Dealing with negativity

I'm beginning my post a couple of hours after the negative encounter.  And, I'm dealing with stifling the urge to just rant about the bad behavior.  But, I'm learning to be a manager, so I am not going to do that.  I am going to use this experience as a teachable moment, learn from it and apply it in the future.  I pop in my earbuds, load iTunes and listen to my girl, Lucinda, all the while fuming. 

Set-up: I am in the awkward situation of moving into a position which is still held by a librarian currently working, but whose last day is in two weeks.  This librarian is not leaving under good circumstances.  It has been advised by some in my organization to not bother discussing job duties with the incumbent.  I decided that it would be best to just ask this person for a meeting to discuss issues and ask for some advice, rather than ignore the situation.  My A.D. thought it might be a good idea, if handled with sensitivity to this person's plight.

Things I learned from today's meeting:

1. Prepare for hostility.  Just because you are a nice person doesn't mean everyone else is.  I was floored by this librarian's animosity to my questions.  Even though s/he had agreed to my request for a meeting didn't mean s/he wanted to help. 
   
2. Confront the issue earlier.  I waited too long for help and should have asked this person's advice a couple of months ago.  Just a few weeks before their last day was not going to really be useful for me and this person made that fact the cornerstone of their comments to me.  I'm never good at confronting people, and this case was even more intimidating, but s/he had a point:  Why are coming to me now??
3. You may never be able to work with everyone.  Enough said.
4. Just because you think you are being the bigger person does not mean the other person sees you as such. 
5. Realize that you have much to offer this organization, remain confident in your abilities, and do not let a negative encounter ruin that.  Take what this person had to say, reflect on their words and the history behind them, and learn from it. 
6. Years of experience does not an expert make.  One of this person's comments was that I am not experienced in this new area and will find my new job difficult, and frankly, won't be able to succeed.  The librarian then proceeded to vent about their marginalization in our organization.  My first thought was:  Do not ever forget that you make your own choices.  If I don't ever try to move outside my pigeonholed existence, will I ever know if I can do it?
7. If you don't take risks, you wind up becoming obsolete.  This was a running theme.

There's lots more (I'm positive), but I don't wish to beat the proverbial dead horse.  I just want to learn and try and explore.  Negativity be damned.