Comments on: Public Library For Personal Use

By: RR

RR — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:43:40 +0000

I think that the liability aspect is most disconcerting.

It reminds me of a friend’s struggle with her “postal center.” While she may not get paid for handling pre-paid Amazon, BN, etc. packages, shipping businesses have no choice in receiving these materials–it is within their contract. If those items are stolen or damaged, it directly impacts the business’ insurance and storage/security considerations. For her industry, it is a major issue.

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:07:58 +0000

I think the strangest thing I’ve been asked along these lines was to hold a bunch of VHS tapes for a patron that he didn’t want his mother to find when she came to visit. I had to say no.

In regards to Noreen’s comment about the location of the lost-and-found, ours is actually deliberately in a public area. This is due partly to save staff time from digging through it, and partly so the library is not responsible for left items. We only hold things obviously personal or valuable at the desk (flash drives, wallets, cell phones, etc), and try to contact owners when possible (which happens a lot with papers left on the photocopiers).

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:16:21 +0000

This is really interesting. I am a library professional in a business that serves libraries. I constantly hear that libraries have to make themselves relevant in the Internet / Google age and perhaps this is one way of doing that. Of course workable policies and procedures have to be put in place, but the same is true when adding a new format to the library collection.

If your users want this service and trust the library to provide why not figure out a way to do it?

By: Winnie

Winnie — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:02:38 +0000

As a librarian in a small town library (we serve 4,000) it is quite normal for people to drop things off for others to pick up. In some cases we are “official” - Cancer Agency canvasers can leave there stuff in a sealed envelope - but in others it’s just ad hoc. We don’t have people leaving stuff behind on purpose, but we are usually the first place people come if they have lost something, I think since they are comfortable putting things down while they browse. We did have a man who lived in a cave (no, really, he lived in a cave!) and used our bathroom. Parents call looking for their kids when they are late home from school and I once had a woman call and ask if her husband was here. When I said no, she said “When he comes in ask him to bring home some milk.” While this works in our community, I imagine in a larger town it would really get out of hand.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:12:21 +0000

People do take advantage of libraries. Here we have a person who isn’t even a student at this university who has taken up residence at one of our carrels - a big row of textbooks and other personal items. While I like the idea that our library is appealing as a place to study, it is still disrespectful. Before Fall semester, I suspect we will be asking for the removal of the items. Students are forever charging their cell phones. And they use the library as a drop off point too.

It also always bothered me when I worked in a public library that we had to hire a part-time worker for the sole purpose of watching the unruly after school kids. Your tax dollars at work. Arg!

By: Holly Wolf

Holly Wolf — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:24:46 +0000

You’re right–there needs to be an overall policy decision about patrons’ off-label use of the library as safety storage. The first time I ran up against this expectation, it was a large engine part a patron had ordered delivered to the library because he was not going to stay home all day to receive it!

By: Noreen Fish

Noreen Fish — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:46:27 +0000

Speaking of relying on good natures and good fortunes, I see unattended cell phones plugged in and charging all the time. If I had the inclination, I could probably make a fortune selling them to people who make a lot of overseas calls. :^) This in the same library where we recently had to move lost-and-found from a public area to a non-public one because people were helping themselves to things.