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DeadFatDuckFat posted:Oh man, is this the academic library version of "muh taxes pay your salary" Someone tried this on me once (not in a library setting) and I said "I pay school taxes and don't have kids, so..." Then they were hardcore owned and I did a radical skateboard flip and hosed their mom. Okay, I trailed off like a weenie and they just huffed away, but I still think, you know, gently caress that lady.
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Dec 7, 2019 08:06
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. I always think that argument is hilarious. I mean, I pay taxes too, but that still doesn't mean I can walk onto an army base and drive off in a tank
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:Oh man, is this the academic library version of "muh taxes pay your salary" Pretty much. There's a certain strain of professor characterized by a massive ego that thinks they are God's gift to your university for deigning to teach/research there. Then they get really offended when they meet the worker bees who have no idea who they are and don't care when they're told. With this particular incident: you can be the smartest, most published man in the world, but if you check the "Monthly" box instead of the "Annual" box I'm going to process your paperwork monthly. Yelling at me because you thought the monthly option meant I'd divide that number by twelve and process that smaller amount each month does nothing but entertain me. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Dec 7, 2019 |
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Dec 7, 2019 15:13
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That reminds me of yesterday. Not much of a story, let's just say yes, he had extended the loan on his DVDs that had been due on the 28th, and he had done it in time, but only by a week so they were a day late yesterday.
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Dec 7, 2019 15:43
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Cythereal posted:With this particular incident: you can be the smartest, most published man in the world, but if you check the "Monthly" box instead of the "Annual" box I'm going to process your paperwork monthly. Yelling at me because you thought the monthly option meant I'd divide that number by twelve and process that smaller amount each month does nothing but entertain me. I'm going to admit that I don't understand the distinction you're making between "process your paperwork monthly" and "divide that number by twelve and process that smaller amount each month".
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Dec 8, 2019 15:55
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Parahexavoctal posted:I'm going to admit that I don't understand the distinction you're making between "process your paperwork monthly" and "divide that number by twelve and process that smaller amount each month". Being vague for confidentiality reasons, I work with money, and there's a thing that faculty can put a certain amount of money towards. There are two ways to do this: set up a monthly contribution which takes X amount of money each pay period, or set up an annual contribution which takes Y amount of money once a year. The professor in question entered Z amount of money on the monthly contribution, and I duly made the deduction the first month that was active (November), and then again when December started. What the professor thought he was doing was that Z would be the total amount contributed per year, divided up into smaller monthly payments. This is a thing you can do, and the paperwork says as much, but it also says you need to contact our department to sort out the details and not send in this form. The professor did not contact us, sent in the form, and everything was in order for a monthly contribution, and so I deducted Z in November, then Z again in December. Cue an extremely irate professor on the phone.
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Dec 8, 2019 16:42
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:Oh man, is this the academic library version of "muh taxes pay your salary" I strangely witnessed version of this at the tennis club I used to frequent in my youth, some dude got on the court without membership and tried to get the groundskeeper to leave him be with the statement: "I work at <Local Bank>, we sponsor your club, so why do I need to be a member?". edit: In my brief time at the University Libary, I had to deal with the fact that a colleague had granted privileges to many professors (she was notorious for it) and I got into a lot of arguments with them because of it. This was good training and came in handy when I joined the IT-Team at a physics institute and had to deal with another breed of people who thought rules only applied to other people. DONT TOUCH THE PC fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Dec 8, 2019 |
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Dec 8, 2019 17:33
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Forgive me, but I have a question for any librarian reading this who might be able to help, or just as importantly, tell me where or who I can ask about trying to find a book from my childhood. Yes, I know this isn't the thread for this kind of thing, but I have no idea who else to ask. Is there a resource online that can help me? Edit: I just learned about "what's that book?" on Reddit, so I've asked there. Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Dec 14, 2019 |
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Dec 14, 2019 04:07
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It's "A Taste of Blackberries," confusing because it has no formal relationship to "My Girl" even though they have exactly the same plot.
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Dec 14, 2019 05:02
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"Identify that book" is a stickied thread in The Book Barn. Nobody has to go to reddit.
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Dec 14, 2019 14:58
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Unkempt posted:Nobody has to go to reddit.
