Comments on: What’s Broken At The Library?

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:45:00 +0000

Thanks for commenting and letting me know it’s a humorous site. The story didn’t seem that unplausible. Several libraries are moving to more bookstore type models or popular sort of models. Who knows, maybe you came up with a great new idea.

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Yeah it’s annoying when the solutions that you are given (like a card for copying) are broken. They’ve probably been there for ever and something new would be expensive. And you’re right, sometimes things are broken because of budgetary reasons. But could there be other solutions for things like food? Maybe only have a few garbage cans but put them somewhere central so people go to those, or have students create a petition to make it a priority, or shift funds from something else (I’m just brainstorming ideas here).

Yeah, the Cronk story didn’t seem that far-fetched. I suppose I should check my sources better though. Thanks for posting the link! I knew I’d seen other libraries doing similar things.

By: Jennifer C

Jennifer C — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:24:00 +0000

We use cards for the photocopiers & printers. You should see the signage on those card machines! Signs upon signs! And someone from the desk still usually needs to help the patron.

I’m not sure the patrons would dig the reason no food is allowed anywhere is because, not only would we have to buy more garbage cans, but then we’d need the university to hire more staff to empty them and clean more regularly and there isn’t budget for that.

And while the Cronk News is a parody site, there certainly are libraries that have done away with Dewey (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6663145.html)

By: CronkNews Editor

CronkNews Editor — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:14:00 +0000

Andy,
Thanks for the mention of our CronkNews article. Just wanted to let you know, our publication is satirical. If you look at the categorization conversion chart, you’ll get a good laugh. We couldn’t agree more with your sentiments about rules rules rules, and hope we can help shed light on the lack of creativity on our campuses.

By: Andy Burkhardt

Andy Burkhardt — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Yeah, paper signs can get pretty annoying, especially when they are really poorly done. I like though that you were able to get rid of them by doing some upgrades. Instead of explaining in detail how to do something on the computer, you just made it easy to do so that it needs no explanation. Nice.

By: David Drexler

David Drexler — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:19:00 +0000

The signs… I hate the signs! I made a bunch of changes and upgrades to our computer lab just to get rid of the need for little signs posted everywhere!