service and to respond effectively when challenges arise.

By the end of the course, learners will be able to:

• Practice methods to help defuse tension, such as asking effective open-ended questions, and using active listening techniques, to ensure our interactions are meeting the unique needs of each customer and staff member we interact with.
• Analyze and gain a deeper understanding of our personal biases and library spaces to ensure that we provide empathetic interactions and accommodating and welcoming spaces for all.
• Examine and apply library policies, procedures and guidelines, which are essential foundational components in protecting the safety of library staff and customers.
• Develop ‘Situational Awareness’ and ‘Tactical Disengagement’ strategies for personal, staff and customer safety, should situations escalate and the library environment becomes unsafe.

Course Description: Throughout this 4-week course the instructor will provide resources, best practices, and guided hands-on activities. You will participate in discussion forums, with an opportunity to share your experiences with your fellow learners. 

Additionally, this four-week course will include two interactive online sessions:

• Wednesday, October 22, @10am to 11:15am PT
• Wednesday, November 12, @10am to 11am PT

Please make every effort to ensure that you are able to attend these two meetings before enrolling in the course. If this is not possible, archived recordings will be made available.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: Ensuring Customer’s Needs Are Heard and Understood
  • Develop skills in asking clarifying questions for creating happy customers and good communication skills
  • Learn and practice building active listening skills help improve communication for all with whom we interact
• Week 2: How to Foster Positive Library Experiences
  • Learn more about building awareness and identifying our personal biases.
  • Analyze our library spaces through resources provided to ensure our library spaces are accommodating and welcoming for the unique needs of all whom we serve.
• Week 3: Using Library Policy to Promote Positive Library Experiences for All
  • Examine exemplary library policies and procedures from various libraries on customer safety.
  • Review various libraries’ guidelines on how they provide guidance for dealing with difficult or challenging customers.
  • Analyze your current library’s policies, procedures and guidelines to ensure there is a foundation in place for dealing with challenging people and situation in order to ensure customer and library staff safety.
• Week 4: De-Escalation Strategies
  • Become more deeply informed about setting personal boundaries for safety.
  • Realize how “Situational Awareness” strategies can help with de-escalation.
  • Learn about Behavioral Influence Stairway Model (BISM), including “Tactical Disengagement” for when situations have escalated and are unsafe.
  • Feel more confident in having skills to handle challenging and unsafe encounters.

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2½ hours per week, for a total of 15 course hours. Each week's module contains various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: All librarians and library support staff who work in any type of libraries

Do you work in a rural or tribal library? If so, you may be eligible for a course fee waiver for this course. This Infopeople course has up to five no-cost seats allocated for rural or tribal libraries. Fill out a fee waiver request, and if a no-cost seat is available you will be notified via email.

Keywords: de-escalation