Chat on public access Internet -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

I commiserate on the teeth-grinding.  I also know that policy that
must be enforced by librarians is often inconsistently applied. 
The technology-based solutions have the virtue (as wll as the
drawback) of removing the human from the equation.

Near our computers we have signs:

20 Minutes When Others Are Waiting
Work-related Research Has First Priority

However, these get ignored, and there's a wall between
reference and the computers that makes supervision difficult. It
seems to me, on my worst days, that  the surfers always take the
BEST computers.  One day a staff person came in with a research
need... the computers were busy.  I asked a person at one
computer (looking up sports scores) if he would be done soon. 
He said he was looking up weather information for a site visit.  (I
should add, I am not visually disabled and the screen was three
feet from my face.)  I replied, "so what *do* the Jets predict for
next week?"  After a sidelong look at me he got up and left.  (n.b.
We are NOT a public library, but a publicly-accessible special
library with a specific mission.)  

Karen G. Schneider/schneider.karen at epamail.epa.gov
Contractor, GCI/Director, US EPA Region 2 Library
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/