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Dec 14, 2019 16:42
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Unkempt posted:"Identify that book" is a stickied thread in The Book Barn. Nobody has to go to reddit. Thank you! Serves me right for not going to The Book Barn ever 
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Dec 14, 2019 18:39
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Thank you! Serves me right for not going to The Book Barn ever The Book Barn is a cool place, but as with any book forum you have a problem where you wake up with your holds at the library maxed out, a truckload of orders from amazon, and goons telling you that your taste in books sucks
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Dec 14, 2019 18:50
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Just had to ban somebody after I found out they've been secretly filming staff and uploading the videos to Facebook alongside unhinged rambling diatribes for months  This after we took pity on her and gave her unlimited free photocopying and scanning to resolve some of her personal problems. Fucks sake.
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Dec 14, 2019 19:56
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Captain Mediocre posted:Just had to ban somebody after I found out they've been secretly filming staff and uploading the videos to Facebook alongside unhinged rambling diatribes for months Can you actually ban someone in your system? We can't, just give really long "suspensions"
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Dec 14, 2019 20:30
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:Can you actually ban someone in your system? We can't, just give really long "suspensions" It's a 1-year ban which can be increased and I believe eventually turned permanent if they breach it.
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Dec 14, 2019 20:52
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I'm home sick right now and have nothing better to do in between throwing up, so I'll post how my system banned people. Joe Blow fucks up. Maybe he was caught watching porn on the youth services computers, maybe he was plowing thru a 12 pack of Natty's in the quiet study area, maybe he was just a homeless dude whose stench and habit of pissing in the comfy chairs in periodicals was driving patrons away. (all true, not the same person). The person in charge on that shift, or any of our security folks, would make a written complaint to be seen by admin. The director, or, barring his absence, the asst director, would draft a letter; I think we had a boilerplate template just for this purpose. According to our county laws, this physical letter had to be delivered to Joe's place of residence, much like a sheriff serving papers to a criminal. In many cases, this turned out to be a Motel Six up the road. (Such was the case with Antonio; click the "?" under my name if you haven't read that) My boss, the Skipper, got that fun job. Wish he was a goon, 'cause I'm sure he has some great stories. Usually we'd ban for a year, unless you were like Antonio, or the dude that literally issued death threats to our head of circ. They got the permaban. Warning emails, and, if we had them, pics would be circulated among staff, and we could then call the cops if we saw them come in.
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Dec 14, 2019 23:56
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Unkempt posted:"Identify that book" is a stickied thread in The Book Barn. Nobody has to go to reddit. how are they with short stories from the 50's?
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Dec 18, 2019 06:11
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A dog snuck in today and pooped in the middle of the children's computer area.
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Dec 18, 2019 08:27
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:A dog snuck in today and pooped in the middle of the children's computer area. Sorry.
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Dec 19, 2019 00:15
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:A dog snuck in today and pooped in the middle of the children's computer area. Dang. My heart goes out to whoever had to clean that up. Our branch out in the country would get animals inside, usually dogs. We had sliding automatic doors like you see at the supermarket, and in the boonies people let their dogs roam around. So once in a while I'd be deep in non-fiction and hear some shouting and then watch as two hound dogs raced down the main aisle. Fortunately they never pooped, though, it was just funny watching all the staff try to shoo them back out. We had a sparrow living in fiction for a couple days, too, until we got animal control to finally net it.
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Dec 21, 2019 08:28
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So my friend who works in the county library system out on the east coast that I used to work at but got fired from has reported that the county library management had their winter get-together to review the year. To the surprise of absolutely everyone at the meeting but no one who actually works with patrons, the 3d printer maker space thing has ended up being super costly, massively disrupted operations at the central library for the county, and... pretty much no one is using it. There have been numerous complaints about it from the public, even, that the library is wasting money on this poo poo that no one wants and messing up operations for no good reason. Library management's response to this situation reached at the end of the meeting? What we need is better outreach and advertising to tell people what they can do in the maker space!
