Dealing with difficult colleagues when you're the “new kid”

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss strategies for a new library employee seeking to deal with difficult people at work, when the difficult people are his/her own colleagues. It seeks to provide a description of several types of situations that may arise, and general strategies for dealing with them. Design/methodology/approach – The column is based on the author's substantial experience dealing with personnel matters in academic, public, and special libraries, including hiring for all types of positions. It is personal opinion, based on lengthy experience. Findings – The paper addresses library personnel issues. This particular installment helps new employees of libraries identify various types of issues one may have with “difficult” colleagues, and also provides various strategies and options for addressing these issues. Originality/value – The column is intended to help people to deal with all types of personnel issues overall; this specific column is intended to help librarians deal with the challenges of working with “difficult” colleagues.