May 2008 Archives

Thank you for offering the in-library laptops for use. It is very helpful, and I hope this pilot project continues.
From: a graduate student

Jodi Koste, Archivist, Tompkins-McCaw Library, responds....
Thanks for your comment on our Student Laptop Loan Pilot. This is a joint venture between the VCU Libraries and VCU Technology Services. You are confirming our assumptions about the need for loaner laptops. The pilot will continue for some months still and we welcome any other feedback you might have. We hope you will continue to take advance of the service and thanks again for the positive feedback.

As a alumni, can I have privileges?

Antonia FD Vassar, Assistant Director of Development, responds....
VCU alumni are welcome to join the Friends of the Library! In addition to supporting collections, services, and programming at the VCU Libraries, our Friends of the Library donors receive borrowing privileges and have use of our library services and facilities in James Branch Cabell Library and Tompkins-McCaw Library. The easiest way to donate is through our online form.

For more information on the Friends of the Library, please visit our information page, or feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your interest and support.

We desperately need more group study space. Study groups are beginning to spill out into other floors of the building and they make an awful lot of noise. I prefer to study alone and I prefer to do it in the library. I'm sure you can appreciate how incredibly annoying and distracting it is to have a ton of chattering study groups in the Sotto Voce/Quiet areas.
From: an undergraduate student

Pat Flanagan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, replies...
Thank you so much for your comments. We are indeed short of group study spaces, and in fact are short on all varieties of study spaces for our students. We share your concern and have created the floor themes to try to segregate group study - and its noise - to lower floors of Cabell. We’ve also hired two full-time and several part-time guards to help enforce these policies, stationing the second guard on duty on the 3rd and 4th floors.

Nevertheless, the building was built in 1975, and because of the growth of library collections and the allocation of some of its space to University priorities, it now provides 40% less space for students than it did in 1975, for a student population that has doubled in size since that time. VCU's library buildings had an original planned capacity of 1 million volumes maximum, but now house nearly 2 million volumes, almost 200% of the planned capacity. These basic figures translate into a building that is very crowded, and where noise control is a recurring issue. Needs are frequently shared with appropriate campus decision makers by the University Librarian, Student Senate members, and others. We are very hopeful that library space needs, both at Cabell and Tompkins-McCaw Library, will be considered in upcoming fund raising and legislative funding cycles. Discussions about spaces for an addition to Cabell Library focus almost exclusively on student space for both group and individual study, technology-rich spaces, and inspiring, pleasant environments in which to study, interact, and learn.

Is there any chance you could modify your courtesy reminder notifications system so that patrons are notified when there's still time to do something about it? I just received a courtesy reminder for an ILLiad item. It tells me the item is due soon, but according to the due date printed in the message, it was due today. The Resource Delivery Services office closes at 5pm; the notice went out at 5:02 pm. So I'm left here not knowing whether I've incurred fines. No one at the main number or the Circulation department seemed to know, though one clerk speculated that I'll be okay if I return it within 2-3 days. I seem to recall reading somewhere that standard fines for ILL items are extremely high, so that kind of guesswork is unsatisfactory. Your ILLiad page says renewals cannot be done on the due date. Your Fines document says there's a 3-day grace period, but doesn't say whether it applies to ILL items. It also says courtesy reminders are sent out PRIOR to the due date. I would like very much to renew this book, but it appears that now I cannot. Because it is critical to a paper I am writing that is due before I could get another copy, I will probably have to photocopy large tracts from it, which I think violates the spirit of interlibrary loan. I also will lose critical writing time tonight because I need to make a special trip to campus to photocopy and return this book. I understand that it is my responsibility to monitor the status of materials I check out. But when you put in place an automated notification system, it's reasonable for your patrons to rely on it to do the monitoring for them. All of this confusion, frustration, and wasted time could be avoided simply by adding a little lead time to your notifications. I hope you'll consider it. Thanks.
From: a library patron

Shirley Thomas, Head, Resource Delivery Services, replies....
Thanks for sharing your concerns about overdue fines and renewal of interlibrary loan materials.

There is no overdue fine for interlibrary loan materials. There is a $110 minimum replacement fee per item for failure to return interlibrary loan materials. This fee is charged to you once the item becomes at least 14 days overdue. At this same time, your ILLiad and Library records may be blocked . A hold may be placed on your account which will prevent you from registering for classes, receiving your diploma and receiving your transcript.

If an item is returned after the 14 days, you will be charged a non-refundable $10 overdue processing fee instead of the $110 replacement fee. Your ILLiad and library records will remain blocked until this fee is paid, and your university account hold will be removed.

Renewal requests must be submitted via ILLiad prior to the due date. If an interlibrary loan item is already due or overdue, it can not be renewed. Interlibrary loan materials can not be renewed through the Circulation Services or My Library Record. The wrapper on your interlibrary loan item gives you the due date, tells you whether an item can be renewed and how to renew the item. You can also find information online.

Go to the ILLiad Web site for more information (fees, cancellations, etc.) about interlibrary loan and document delivery services.