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Dec 21, 2019 15:07
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Cythereal posted:So my friend who works in the county library system out on the east coast that I used to work at but got fired from has reported that the county library management had their winter get-together to review the year. To the surprise of absolutely everyone at the meeting but no one who actually works with patrons, the 3d printer maker space thing has ended up being super costly, massively disrupted operations at the central library for the county, and... pretty much no one is using it. There have been numerous complaints about it from the public, even, that the library is wasting money on this poo poo that no one wants and messing up operations for no good reason. 3d printing seems like something that works as kind of a rotational program. Maybe have one at the branch for like a week at a time. It really hurts that you can't print copyrighted stuff though, like kids might want something related to disney or superheroes and you just have to go.... Sorry, nope
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Dec 21, 2019 17:46
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:3d printing seems like something that works as kind of a rotational program. Maybe have one at the branch for like a week at a time. It really hurts that you can't print copyrighted stuff though, like kids might want something related to disney or superheroes and you just have to go.... Sorry, nope man at the res a cheap 3d printer works at i think it'd be pretty tricky to infringe a copyright. "spiderman? sorry kid. did you mean tarantula guy?  cause that i can do"i've been super jelly of libraries that have them since i first saw one, and would totally use it. mostly for little car bits, weird trim clips, mounts for stuff, etc
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Dec 21, 2019 18:13
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My local branch had one for a bit but they wouldn't allow you to print sex toys, even after I told the librarians that I paid their salaries with my tax dollars
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Dec 21, 2019 18:31
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Grand Prize Winner posted:My local branch had one for a bit but they wouldn't allow you to print sex toys, even after I told the librarians that I paid their salaries with my tax dollars You should have said you were creating a limited line of sex collectibles
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Dec 21, 2019 20:59
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mercenarynuker posted:You should have said you were creating a limited line of sex collectibles Dog toys, man, dog toys! Doesn't anyone remember that quiz from years ago where you had to guess "sex toy or dog toy"?! I know we're joking here, and this a total derail, but it reminded me of when NY state banned D&D miniatures that contained lead. My local game/comics store continued to sell their old stock as "fantasy fishing weights", as lead fishing weights were not banned. "Yep, just gonna go snag me a largemouth bass today! What do you recommend, the dragon or the displacer beast?" In other news, I'm tried of working restaurants, and, well, the local library system is hiring... brace yourselves.
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Dec 21, 2019 21:39
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You deserve it, as long as you don't interfere with my 3d printing activities!
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Dec 22, 2019 04:25
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owlhawk911 posted:i've been super jelly of libraries that have them since i first saw one, and would totally use it. mostly for little car bits, weird trim clips, mounts for stuff, etc buy one, there's zero change that the person who knows how to operate that thing will be in when you want to use it.
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Dec 22, 2019 08:49
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I think 3D printers are cool. I think at this point owning your own is excessive but having access to one as a public good is neat. At first glance it feels like a good fit. Why is it disruptive to the rest of the library's operations? I could see it not really being used, since these days libraries are mostly for kids and homeless folks and the kind of nerd who wants to print out his custom D&D monsters has probably never been to his local library to know it has a 3d printer. I wish my library had one though, so I could print useless toys.
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Dec 22, 2019 10:02
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Mr. Prokosch posted:Why is it disruptive to the rest of the library's operations? In this particular case with the library I used to work at: 3d printers and maker spaces require... space. Space that in this case was previously being used for something very important to the library's operations and cost a lot of money to install. So all of that stuff currently in that space had to be moved, displacing stuff that was in other places as the staff tried to make room, and then the maker space stuff installed in the now vacant area. Even once it was up and running, the efficiency of the library's operations was noticeably degraded and involved a lot more running around for staff because that stuff that got moved still needs to be used and it's now in a very inconvenient place for its job.
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Dec 22, 2019 14:39
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My local service sent me to a makerspace conference to see about setting one up in our biggest library. Even in the smiley promotional case studies it was clear that lots of places who had them were having serious under-utilization problems with them. Some talked about the effort that went to in order to drag people into the library to use the drat things and I just thought why spend money on this. I really like the concept but if we do it I think we'll try offering low-tech workspace with a few basic woodworking and textile working tools etc instead. That would serve an equally noble social good without having pissed vast sums of money up the wall if it turns out nobody is interested. Paying staff to go out and find people to come and use the expensive doodads you bought is nuts.
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Dec 22, 2019 18:42
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Dec 22, 2019 18:50
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Captain Mediocre posted:My local service sent me to a makerspace conference to see about setting one up in our biggest library. Even in the smiley promotional case studies it was clear that lots of places who had them were having serious under-utilization problems with them. Some talked about the effort that went to in order to drag people into the library to use the drat things and I just thought why spend money on this. i saw a library in AZ once that had a bike repair zone with tools and such out back. they'd loan out tools just like books too that was rad
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Dec 22, 2019 20:36
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In two years of working there, I’ve never seen the 3D printer someone set up at work in use. I work for a tech company in Silicon Valley. If it’s a tough sell here, I can’t imagine it would make for a successful program at a public library.
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Dec 22, 2019 20:41
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Captain Mediocre posted:
So I don't have anything to offer but the most anecdotal of support but I like this idea a whole lot more than the makers. I've used the printers a couple of times and it really seems like it's the kind of activity you need to have in your own home so you can have large amounts of trial and error with instead of trying to schedule a 2 hour block of printing time just to find out "oops, it doesn't work/the printer burped plastic all over it." At least with low tech stuff you'll get faster and more direct feedback with what you're making instead of just playing it safe and printing out a little half inch bust of your favorite marvel ip.
