February 27th, 2010 Brian Herzog
Once again, heavy winds and rain has been knocking out power to most of the area (especially yesterday), so this question of the week is a repeat:
Hey, are you open?
My library had power all day, but most of the town and other nearby libraries did not. The library was packed, and more than a few times I was asked if I knew when power would be back on at a patron’s house.
I think the power companies learned a public relations lesson last year, and have been more proactive in providing information. In searching the internet, I found some helpful National Grid storm resources:
When I asked my Director if we’d be staying open late to serve as a shelter for people without power, she said we officially cannot do that. Apparently there are strict certifications necessary for a Town building to function as an emergency shelter, and the library is not certified (neither is our Senior Center, which did stay open last year, but was closed when someone noticed the lack of certification). Granted, this week’s outage (and weather) is certainly not as bad as last year’s ice storm, but I really don’t know how involved certification would need to be. We wouldn’t be providing food or aid or beds for people, just heat and power and chairs and internet, which we already do every day. Of course, we’d have to pay staff to stay open, and that is tough with our budget situation.
So, not a very inspiring reference question, but it’s been that kind of week. For a real Reference Question this week, check out a great transaction from The Surly Librarian.
See Also
Posted under Library, Reference Question | 3 Comments »
December 16th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Since the outages caused by the ice storm on Thursday, my library has been slowly reestablishing our affected services. First back up was our power and heat and catalog (day two), then wireless internet (day three), then internet to the public workstations (day four).
This progressive-improvement situation made for a good quote. When asked by a staff person if things were working again, the response was:
Everything is working, but we’re still working on making it patron-proof again.
It made perfect sense in context, but when I thought about it later, it sounded both funny and counter-intuitive.
Recovering from an unintended power outage really draws a stark line between having something work, and having something work the way we want it to. Just having a computer that turns on isn’t good enough - ours also need to automatically log in, track time, connect to printers and the internet, and protect the user’s privacy and data. And ideally, do all this without intervention from the user.
On the surface, the answer above might sound like our goal was keep the computers safe from the public. The goal is actually to make sure the public needs to do as little as possible to use our computers (making sure they can do no harm is a side effect).
Tags: computer, computers, ice, libraries, Library, outage, outages, public, Service, services, storm, tech, Technology See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | No Comments »
December 13th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Due to the ice storm that came through the area on Friday, there is a tie for most popular reference question today:
Hey, are you open?
and
Do you have internet?
My answer all day has been, “we’re open, we have lights and heat, and everything is working normally except our internet connection is down*.”
Needless to say, it’s been a quiet day: not unbusy, just quiet - most of our work tables and all of our comfortable chairs are filled with people researching and reading, which all but goes unnoticed on a regular day. And because lots of area residents are still without power, there’s even a couple people napping in the corners, just happy to be someplace warm.
The next most popular reference question has been:
Do you know how I can keep my pipes from freezing?
Most area residents lost power on Friday, 12/12/08, and although many homes are now back on, there are still plenty who are looking at two or three days without power. Temperatures are predicted to be in the teens and twenties for the next few days, so freezing pipes is a major concern.
The best advice came from Home Maintenance for Dummies. Before loaning it out to the first person who asked this morning, I photocopied the necessary page to keep a “reference copy” at the desk. It recommends:
A faucet left dripping at the fixture farthest from the main water inlet allows just enough warm water movement within the pies to reduce the chance of a freeze…
Insulating pipes that are above ground (those that are most susceptible to freezing) prevents them from freezing during most moderate-to-medium chills - even when the faucets are off. This includes pips in the subarea or basement and especially any that might be in the attic.
If your kitchen or bathroom sink faucets are prone to freezing, leave the cabinet doors open at night. This allows warm air to circulate in the cabinet and warm the pipes.
The last tip won’t help much for a house that is at 39 degrees, but it’s good to keep in mind anyway.
Hopefully the power to my house is back on by the time I get home, otherwise I might sleep at the library tonight.
*I’m sure you’re asking, “No intertnet? Then how’d you post this?” As a reference librarian, I know the laundromat up the street has great wireless internet.
Tags: closed, closing, freezing, frozen, internet, librarian, Library, open, pipes, public, Reference Question, storm See Also
Posted under Library, Reference Question | 2 Comments »
December 13th, 2007 Brian Herzog
Like much of the country today, Chelmsford was hit by the “fast-moving, intense” snow storm. And, throughout most of the storm, my library stayed open.
Even though I do not know what they are, the powers-that-be in Chelmsford Town Hall decreed that we remain open until 5:00 pm. For eastern Massachusetts, that was five hours into the storm, after dark, and after about six inches of snow. Wouldn’t it be better to send staff home before the storm, so they can drive home before rush hour, in the daylight, and not in a blizzard? But I complain.
Anyway, we stayed open, and I spent most of the afternoon shoveling the steps and walks, making sure patron still had the regular access to information that it is a librarian’s duty to provide. A few pictures from the day are shown here:
</whine>
blizzard, chelmsford, closing, libraries, library, public libraries, public library, shoveling, snow, storm
See Also
Posted under Library | 4 Comments »
February 15th, 2007 Brian Herzog
Yesterday, the big storm sweeping across the nation finally made it to Eastern Massachusetts. Although Chelmsford didn’t get as much snow as areas further north, what we did get was a mixture of snow and ice.
School closings were announced the day before, in anticipation of the storm. The library, though, was told we would be open as normal. Being a town department, until Town Hall closes at 5pm, it’s the Town Manager who makes the call to close early.
This year we have a new Town Manager, and this was his first storm. The weather was bad enough by about 11am that it was dangerous to be on the roads, and even though the storm was getting worse, he chose to keep the library open.
His logic, which he conveyed when the library’s Assistant Director called to ask if the library could close, was that the Town has to pay library staff in case of a storm closing, so he would rather pay them for working than for a day off.
Since I work the late shift on Wednesdays, I drove in through the worst of the storm to get here by 1pm, as did a few other late shift people. When I arrived, there were ten library staff - and three patrons. I spent the next few hours alternating between shoveling the library’s walkways (because, although we’re a Town department, no Public Works employees are assigned to shovel at the library) and explaining to staff why they couldn’t go home.
Ultimately, the Assistant Director (the Director is on vacation this week), the Chair of the Trustees, and the library’s union representative all asked the Town Manager to close the library. At about 3pm, the Town Manager called to say the library could close at 4pm. At which time, we all dug our cars out of the parking lot and drove home in the storm. The Town Manager dropped substantially in the opinions of library staff that day.
I don’t know if this was a case of him wanting to show everyone who was in charge (since he is new), or him just having so much going on that he wasn’t able to fully realize conditions here. I know libraries are essential to their communities, but they are not essential in terms of the “essential services” need to run a town during a storm emergency.
Morale issues aside, closing a library due to snow should not be a difficult decision to make - and it certainly shouldn’t be a matter of getting the Town’s money’s worth out of the staff.
complaining, libraries, library, public libraries, public library, snow day, snow days, storm, storm closing, storms, whining
Tags: complaining, libraries, Library, public libraries, public library, snow day, snow days, storm, storm closing, storms, whining See Also
Posted under Library, Random | 4 Comments »