I'm a grad student here and thankful for the graduate study room, but I wonder why we have to check out a card to get in that looks similar to our ID cards. Is this not something that could simply be integrated into the Grad students' ID cards?
From: a graduate student

Pat Flanagan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, responds....
Thank you for raising this question, as others may have wondered about the same thing. There are two answers. The first is that you can request to have your own VCU ID card processed so that it will work on the lock of the Mapp Room door. You may make this request the Circulation and Information Services desk. The staff upload new card requests to the door lock once a week. We check out generic cards so that graduate students can make immediate use of the room while their
own cards are being processed to operate. Just be sure to bring your VCU ID with you when you request this service; staff will need the prox number from the back of the card.

The second answer to your question has to do with why this process isn’t automatic. There are different types of card swipe mechanisms available for doors. We considered other types when the Mapp Room was constructed, but there were two problems which caused us to decide against them. The first is that the type which is automatically loaded with VCU ID cards cost thousands of dollars more than the one we installed. The second, and more important reason however, is that the
VCU Police database, which automatically loads IDs to these cannot discriminate between graduate and undergraduate IDs. Because we wanted to ensure that the Mapp Room be reserved for the use of graduate students and faculty only, we had to use the type of mechanism we installed – one for which we can control the status of individuals whose IDs are enabled to open it.

I hope this answers your question, and I invite you to request that your card be set up to open the door.

I am disgusted by the state of the first floor bathrooms. They are deplorable. First, there is no toilet paper, no paper towels, and even worse, no soap. The paper towels are spread across the floor, and there was even a beer can in there. The bathrooms reek of feces, and as unsanitary as it is, womans personal products were strewn across the floor and the containers that hold them were on the floor. The group study rooms are horrible as well. The state of the library has been going down for a while. If we are open late, we should be cleaning late. I have been to other academic libraries, and there is no comparison.
From: an undergraduate student

Pat Flanagan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, replies....
Thank you for taking the time to send this comment. We are also dismayed that Housekeeping is not able to keep up with the level of use in the building. Our Facilities Manager has been communicating with Housekeeping to resolve the problems. I shared observations of my own with him just a few days ago. I have also shared your comments with him; your concerns will be anonymously passed along to Housekeeping so they know just how troubling this situation is to students trying to complete their semester studies. The building does see extremely heavy use - sometimes as many as 11,000 people enter the building during the course of a single day. However, that is no excuse for the dirty and messy conditions, which need to be addressed.

There are only a few private group study rooms in the library and when people wait inside them for hours "waiting" for their group, groups that are actually there lose out on the rooms, defeating the purpose. To make the rooms more accessible for everyone there should be mandatory rules of giving up the room to a group that is physically present when your group is not there after like 10 minutes. Just enforce the rules and update them to deal with the problem of room squatters.
From: undergraduate student

Pat Flanagan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, replies....
Thank you for sending us this comment. We realize many students work in groups and that we don't have enough group rooms to accommodate them all. You have probably seen the signs posted beside the rooms, which state that they are for use by groups. We also have a more detailed policy on our Web site. Note that the full policy states that use of the rooms is meant to be limited to two hours, to allow more groups access to the spaces, and that no provision is offered for an individual to hold a room for an expected group. It also provides for use by individuals who may need a more private study area for some particular activity which requires it.

Staff may sometimes give an individual the benefit of the doubt and grant them just a few minutes for their group to arrive. However, library staff and security guards are available to you when you observe that group rooms are being used inappropriately. Don't hesitate to share your need for a room at the Ask Us desk or Circulation desk, or with library guards. Any of these staff will see that the policy of the
rooms is enforced.

More laptops are needed, and more batteries are also needed, so that they are always fully charged because even the fully charged batteries rarely last the full 4 hours. If a graduate student wants to check one out there should be a longer time allotment as there is on the MCV campus and the cord should be provided. The students at the MRS need to be friendlier and dresses more professionally as this is a job, thus midriffs and undergarments should not be exposed. A university should be training young people for their future and in turn their future employment.
From: a graduate student

Nell Chenault, Access Librarian & Head, Media & Reserve Services, responds....
The Student Laptop Loan Pilot is an introductory period for evaluating the service for possible future expansion. Your comments are appreciated and helpful feedback. Battery life and recharging are two
of the service elements which are being studied in Cabell Library. Despite previous testing, the first month of the pilot showed battery power being depleted faster than replacement batteries can be fully charged. Additional batteries have been ordered by Technology Services. We hope this will reduce the shortage of laptops with fully charged batteries in the evening. If you are one of the few “power” laptop users who exhaust the battery prior the end of your 4 hour loan, the MRS staff will be happy to exchange your battery during the loan period whenever a charged battery is available.

Both Cabell and Tompkins-McCaw Libraries loan laptops for one 4-hour loan and one 4-hour renewal per day. Cabell Library’s laptop program is dependent on batteries due to limited outlets and power capacity in the building. In light of this, the pilot is designed to test the level of battery capacity needed to provide loans without power cords.

I am sorry if your service from the Media and Reserve Services has not been friendly and professional. I will be reviewing your concerns with our new service desk supervisor. We employ numerous student assistants and strive to develop their customer service skills through training and the example of exemplary service by the full time staff. Please contact myself or the library administration if you have further concerns in this area.