Still Other Problems at Libraries

[jimbogumbo]

Do you think it's a provider issue? If so, are there other options?


Or do you think it's caused by hardware?


You completely have my sympathy. If I could wave a magic wand I'd fix this (and your HVAC issues) so you could focus on the parts of the job that you enjoy.

[apl68]

Do you think it's a provider issue? If so, are there other options?


Or do you think it's caused by hardware?


You completely have my sympathy. If I could wave a magic wand I'd fix this (and your HVAC issues) so you could focus on the parts of the job that you enjoy.

The answer to both questions is probably "yes."  We may be looking at router issues.

Alternatives to our current provider are very thin on the ground in our region. 

I've often wished I could fix some of the matters that others talk about here at The Fora too.  Sometimes you just find yourself stuck. 

[Langue_doc]

Smithtown library, Long Island during the rains/flooding a couple of weeks ago:

Flood devastates library causing $10 million of damage

I don't recall seeing the news in the NYT, but here's the account in the local (Smithtown) news.

Count your blessings, y'all who work in libraries!

[apl68]

Smithtown library, Long Island during the rains/flooding a couple of weeks ago:

Flood devastates library causing $10 million of damage

I don't recall seeing the news in the NYT, but here's the account in the local (Smithtown) news.

Count your blessings, y'all who work in libraries!

That's awful to see.  Flooding is one of our greatest nightmares.  Even busted pipes or a triggered fire sprinkler system could wreck much of our collection and equipment. 

We had a minor flood some years ago when sprinkler pipes in our attic burst during a rare freeze.  The pipes weren't supposed to have standing water in them.  Due to a design flaw they did.  Incredibly, there was no damage to either books or computer equipment.  We still had thousands of dollars' worth of cleanup and repair.  A library in a neighboring town had a pipe burst that same day that put them out of business for weeks.

You never know where water damage might come from.  The air handler on our HVAC system draws tremendous amounts of moisture from our humid air in the summer, and is supposed to drain it all away.  Now and then the drain develops a clog.  Then the floor in the utility room starts to flood, and then a staff member notices that the floor in her work area is getting wet.  And I have to blow out the drain so that it works properly.  It happened just yesterday, as a matter of fact.

[nebo113]

For apl......https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/library-bats-coimbra-wild-life-excerpt?mc_cid=3e9cdfaa4e&mc_eid=0b05b20759

[apl68]

For apl......https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/library-bats-coimbra-wild-life-excerpt?mc_cid=3e9cdfaa4e&mc_eid=0b05b20759

Thanks for the link!

A library with not one but two species of bats living in it.  Good to know it's well-guarded, I guess.  This reminds me of the time I had to shoo a bat out of the microform department at my old job.  I thought at first that a bird had sneaked into the building somehow.  Then it flew between me and a light, and I saw that its wing was translucent....  Here, I've been called upon to usher out the occasional lizard.

[memyself]

I hear you about water danger. At my very large academic library, a giant chiller unit for campus HVAC sits on top of our central stacks (million+ books), and semi-regularly disgorges cascades of water.
We are all well-versed in first response and "spot the leak", as water has a way of meandering along beams and conduits between floors as it moves downward. A leak in the south corner of one level may reappear in the west corner of the level below...

[Myword]

 Libraries have radically changed since I began as reference librarian in the 80s, in every way. We took pride in our reference and nonfiction collections, even pamphlet files and records. The new wave librarians don't care about that, like a past era and without success nor trying promoting print books. I will take a print book any time because I HATE ebooks, and I knew numerous students who avoided them.) Online articles, yes, never books. Students don't learn the misunderstood value of printed books vs. PDF.  Public libraries are visited mostly by older adults, kids, I observe. Rarely or never have I seen someone in the stacks, ever. (They don't know the word stacks, reference, circulation)
     Donations run the gamut from excellent to awful, but they are not taken because they won't go out
anyway,esp. if circulation is low. I donated many excellent books to libraries that they sold or threw away, stupidly, and I knew the library needed them, as a librarian and patron. Book selection is very subjective, regardless of the methods. Otherwise, they don't care/ It is easier tossing the book than cataloging and shelving it. It is an easy way out, just as Ebooks are far easier and cheaper than ordering print books. My experience over 20 years is that, like most educators, librarians minimize their work, when possible, and maximize their budget, regardless-- and without imput from patrons and students.

[apl68]

We finally got a technician from a service provider in to take a look at what was here.  I complained to the head of the local economic development office when I saw him at the weekly Rotary meeting on Thursday.  He called a regional representative of the service provider that he was acquainted with, who jacked up the service department into getting somebody to us.  The technician diagnosed a failing modem, and replaced it.  We'll see what that does.

We also got a rare on-site visit from our out-of-town IT guy.  He brought us a wireless hot spot that has enough capacity to operate from in theory.  We'll see about keeping both providers so that we have some redundancy.  The regional representative also came by, heard our complaint...and then tried to up-sell us on what will no doubt be a very expensive fiber internet proposal.  At least he got the service department to come through a little earlier than they had promised.