[Publib] RE: Essential services (was public printing) and then became a lesson in curmudgeons

Wed Jun 27 15:38:48 EDT 2007

Greetings,

>From Bruce's Kansas/Texas pecking order it appears
from Bigger to smaller you have: affluent people,
then librarians, then caregivers, then the 
children of caregivers.  

The lesson here is that if you are little and
named Johnny, what you are interested is much
less important than what 'affluent' people
want.  The two dollars in printing services you
might use (which is essentially meaningless to 
affluent people) is good enough reason for the
library policeman to punish your 'caregivers'.
And, little Johnny will ultimately be responsible.

Games are learning tools. For children, playing
games, in fact playing at all builds neurological pathways
and problem solving skills.  I would rather
save money by not having curmudgeons representing
library services and save that money to spend
on children playing and learning.  

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-421-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************
________________________________________
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Bruce Bumbalough
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:38 PM
To: Linda Landi; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] RE: Essential services (was public printing)

Linda, 

I agree that research is an essential part of a library's function.   I have
no problem with a library doing what it takes to serve its patrons. 
Essential function are just that — what we do and what our users expect of
us.

The question was how the library could save money when it is operating on a
honor basis and people are printing multiple copies of parts of a children's
game or items from a web site and not paying for them.  I said I thought
print management software was the best solution, but that had been ruled
out.   Then make people pay for what they do.   I guarantee when the
caregiver or parent pays $2 - $3 for a stack of scrap paper that little
Johnny printed, little Johnny won''t do it again soon.

I have found over the years that people will freely use a free service and
are more reluctant to use a service when there is a fee attached.   Case in
point is ILL — I think almost all of us would agree it is a essential part
of our mission.   Here at the library where I work (in an affluent area I
might add), we once charged the return postage on ILLs and business was
steady but not a large part of our activity.  People who really needed it
used it — it is a bargain.  A few dollars to save the cost of driving to
another library.   We dropped the postage charge a few years ago and
encountered people who would ask for a book or whatever and never pick it
up.   Business went up and we spent more and accomplished less.

It still costs the library much more than the postage charge to do the
transactions, but we recovered nothing.   We reinstituted the postage fee 2
- 3 years ago and business dropped again.  We have very few who don't pick
up the book now.  When that happens we attach it to their cards and
eventually (if not paid) block their use.

As a library manager in a system in western Kansas lots of years ago, I did
a study and discovered that at the volume we had, it was more cost effective
to buy the book and process it than it was to borrow it.    Maybe at a
higher volume it might be different — I think so, but I never had the data
to prove it.    Of course that says nothing about the book that is OP or one
that doesn't fit into the library's collection development policy.  Those
should always be borrowed.   I think we need to buy the rest when we can.

I used to drive my kids crazy by asserting that each of us must be
responsible for his/her own actions.    I think a person who doesn't bring
money to make a copy should be relegated to notes.   Sometimes that is not
appropriate given the materials, but an individual who comes to the library
to do research with no money can only do what he can do for free.   I don't
see it as my responsibility to pay for a small child's multiple prints of
Barney or pictures of a person on a dating web site.   If a library chooses
to support that kind of behavior it does so at the risk of not supporting
more appropriate ones.

Bruce Bumbalough
Reference Librarian
Grapevine Public Library
1201 Municipal Way
Grapevine, TX 76051

817-410-3404 or 817-410-3449
bbumbalough@ ci.grapevine.tx.us

>>> "Linda Landi" <llandi at newlenoxlibrary.org> 6/27/2007 9:21 AM >>>
Bruce,

What about research? I believe most of us would consider that part of a
library's essential services. Printing articles, papers, citations,
websites, etc. is an important part of research. "Providing educational and
recreational materials" is frequently part of public library mission
statements -- doing so via online resources (including the Internet) is a
legitimate means of fulfilling such a mission. Allowing such material to be
printed could arguably be considered essential. Better to find ways of
recouping printing costs (i.e. through print management software) than to
cut this service, IMO. It does not have to be an either/or situation between
printing and other services if we can cheerfully offer both.

Linda D. Landi
Head of Youth Services
New Lenox Public Library
120 Veterans Parkway
New Lenox, Illinois 60451
815.485.2605
http://www.newlenoxlibrary.org/

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Bruce Bumbalough
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 8:35 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org; Mary Soucie
Subject: Re: [Publib] Essential services (was public printing)

So are you a library or a social service agency or an office supply
store?    Faxing, copying documents etc are not a part of the main mission
of a library.   We are here to meet the educational, recreational and
informational needs of the people who pay the taxes that fund us.   Copies
of documents, etc are beyond that description.   We struggle to fund what we
must do and complain endlessly about it, but we don't stop services that
aren't part of the mission and take away funding for our real purpose.

Bruce Bumbalough
Reference Librarian
Grapevine Public Library
1201 Municipal Way
Grapevine, TX 76051

817-410-3404 or 817-410-3449
bbumbalough@ ci.grapevine.tx.us

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