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Dec 22, 2019 20:47
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Blue Moonlight posted:I can’t imagine it would make for a successful program at a public library. It can work, but it requires a very specific community and level of community-library engagement. A lot of libraries, including the one I used to work at in this context, have management that's utterly out of touch with their community. They're chasing hip trends in ALA magazines that sound shiny to wealthy donors, not doing the boring, unglamorous poo poo that the community actually wants. It's a common problem. What most library users want is really quite simple: more books, especially bestsellers, more public computers, more quiet study rooms, things like that. Libraries throughout the US also tend to be desperately under-funded, and rely heavily on grants and donations. However, these grants and donations want to know what their money will be used for, and the vast majority of people who run these things and decide who to give money to and how much money to give find those basic library functions that people want to be boring and not worth spending money on because after all that's basic functionality of the library and why should they give libraries extra money for such things? And librarians want to be writing articles in magazines about how they're hip and on top of new trends. In my experience there's a massive disconnect between the reality of what libraries are today and what people, inside and outside of the library, think libraries are.
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Dec 22, 2019 21:27
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My primary library is in a small town and has like... 4 large rooms that are literally overstuffed with books because that's not enough room for a library to be in, with some space made for computers and study tables. If you gifted them a 3D printer setup they'd have to give it away or something because there is not enough room, and they 100% do not have the funds to add more room. Maybe it could go upstairs in the smallish room reserved for book clubs or art classes, but... I could see that going over better in the big town library that got renovated recently with elevators and stuff, but they've already crammed all that space with books / quiet spaces for study (it's a college town) / computers / kid's stuff / etc.
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Dec 23, 2019 03:23
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Captain Mediocre posted:
Will your insurance really cover that sort of thing? It sounds like a liability nightmare.
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Dec 23, 2019 04:57
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mossyfisk posted:Will your insurance really cover that sort of thing? It sounds like a liability nightmare. not to mention the cleanup costs if someone loses a finger or worse
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Dec 23, 2019 06:25
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Yep almost all woodworking processes are hazardous in some way - I'm not being facetious. Sawdust is toxic to breathe, most every tool is designed to remove or separate wood fibers through the use of (hopefully) extremely sharp and/or serrated devices, and the only exception really is glue. So unless your woodworking is entirely "glue pre-cut blocks of wood together" it's a no-go for a library. Makerspaces make it work by having everyone who gets to use the tools go through safety training first, power tools require more, specific training, it's adults-only unless there's a directly-supervised class for youths, and in any case, at least rudimentary dust collection and management has been installed which is not trivial. Also it's noisy. Textiles could be better, although of course sewing uses needles, sewing machines are nearly as finicky and prone to needing to be adjusted/tuned/fiddled with as 3d printers, etc., but at least it's possibly a little quieter, and things like knitting/crocheting are fairly accessible and safe. My wife was for a while involved with a maker space in san francisco, and her friend helped start up a 3d printer company and then ran a lot of the printers in the maker space. Babysitting a dozen 3d printers takes dozens of hours a week, just un-loving them, not to mention handholding like 90% of the people who want to use them. Gradually they built up a base of people with memberships coming in on a regular basis that could use the machines competently and accomplish small projects with them, but it's on the order of teaching someone a whole new hobby, not just a convenient machine for patrons to use, like a photocopier or a microfiche machine. Actually I think sewing machines are a pretty good analogy. 3d printers are like a modern sewing machine. There's a lot you can do with one, but nobody can just plop down behind a sewing machine and turn out a finished jacket 4 hours later, it takes training, and even with basic training on a sewing machine, you still can't necessarily just use any sewing machine without resorting to manuals, videos, or some kind of assistance. And there's little bobbins and different shoes and little fiddly parts for you to get out of alignment or improperly adjust or just clog up with thread. Shared equipment is always abused, everyone who has an actual project to do wants to actually finish it in a reasonable amount of time, and whoever has to babysit the device will wind up babysitting the device user too. Maybe if you need to convince some blue-haired ancient library boss that the 3d printer is a bad idea, that'd be a useful analogy. It's a pure fantasy to plop down 3d printers in some room in a library and expect patrons to be able to just waltz up and make use of it without an expert sitting right there with nothing better to do with their time than hold their hand through the entire process, and even then they're only going to print quite small things in a matter of 1 or 2 hours. And they're really noisy when running. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Dec 23, 2019 |
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Dec 23, 2019 08:01
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