Feedback to the Library, July 2006
NOTE: Comments are edited to remove names of specific employees or users. Comments with names go to "Askref" for response or are forwarded to the appropriate person for a reply.
The location is only identified as "Library", "Campus" or "Off-Campus" to protect the anonymity of users. Comments received on paper forms may be entered several days after they were submitted.
Date/time Location
Wed Jul 5 15:42:53 2006 Campus
I noticed that a big selection of children books have been moved into the reference area. This is a rather odd decision, and I would like to urge you to reconsider it. First, the reference area ought to be what the name says. Imagine if a group of politicans arrived here and wanted to see our collections, and would suddenly be confronted by all these children books. Nothing wrong with such books, but they make our library look very non-academic. They might have a place in the library, but not there. The reference area should be strengthened, and we should move more works down there than away from there. Moreover, if you have to move regular books into the reference area, why not more books that are used more frequently, and are of a higher academic standard, such as art history, architecture, art history, German literature, or political sciences.
Thank you.
Library response: Thank you for your feedback about the transfer of the juvenile collection to Research West. As you've probably noticed, several physical changes are taking place in the Library. We are faced with many space constraints as well as requests for more "learning spaces" from faculty and students. We are taking a hard look at ways to repurpose Library space to meet diversified needs, including the entire Research West area. The focus there is changing from strictly reference to more research of all kinds. The shifting of the juvenile collection began with a request by faculty members in Language, Research and Culture. They preferred to see the collection moved from the 4th floor to a more accessible location. Instructors stated that students did not feel safe using the collection on the 4th floor, and that the collection would be better utilized if materials could be shelved in a way that would facilitate browsing and easy examination by users. Every Elementary Education major must take a class where the requirement is to read 100 children's books a semester. All stakeholders in the proposed move were consulted, and everyone was in agreement about the shift. In addition, general reference collections in libraries are shrinking. Reference works lend themselves to electronic conversion more readily than other monographs, which is another factor that plays a part in our decision-making. Laura Bender, Social Sciences Team Leader
Mon Jul 10 17:46:00 2006 Off-campus
I need to change my contact email address for recall notices, etc. How do I do that?
Thanks.
Library response:
This is a not going to be a simple answer. If you are faculty or staff, you can go into Employee Link and change your email address and it will get downloaded into our database.
If you are a student, you need to notify the Student Info System. The policy is below:
Per University policy, email is a mechanism for official communication within the University of Arizona. Official University email accounts are available for all enrolled students, faculty and staff and must be utilized for library communication. These accounts must be activated before the library can correspond with its students using the official email accounts.
If a student wishes to have email redirected from their official @email.arizona.edu address to another email address (e.g., @aol.com, @hotmail.com, or an address on a departmental server), they may do so, but at their own risk. The library will not be responsible for the handling of email by outside vendors or by departmental servers. Having email redirected does not absolve a student from the responsibilities associated with official communication sent to his or her @email.arizona.edu account.
There is a way you can forward mail from your UA email account to your preferred email account.
You can read how to redirect your email at step #3 at: http://www.registrar.arizona.edu/emailpolicy.htm
We load the files from SIS every day, so once you change your email, the new information should be there the next day.
If you have any questions about this, you can email: askmat@u.library.arizona.edu
Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Tue Jul 11 09:55:01 2006 Off-campus
May I suggest a minor correction to your catalog? For Neil Kamil, Fortress of the Soul:... The subtitle is incorrect. Please correct using the LC listing.
Thanks.
Library response: Thanks for letting us know about this. We probably used a catalog record created by the Library of Congress from pre-publication information. the title is now correct.
Tue Jul 11 13:18:18 2006 Off-campus
I was hoping to find a listing of journal holdings physically present in the library. I couldn't find that info on this web page.
No help from FAQ, etc.
Did I overlook it?
Thanks.
