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

[Renee Perron]

I can second that. Had a similar experience when we hired her for a program
a couple years ago at the Pawtucket Public Library.

Renee Perron

On Wed, Feb 19, 2020, 12:39 PM Rashaa Al-Sasah <rashaa at wwpl.org> wrote:

> 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*
> _______________________________________________
> RIYAC mailing list
> RIYAC at listserve.ri.gov
> http://listserve.ri.gov/mailman/listinfo/riyac
>
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