tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post1304570455044994069..comments2023-04-06T06:16:29.664-04:00Comments on Tales from the "Liberry" 2.0: Actual Telephone Conversations Heard in Actual Libraries #113Juice S. Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17660779109024097267noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-11997240340479641822008-02-14T19:31:00.000-05:002008-02-14T19:31:00.000-05:00Ah, shackled by policy and Privacy Laws. I'm with...Ah, shackled by policy <I>and</I> Privacy Laws. I'm with you Juice, I'm not willing to risk having my ass chewed by management should they discover I'm looking people up by name. <BR/><BR/>I will look up a person's library card record to place a hold if they call in and don't have the card because they are not adding any fiscal responsibility to the record by placing a hold and the card will have to be presented when the book actually comes in but, beyond that, no look-ups not no how,not no way. It's just not worth it.Holley Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02938123435712583518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-18043622632384264692008-02-14T09:19:00.000-05:002008-02-14T09:19:00.000-05:00At the Gulfport Library, they print a receipt to s...At the Gulfport Library, they print a receipt to show due date and it has a patron ID number on it. They prefer renew by phone to use this (even over the actual card as I learned when I had the card instead of the receipt/snazzy bookmark)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-66435905703841094842008-02-14T07:08:00.000-05:002008-02-14T07:08:00.000-05:00Librarian Woes,I personally am all for being able ...Librarian Woes,<BR/><BR/>I personally am all for being able to look people up by name and use their drivers license number as a confirmation of their identity. It takes far less effort for me to rent DVDs without a card at Blockbuster, after all. And it doesn't make sense to me that we require a driver's license number as proof of identity if patrons can't use that proof to proove their identity when they've gone and left their card at home. But, again, our consortium's policy states otherwise and we've agreed to abide by that no matter how nonsensical it might seem. <BR/><BR/>At the same time, I fail to see why it's such an enormous hassle for some people to carry their library card with them, particularly if they're coming to the library hoping to check out books. Mine is on my person at all times. <BR/><BR/>Seems like I've had this discussion before... <BR/><BR/>http://liberry.blogspot.com/2005/12/weve-got-letters.htmlJuice S. Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17660779109024097267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-52149437133355565212008-02-13T22:27:00.000-05:002008-02-13T22:27:00.000-05:00I have a headache just from reading this... You co...I have a headache just from reading this... You could save your time, the patron's time, the next patron's time and even his brother's time by just typing in the last name... And limit some bandwith usage in the process making people you don't even know happy downstream. What could have been a 30 second transaction instead turned into a several minute nightmare and ongoing headache. <BR/><BR/>This is almost as bad as our ILL policy that states a patron must initiate a request electronically, or come in to the brick and mortar structure, but no telephone allowed. But after we're on the phone and locate the item, and have the screen in front of us asking for a name and phone number we're supposed to tell the person, "Yes, we can get it... Come on in" So that we can just do all that f&@king work over again at a later time because there is nothing like doing any job twice when you can do it once.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-23965167807034209832008-02-13T20:25:00.000-05:002008-02-13T20:25:00.000-05:00Would it be against library policy to have a small...Would it be against library policy to have a small sign stating "Cards must be presented to lend books"?MrAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05735380511827380901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-81843777342212229712008-02-13T10:18:00.000-05:002008-02-13T10:18:00.000-05:00John,You make a good point. It doesn't usually oc...John,<BR/><BR/>You make a good point. <BR/><BR/>It doesn't usually occur to us to offer that method because mostly people don't have the book with them when they call to renew. Most of the time they're calling us from work and just expect us to look them up and do it, then act all surprised that we might not be able to do that without a card number.<BR/><BR/>As you suggest, though, it would probably behoove us as a library to begin the slow and glacier-like process of training our patrons on the alternatives.Juice S. Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17660779109024097267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096118.post-77252489796776007622008-02-13T10:06:00.000-05:002008-02-13T10:06:00.000-05:00As annoying and over-the-top as her passive aggres...As annoying and over-the-top as her passive aggression was, did it not occur to <B>you</B> at any point to suggest that she could renew it with the book? Why not save yourself some time and volunteer that little nugget of information, instead of fighting it out on the line of "my card is on the dark side of the moon/in my car"?John Overholthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05047421094463072369noreply@blogger.com