Oh, those splashin' sinks!
Suggestion:
Filters
on faucets in men’s bathroom (3rd floor) need cleaning; water sprays
all over those who use sinks.
Response: We’ll
tell physical plant about this! Sorry ‘bout those wet pants…
Suggestion:
Filters
on faucets in men’s bathroom (3rd floor) need cleaning; water sprays
all over those who use sinks.
Response: We’ll
tell physical plant about this! Sorry ‘bout those wet pants…
Suggestion:
Make library available to non-Christian faculty during Christmas Break.
Response: We understand
that there is faculty frustration over library hours over the break. However, we’d like to share a slightly
different perspective.
Many of the
people who work in the library work for fairly low wages. They work 40
hours/week all year long for not much money. The Circulation staff works late
hours and weekends to keep the building open for students and faculty use. One
of the wonderful perks we offer is to let them take off that Winter Break week
without having to use precious vacation time.
Understanding that our closed hours may cause some consternation for
faculty of all faiths who remain in town for the holidays, we try to announce
our hours early in December to allow scholars to identify and check out
materials before we close for that week. We also set a deadline for
Interlibrary Loan requests that acknowledges the closing of many other academic
libraries at that time of year. Rather than be frustrated, we encourage you to
plan ahead and understand that the week off is a gift for people with very
little compensation for what they do all year to make sure the rest of us have
access to information. We also suggest that you use our electronic resources as
much as possible—the online catalog, e-reference works, and full-text
e-journals are available 24/7 all year.
Suggestion:
1. Keep the library open past 12:00.
2. It would be really helpful if the library was open longer than midnight on a regular basis, but more importantly it would be better if the library was open 24 hours during finals, or at least until 2 on Fridays during finals. It’s extremely inconvenient the library closes at 10 the night before a final!
Response:
As you
might imagine, we’ve received this request before.
The
Coates Library building isn't really designed to handle 24/7, because we'd need
to keep the entire building open. (We’ve talked to an architect about this and
he said there is no good way to isolate a small section that is accessible to
the outside.)
When we've
met with ASR reps, our conversations have generally concluded that it's not the library's resources or services students
want, but rather a huge study area with plentiful computers. Trinity’s administrators heard that, and
their response has been to convert spaces in the dorm area into a
study/computer lab areas. What’s great about that: No staffing needed (you use
access cards to get there), and no troubling safety issues about students
walking from one end of campus to the other at 3:00am. (As a city campus, we
can’t ignore this issue.)
There is
also the question of staffing. We keep
careful data on building use—how many people are in the building at any one
time. We have observed for years that
use of the building drops off in the late evening, starting at around
11:00pm. On any given night, there may
be a small handful of students who want to stay in the library. Some nights there may be no demand at
all. To hire and maintain staffing for
that small demand may not be the best use of tuition dollars.
We’ve heard over the years that we could get students to work those hours. Sometime, ask the students who work here until midnight if they’d like to stay later. It’s very hard to staff the library for those late hours—and if we can’t staff it consistently, we can’t offer the hours. It’s a very real management challenge and not so easy to solve.
Now, to the question of later hours on the Friday of finals week. You spoke, and we have listened. We have extended the hours to midnight on that Friday (May 8) this spring. We had later hours on Fridays in the past, but attendance has been very low. Let’s hope lots of people stay late this year!
Suggestion/Complaint:
“It is extremely distracting that people can speak as loudly as they please in the middle of a study area. I have had to move FOUR times today because people around me have been so loud. I've asked each of these groups of people to please be quieter. Most of them laughed in my face and kept talking like it wasn't important. I really think some sort of action should be taken to prevent this. I know many people who are extremely frustrated with the fact that they can't get work done in their own school library because everyone is so loud and no one respects each other. In fact, I am currently sitting on the third floor of the library and I have already asked a group of young men to please quiet down and they not only laughed out loud, but they are now talking louder than before. I want to be able to come to the library and have a quiet working environment but without some sort of authority/adult figure stepping up and controlling this problem, I don't see a possible solution other than for me to stop coming to the library and find a new place to study, which I truly think is unfair. This is a place for all students, not the commons, and it needs to be an environment of respect."
Our response:
We notice that you used the word “respect” twice. We agree that library users need to respect one another—it demonstrates an understanding of the need for civility. It also demonstrates maturity.
We also notice that you asked for an adult to step in. We hope that, as young adults, students would start to own this problem themselves. However, you should feel free to ask a staff member for help if other library visitors are disruptive.
