Just a head’s up- I am currently receiving phone calls from an out-of-state researcher who is doing research on John T. Wilder. I have been dealing with this patron by phone for over ten years (with gaps of several years between) but he will call my number, and if I’m not in, he will call other library numbers and proceed to vent and be difficult with whoever he gets over the fact that there is no one available to help him. From what I understand, these calls are very disturbing and I believe are intended to be intimidating. His name is Phillip Jackson. I believe he feels that we are not making everything in our collection available to him (even though it’s online) or are hiding things from him he thinks is relevant to his research. What he’s looking for is not anything we have, though, and I have told him that. He also won’t do email or view the collection online, either, and he’s even harder to reach by phone on my return calls than I am. If you should end up on the phone with him, either at the reference desk or the circ desk, just be polite and take a message, although it may not be that easy. He has accused some of us as being rude to him, and I know that is not the case. Let me know if you have any questions.
I should have added that you can try transferring the call to me, but the fact that he’s calling elsewhere usually indicates that I’m not in my office at that time.