Library response:
You didn't miss this, we have thousands of journal titles that
we own in print and/or microform in the library. A listing of them
would be a monumental task. You can do individual journal title
searches in the catalog using the Journal Title search. If you want to
know the journals we have in a discipline -- you can do a keyword search
on the subject and the word periodicals, like: psychology and
periodicals. This technique will get you most, but probably not 100%,
of the journal titles in that subject. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Tue Jul 11 18:36:28 2006 Library
The Library's subscription to the Europa World Yearbook was cancelled this year, apparently because it is available online. However, the online version does not have the complete text regarding email addresses of embassies, political parties, press, broadcasting and industry. To get this information online, one has to look up each entity individually.
So if, for example, one wished to mail all the magazines that cater to economics, feminist studies or politics in a particular nation, it is much easier to use the copies in the libary.
For this reason, it would be appreciated if the University of Arizona library would subscribe to all the Europa World publications in book form. This is a critical reference tool for journalists, media, political science and government students. No other reference work in the library has the emails for each nation listed in the way this reference guide does.
Library response: The online version of Europa actually does have everything that the print volume has. I compared them myself. If you'd like help in using the online version, stop the IC Reference/Help Desk. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Thu Jul 13 11:48:29 2006 Library
I am finding it difficult to locate the Library Catalog among the windows shown on these library computers. Why have you omitted the most useful quick source for locating a call number??
If I am missing something, please let me know how I can use these computers more efficiently.
Library response:
You can get to the catalog and all the other resources offered through the library by opening any internet browser (we provide you with several on the computer screen -- Internet Explorer, Firefox and Mozilla). When you open any browser on a computer in the library, it automatically opens to the Library's homepage. On the homepage, there is a link to the Library's catalog. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Thu Jul 13 19:26:22 2006 Off-campus
Proposal for improvement:
Currently when logged into the library account it shows items on hold and items checked out. It will be a great help if items recalled are also included. In addition, the word 'RECALLED' might not be visible if one has many books checked out. So, if the important words like "RECALLED" is color coded in red, it will be easily identified. This will help the not so bright students like me who often overlooks things like that from paying unnecessary fines. Thank you.
Library response:
As you can see from the comment below, when items are recalled that you have checked out, they are labeled recalled. We are checking into whether they could be labeled in red or not, but this is something that we don’t control. We can see if the company that makes the catalog and circulation system software can do this – all we can do is check with them. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
The word "recalled" does display and you can sort the list of items checked out by due date to see what is coming up due so it would seem that the only suggestion which is not currently available is having the text in a different color. I'm not sure whether or not that would be feasible...Travis Teetor, Materials Access Team
Tue Jul 18 09:20:33 2006 Campus
I just received a recall notice on a novel that I checked out one week ago. It is now due on the 7/27, which means I get the book a total of 15 days. (I happen to be out-of-town the week that it is due, so in reality, I only get the book for 9 days. I'll have to turn it in before I leave.) It seems a little unreasonable that a lengthy novel can't be kept for at least a minimum of 21 days.
I was tickled to find out that the UA Library had a couple of books I was interested in reading. How convenient to take a break from work and walk over to get a good book for summer reading.
I'm now dissapointed that I will have to turn in the book and hope that the public library has it and I can make a trip there, or purchase it in order to finish it on my vacation as I had planned.
I certainly understand the need for the recall policy and it is reasonable for research materials. But, why not establish a category of books, like novels, that are not on any class reading list, that could be checked out for a guaranteed 21 days. When a recall was made, the due date would be in 10 to 21 days, adjusted to give the borrower a minimum of 21 days.
Library response:
The way recalls work is that anyone can recall a book that is checked out at any time. The person recalling the book doesn't really have any idea how long the book has been checked out and if they need a book, which hopefully they do when they recall, their need doesn't really depend on how long you have had that book checked out. On the other hand, you are given 10 days to return the book, to the person recalling the book that seems like a very long time, but to the person who has the book, it may not seem like enough time. But it does give you some time to finish reading it, copy parts of it, etc. The recall process tries to be fair to each person in the transaction. Also, if you truly need the book, you can immediately recall it.