We sent this on to the ASR for their comment and possible action. Why? Because students like those you describe here won’t respond to any of us any better than they responded to you. Mature students would have apologized and quieted down when you asked them to. If the student body agrees that this is a problem (and you are not the first to complain), perhaps there needs to be some awareness-raising done—by students, for students.
In the meantime, allow us to suggest some alternative study spaces. The third floor is busy,
Suggestion: OPEN 24 HOURS!
Response: As you might imagine, we’ve received this request many times before. Finally, there is the perception that every other school in the country is offering 24/7 service in their libraries. We participated in a poll of 34 peer institutions last fall. Among those responding were Wooster, Colorado, Macalester, Haverford, Williams, Bucknell, Middlebury, Wellesley, Franklin & Marshall, Sewanee, Vassar and others. Of that group, only 3 offered 24 hour service; 1 of them offered it only during finals. Last fall we also took at look at data in the NCES (National Center for Education Statistic) files. We looked specifically at Texas institutions and found that our 96 hours/week schedule far exceeds the average of 66 hours offered by the libraries in our comparison group.
The Coates Library building isn't really designed to handle 24/7, because we'd need to keep the entire building open. (We’ve talked to an architect about this and he said there is no good way to isolate a small section that is accessible to the outside.)
When we've met with ASR reps, our conversations have generally concluded that it's not the library's resources or services students want, but rather a huge study area with plentiful computers. Trinity’s administrators heard that, and their response has been to convert spaces in the dorm area into a study/computer lab areas. What’s great about that: No staffing needed (you use access cards to get there), and no troubling safety issues about students walking from one end of campus to the other at 3:00am. (As a city campus, we can’t ignore this issue.)
There is also the question of staffing. We keep careful data on building use—how many people are in the building at any one time. We have observed for years that use of the building drops off in the late evening, starting at around 11:00pm. On any given night, there may be a small handful of students who want to stay in the library. Some nights there may be no demand at all. To hire and maintain staffing for that small demand may not be the best use of tuition dollars.
We’ve heard over the years that we could get students to work those hours. Sometime, ask the students who work here until midnight if they’d like to stay later. It’s very hard to staff the library for those late hours—and if we can’t staff it consistently, we can’t offer the hours. It’s a very real management challenge and not so easy to solve.
Suggestion: There is no vegetarian food at Java City. There is sushi with meat, salad with meat, and cheese and crackers with meat. Can’t we just leave the meat off some of those things or make it an optional addition?
-Undergrad student, fourth year.
Response: We will pass this on to Aramark. They are responsible for the selections offered at Java City.
Suggestion: Dear Library: I find it unacceptable that there is nowhere to recycle paper here! Hundreds of pieces of paper are printed here everyday and they should not be thrown in the garbage. This is YOUR responsibility. Please don’t be lazy.
Response: Whew! You really nailed us.
You may have noticed that there isn’t really a consolidated paper recycling program on campus. Without one, we’re a little stuck—there has to be someone to gather the paper for recycling, sort it and get it to a facility to process it. Therein lies the problem. It so happens that we have several librarians and staff who are deeply concerned about this issue. One has been voluntarily hauling the plastic recycling bags to a central pick up location and another has been investigating ways for the library to handle recycling of its waste printer paper and old newspapers. So far, nothing has been finalized, but it’s not for a lack of concern.
Our challenge back to you: is it just our responsibility, or is it the responsibility of the whole campus? Have you raised your concern about paper recycling with other campus administrators? Have you researched options? We’d love to have some help on this!
Suggestion: There seriously needs to be a better system to check out the private study rooms on 4th floor. I should have LONGER than two hours and I should be able to leave with my Tiger Card if I want food for instance.
-Undergraduate student, 2nd year, Art/Art History major
Response: Your point about the Tiger Card is a good one. We’ll take a look at that policy and reconsider it. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
About the length of time you can use a study room: Our problem is that we’ve got just a handful of study rooms, and far more demand than we can meet. Like other services we offer (laptop check-out, reserve materials) we have to limit the amount of time each person can use the service or facility so that others have a chance to use them, too. We know it is frustrating to have to move out, but consider the person who has been waiting to use the space.
Suggestion: Important film: I highly recommend this film, America: Freedom to Fascism. Trinity needs a copy.
-Guest
Response: We’ll pass this along to the librarian who selects films for our collection.
Welcome to our new blog for responding to patron feedback. Please visit our online comment submission form to let us know what's on your mind, and we'll post an answer here. Thank you!
