Comments on: Serving the needs of all patrons http://acrlog.org/2007/02/08/serving-the-needs-of-all-patrons/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mike Mellor http://acrlog.org/2007/02/08/serving-the-needs-of-all-patrons/comment-page-1/#comment-24831 Mike Mellor Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:34:30 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2007/02/08/serving-the-needs-of-all-patrons/#comment-24831 A similar thing happened at one of Boston's university libraries. Particularly after school and in the evenings, people in the community would come in and use the public computer terminals for a variety of things, from research to resume work to instant messaging to pornography. Obviously removing the people who look at porn and discouraging other recreational uses, the situation only really posed a problem during particularly busy times of the academic year, usually right before midterms and finals. As a temporary measure when this occured, we would politely ask the recreational users to give up the computer when it was clear that students were desparately milling about the terminals with nowhere to go. Far from a quality solution, it was effective in the short-term. Ultimately, the number of terminals in the reference area was increased and many of them needed a university login to use, thereby creating a pool of computers that were only available for the core constituency. Another important change was pay-for-copying. This cut down on the public demand of the terminals, as many were using them as if they were home machines, without limiting the promised internet access to the public. I don't know exactly how well the changes worked because I no longer work there, but I have visited a number of times and it appears as though the changes were very successful. I think it keeps a very good balance between serving the needs of the university while also being hospitable to the surrounding neighborhood. A similar thing happened at one of Boston’s university libraries. Particularly after school and in the evenings, people in the community would come in and use the public computer terminals for a variety of things, from research to resume work to instant messaging to pornography.

Obviously removing the people who look at porn and discouraging other recreational uses, the situation only really posed a problem during particularly busy times of the academic year, usually right before midterms and finals.

As a temporary measure when this occured, we would politely ask the recreational users to give up the computer when it was clear that students were desparately milling about the terminals with nowhere to go. Far from a quality solution, it was effective in the short-term.

Ultimately, the number of terminals in the reference area was increased and many of them needed a university login to use, thereby creating a pool of computers that were only available for the core constituency. Another important change was pay-for-copying. This cut down on the public demand of the terminals, as many were using them as if they were home machines, without limiting the promised internet access to the public.

I don’t know exactly how well the changes worked because I no longer work there, but I have visited a number of times and it appears as though the changes were very successful. I think it keeps a very good balance between serving the needs of the university while also being hospitable to the surrounding neighborhood.

]]> By: Jim Nichols http://acrlog.org/2007/02/08/serving-the-needs-of-all-patrons/comment-page-1/#comment-24825 Jim Nichols Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:53:52 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2007/02/08/serving-the-needs-of-all-patrons/#comment-24825 The big answer to this problem in my mind is to collaborate with the public libraries in your area to beef up their online resources and capacity. This has only been a problem for us at SUNY Oswego when the city public library closed for a week or two to move to temporary quarters during a major renovation of their building. With the help of some of our staff, the renovated building will have top notch capacity for online technology. We have only two machines for community users to browse the web. When there are problems, we quietly limit use to an hour. The big answer to this problem in my mind is to collaborate with the public libraries in your area to beef up their online resources and capacity.

This has only been a problem for us at SUNY Oswego when the city public library closed for a week or two to move to temporary quarters during a major renovation of their building. With the help of some of our staff, the renovated building will have top notch capacity for online technology.

We have only two machines for community users to browse the web. When there are problems, we quietly limit use to an hour.

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