Your idea about novels having a different recall time frame is interesting, and might possibly work during the summer, but during the school year, novels can be assigned as class reading and there are people who do research on novels and other forms of literature. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Librarian
Wed Jul 19 15:37:47 2006 Campus
I would like to express my appreciation for Ms. Cody Aune' wonderful job and Mr. Travis Bedford's great job. They always explain very well my questions, and they are kind, friendly, and patient.
Library response: Thank you for your nice comment. Undergraduate Services Team
Thu Jul 20 10:21:26 2006 Campus
hi---there seems to be many complaints about homeless library users who smell bad. the library usually responds to these complaints by stating that the policy is to not discriminate against people on the basis of appearence or smell. that's a good policy, but the aforementioned smelly offenders almost always are playing games. what's the library policy on games?
Library response:
The library policy about playing games is that it is ok if there are plenty of open computers -- which there are right now. But during the semester, if there are people waiting, we will both ask for catcards and ask non-students to vacate the computer and tell game players to get off the computers as well. As you mentioned, often game players are non-students. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Fri Jul 21 15:56:01 2006 Campus
It's always really really cold in the main library. I think the AC temperature should be turned up a little higher.
Library response:
We know it is cold. Library employees have to wear sweaters in many parts of the library. We have turned in complaints over and over again. They installed new air handlers and once they got them all aligned, the temperature was supposed to even out across the library. This has not happened yet, and your complaint, which many share, was forwarded to the Building Manager. Vicki Mills, Undergraduate Services Team
Sun Jul 23 18:19:46 2006 Campus
You have a great computer lab but what is going on with the restrooms. They are so old and dirty. I checked every floor for a clean one but yet there is none.
Library response:
We appreciate your bringing out the problems we are having with the bathrooms in the Main Library. We are aware of this problem however, the University of Arizona Facilities team cleans the bathrooms and they are here from 3 o'clock until 11 AM. After that time we do not have a crew that cleans the bathrooms. We are trying to get the students to keep these bathrooms cleaner for the person after them. We will also speak with the University Facilities team to see if we can get any more coverage hours from their custodian crew.
Hayri T. Yildirim Partners Interim Assistant Facilities Director
Mon Jul 24 21:49:15 2006 Campus
b234 mens restroom needs waterless toilets, heat activated flushing, or another obsolete under/over-utilised vavle(s) on the urinals as it is running for many minutes per flush at this time.
]I have preveiously in past years reported this and have recently wondered why it's continuedu to be maintained given the amount of water it uses when working when flushed even though it's often terribly unpleasant from not being flushed and in fact NOIT FLUSHING is the way to save the valve from wasting hundreds of gallons per flush in the future.
28 out of 29 of the waterless urinals we have installed mainly waste money. This is one of the few places they make sense.
(it maybe that when t ested the water pressure has the valve behave differently)
Library response:
Thank you very much for bringing out the availability of other technologies that we can use in the library. The University of Arizona Facilities Team has been looking into the possibility of using the waterless toilets, heat activated flushing, etc. and they have decided to keep the existing infrastructure in place. Unfortunately, we have to abide by their decisions and we will not have these technologies in place until they give us the go ahead. However, I will bring your email to their attention once more to insure that there is a demand for this.
Hayri T. Yildirim,
Partners
Interim Assistant Facilities Director
Wed Jul 26 22:17:35 2006 Library
WHERE IS THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY?
THe new book shelf has two of five worth of books on friday only.......
but i know there was lots in tomorrow (thursday) I meant to look over tonight not to mention why get rid of last wed's today if ther eare no new ones?
Until you provide at the very least an online way of seeing what's new indexed by thte day put out this crap must stop. Many times i've been here and nothing has been there but this is the first time I'm sure it's because stuff is getting put up very prematurely.
Library response:
We put the new books out the same day we receive them from Cataloging.
Over the summer, apparently when fewer titles are arriving, they are being "batched." We are only getting them a few times a week. If we get them only on Fridays, for example, we will put all the books on the Friday shelf. Whatever comes, we put out. Vicki Mills, Undergradute Services Team