[Publib] Discontinuing Fax Service

Wed Sep 2 18:40:44 EDT 2009

In Indiana, they are considering and will probably require libraries to have
public fax machines to meet our new library standars.

Celia Bandelier
Roanoke Public Library
I26 N. Main Street  PO Box 249
Roanoke, IN 46783
260-672-2989 (phone)
260-672-3306 (fax)
director at roanoke.lib.in.us
www.roanoke.lib.in.us

All opinions expressed are mine. [Any clever ideas, however, might be YOURS.
 In which case, thanks for letting me borrow them!]

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Judith Turner
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 6:27 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org; Michelle Mears
Subject: Re: [Publib] Discontinuing Fax Service

Hi, Michelle --

For certain types of documents - like health-care and various types of
insurance claims and reports - faxing remains the only acceptable
alternative (to slower services like 1st class mail, or very expensive ones
like messenger services.)  I've been told by my insurance company that it's
a combination of privacy concerns (HIPPA) and the lack of ability to pursue
mail fraud if the sender/claimant is found to be falsifying data.  So I'd
say it's still a necessary business machine.

Discontinuing a fax machine would be bucking a still-growing library trend.
My local public library recently installed a public fax machine (or, if they
had it all along, started advertising its availability.)

As far as people coming in just to use the fax and photocopier -- well,
libraries have always offered a range of services from film series and
children's story hours to ILL's that don't involve patrons taking items off
the shelf and using them, so I don't see why this philosophy would not
extend to faxing and photocopying.  

One additional concern -- unless the local economy in your area is booming,
anything the library can do to make it easier for community residents to
find jobs or make their $$$ go farther is likely to be greatly appreciated,
even if a few business owners grumble about competition.  Employees often
get to use company fax machines, sometimes for a modest fee, so they're not
patronizing the UPS Store, Mailboxes 'n More, Kinko's, etc. From 2006-2008 I
made near monthly trips to the UPS Store to fax 5 pages of information (at
$1.00/page) to my insurance company and I mostly met senior citizens and
student-aged clientele there.

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI 

Blogging at: http://alms-jact.blogspot.com/
and
http://judyct.wordpress.com/

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved." ----
"Silence in the Library"  (Doctor Who, Season 4, Ep. 8)  

--- On Wed, 9/2/09, Michelle Mears <mmears at enid.org> wrote:

> Sorry to be bugging you again. 
> But this is a time-sensitive question and I need some input
> before my Board meeting next week.
> 
> If any libraries have discontinued your public fax service,
> can you share the reasons why or your motivation for doing
> so?  I am leaning very heavily towards stopping it, but
> I want to be sure I'm not going too far out on a limb. 
> 
> Seems as if libraries started offering public fax service
> as a way to justify getting and using a fax machine for
> their own library business, particularly when so much of ILL
> was done over fax.  Like, hey let's do this and we can
> recoup some of the costs while we're at it (no library I
> know makes a profit at faxing).  But now I just see it
> as a strain on my already overloaded staff and sort of
> unfair competition with local businesses who charge a lot
> more.  And faxers (like copiers) often come in just to
> do this one thing and are not utilizing any other part of
> the library.
> 
> Is scanning and e-mailing replacing the old-fashioned fax,
> or is it still a necessary business machine?
> 
> Michelle
> -----
> Michelle R. Mears, MSLIS, PhD
> Library Director
> Public Library of Enid & Garfield County
> 120 W. Maine Ave.
> Enid, OK 73701-5606
> 580.234.6313 Phone
> 580.249.9280 Fax
> 620.506.8576 Mobile
> http://www.enid.org/library/ 

_______________________________________________
Publib mailing list
Publib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4390 (20090902) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4390 (20090902) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 4390 (20090902) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com