[Publib] caller ID

[Lynn Reynish]

Emily,

The library where I work has caller ID as an option that is available on a line-by-line basis. The employee has to request that the feature be turned on (since it costs extra) and to have a caller-ID capable phone provided for them. It is usually managers, supervisors and support staff (i.e. Systems, Business Office, etc.) that have the feature turned on - not the Circulation or Reference desks.

Personally, I find it very useful to know who is calling me. I'm often in the middle of coding or a brief meeting and I can make a quick judgement about whether I need answer immediately or I can safely let the call go to voice mail.

I used to work in public services at another library and I can remember several instances where I and the other staff would have made use of caller ID. There were several patrons who were abusive and harassing to some staff members but not others. If their numbers had appeared on the caller ID, we could have chosen who would have answered the phone to reduce stress.

To be honest, I assume that everyone has caller ID and I don't really consider it a privacy issue.

Lynn

---
Lynn Reynish
ILS Librarian
Regina Public Library
lreynish at reginalibrary.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of emily mazur
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:56 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] caller ID


We recently installed a new phone system in our library which features caller ID. I feel that public libraries should not have this feature on our phone systems. Is anyone else using caller ID? I feel that privacy is gone with this feature. I understand that you can block an outgoing call on your phone for free, but who would ever think the library would be using caller ID? It just seems totally wrong to me.

Thanks-
Emily Mazur




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