[Young Adult and Children's Services Discussion List] Warm and Fuzzy Animals NOT Recommended

[Rashaa Al-Sasah]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to warn anyone thinking to book her for programming that I
just had the worst experience with a presenter. Nancy was hired by Anne
Mclaughlin just before she retired for a program this morning and she
ensured and advertises that there is no cap on the audience, I had been in
contact with her the past two months and we had discussed all of this prior
to today. However, when she arrived this morning I was told we were only
allowed 25 kids at a time and she would not budge on this, I offered her
several options for seating as well as assistance from myself and
other staff for the program but she refused. We had probably 150 kids show
up which our room can accommodate and we have had animal performers in the
past handle the large crowds like this without issue. At one point She even
kicked several families out of the room but I insisted that they go back
and there were still several empty seats in the room at this point. I asked
if we could extend and have more kids in each session to
accommodate everyone. She agreed but when I had a group of 50 kids come in
for the second group she announced that there would not be any petting of
the animals. Several people left at that point upset. I also had 75 more
people waiting. She had agreed to do another group for $100 more but that
was not going to work for me if she was not allowing them to pet the
animals! So we had to turn away the remainder of the families. She was
extremely rude to me, my staff and the families. She yelled at several
little ones for getting out of chairs. It was really very bad overall. We
are now having to do extra work apologizing to everyone for this as it was
not what we had agreed to nor what she advertises on her presenter
directory page.
" Note: If the audience is large, we improvise and have a few presentations
during the time allowed so everyone has a chance to pet the animals." Above
is from her page however she told me that she would not be willing to
accommodate everyone who was here and she also did not let them pet the
animals. I also don't think she is well suited to work with young children
as she wished everyone to remain in chairs and listen to her talk about how
she breeds rabbits which she then told parents they could purchase from
her. It was overall just a very terrible experience.
I hope your February vacation is going better!
Best, Rashaa
-- 



*Rashaa Al-Sasah, MLISHead of Teen ServicesPronouns:She/Her*
*West Warwick Public library *
*1043 Main St.*
*West Warwick, RI 02893*
*401-828-3750 ext.2*
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