Feedback to the Library, December 2007

NOTE: Comments are edited to remove names of specific employees or users. Comments with names go to "Askref" for response or are forwarded to the appropriate person for a reply.

The location is only identified as "Library", "Campus" or "Off-Campus" to protect the anonymity of users. Comments received on paper forms may be entered several days after they were submitted.

Date/time   Location

Fri Nov 30 14:57:05 2007 Campus

I don't know who to send this to. I just checked my account last night and found I had one of my books recalled for the 24th of this month. I have since turned this in. My problem is that I never received an email warning me of this. I started saving all my emails regarding recalled books several months ago to avoid a fine. Can you please show me that you did in fact send notification of this? Thank you,
Library response: I am able to check our notices account for you if you give me the title of the book that was recalled. I checked your account and you don't appear to have any overdue charges at this time. If you provide me with further details I will be happy to assist you. Rebecca Blakiston, Materials Access Team

Tue Dec 4 14:52:44 2007 Off-campus

hello i had checked out some books from the science library a couple months ago, which i had been using throughout the semester for a semester long project. as the books would become overdue i would re-check them out online. i continued to do so as necessary, i dont remember exactly how many times i did this, but ultimately the library sent me an email that stated that my books were overdue and that i had been issued late fees. Fortunately i didnt need those books and instead of rechecking them out i simply returned them. Upon checking my account balance i noticed i was charged $200 for late fees, but i returned the books, am i going to be accredited that money back into my account? is there any way i can get it accredited? i returned all the books please let me know thank you
Library response: This comment was sent to the staff in the library who work on fines. He was asked to send his full name and catcard number and they would work with him.

Sun Dec 9 14:09:21 2007 Campus

today, December 9, 2007, around 1:30pm. My friend and i were in a study room in ILC, a male librarian in black sweater came to our study room and asked us to leave. he told us that we HAD to leave because there was a group of three people needs our room. i understand that this is the library policy that a group of three or more has the priority to use a study room. but my friends were on the way to meet me, and after they arrived there would four people. i explained my situation to that library staff, but he was very desperate and inpatient. he told us impolitely that we MUST LEAVE because right at that moment he saw us, we only had two people. i asked him if there were other study room that has two people, he didn't answer me directly, he told me that he just picked us randomly. so after he left, i went outside and found out that there were so many study rooms that only had two people in there, and according to him, if he just picked us randomly, there were study rooms available right next to us. i was really confused by what he meant "randomly". but my friend and i left, with doubt and confusion. me, personally are very offended by that male staff, and also very angry for what he did and his attitude towards me and my friend. i thought library is supposed to be a peaceful place for students to study, what happened today was just unfair. i hope that someone would give me an understandable answers. thanks.
Library response: I'm sorry this happened.  The policy for study rooms is clearly posted that groups have a priority.  However, we know that many of the study rooms all over the Main and Science Library are used by one or two students and we let this happen until someone asks us for help.  Because of our "groups of 3 or more have priority" policy, the staff will help groups find a room. We don't really have a policy about how we do that and I think different staff do it differently.  I always try to select people who look like they will be the least bothered by moving -- they don't have papers spread out all over, they aren't using the whiteboard, etc. and I always will ask one person before I will ask two.  But it isn't always easy to pick who to ask to move and it is always a slightly uncomfortable thing for the staff to do.  I will share your email with all the staff who work on the IC desk.  Your email makes me think that we need to 1. come up with a policy about how we select who we ask to move from a study room and 2. talk about how we do this -- so that it can be as amiable a situation as possible.  But we will continue to need to ask the 1 or 2 people in study rooms to move, if we get a group of three or more who ask us for help in finding a room. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team  

Wed Dec 12 07:01:27 2007 Library

The lady who cleans the ILC in the morning (6, 7 am on wednesday 12/12/2007) seems like a good worker.
Library response: Thank you for taking the time to send this message. We forwarded your comment to the cleaning crew, so she and her supervisor would see this comment. I wish more people would take the time to write about positive things they see happening around them. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team

Wed Dec 12 12:11:02 2007 Off-campus

Good Morning, I had five outstanding books that I couldn't locate that were overdue. I found three, and returned them several days ago, and am buying the other two to replace those also. I've been charged $700 on my tuition bill here's my question: If I can replace the two that were outstanding, can you reverse the $700? Obviously, I would pay the additional late fees that were incurred also. Thanks very much for your help I apologize for any inconvenience.
Library response: Please keep in mind that we have a 21 day grace period after an item is due. No fees are charged for material returned before the 21st day. A book is presumed lost when it is overdue 22 days or more. At that time a replacement fee of $140 will be levied. When returned the fee will reduce to $15.00/item to cover billing costs. I credited your bursar's account for $375 for the three returned books. For the missing items, you may pay the fullreplacement fees of $140.00 dollars,or you may purchase areplacementcopy and pay a $25.00 processing fee. Please note, however, that the replacement items must be exact copies of the ones thatare missing (library editions, same year of publication, ISBNetc.). Thank you very much. Please let me know if you need any further assistance. Patricia Ballesteros, Materials Access Team

Wed Dec 19 18:23:12 2007 Off-campus

Checking the status of my requests for periodical articles through ILL, I see that two articles are annotated "Contacted by email." But I have not been contacted by email or any other way about these requests. I recently registered a new email address with the Library and also with Human Resources (or whatever they call Personnel nowadays). Since then I have received other email messages from the Library but not from ILL.
Library response: I changed your email address in the ILL system. We had an old email address for you in our ILL system, which is why you did not receive your ILL notices. You are able to update your ILL email address by logging into the ILL system, which is found under the InterLibrary Loan on the Library's homepage. Once you are on the ILLiad main menu, click on "Change User Information". If you have additional questions, please contact us. Linda Dols, Document Delivery Team

Sat Dec 22 12:27:29 2007 Campus

Science Eng Library Commons computers - Please check the mice on the computers in this area. Some are so worn that it's difficult to use, the left click doesn't work! For example, the computer name sepub224 and the computers with the scanners. The keyboards are also so worn the letters are missing. There are a lot of computers in this condition at the Science Library. Other than that, everything else is great. Thanks!
Library response: Thanks for notifying us about this problem. Your comments have been passed on to our Systems staff and they will work on fixing the problems. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team

Wed Dec 26 12:10:17 2007 Campus

What is the deal with the computers? There's practically no one in the library, yet the computers are so slow it's not even worth coming in here. I have been sitting here for 7 miniutes just waiting to open my email. It takes almost 10 minutes to open a web site that only has text on it? Why would anyone bother coming here with such slow service?
Library response: The whole campus was experiencing connectivity problems to the Internet yesterday (Dec. 26).  The message the library received from University Information Technology Servicse said that the connections from all of campus to the Internet were experiencing major problems.  I'm sure the fact that the campus is shut down for the holidays and UITS had minimal staffing didn't help any in tracking down the problem, but it really wasn't anything the library or the campus controls.  (Internet service was back to normal by Thurs. Dec 27.) Gene Spesard, Digital Library Information & Systems Team

Fri Dec 28 17:29:55 2007 Campus

I can't listen to any of the audio programs that I usually listen to. When I try to get alternative radio stations or stations outside of the U.S. (usually through RealPlayer) I get an error message that says "You don't have the necessary permission to enable auto update please contact your system administrator for more help." and then another box pops up that reads: "Currently auto update has no plug in to play your selection." I need news outside the U.S.!!!! Help me! It's boring behind the Corporate curtain. I need my NEWS!!!!
Library response: This problem was reported to our Systems staff. Whenever anyone has trouble with a specific computer, it will really help us if they can identify that computer. Most of the computers have an identifying number on their cpu. Another alternative is to report the problem to the closest service or reference desk, so the person can write the down the information about the computer and report it to the Systems staff. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team