[Web4lib] Waiting Lists for Computers

[Michele Haytko]

I have a question for the collective brain. ;-)  My apologies for
cross-postings.

I am drafting something to take to my supervisor and am wondering how
other libraries handle this problem.

We have a computer lab of 16 machines.  We guarantee users a half hour
minimum and then, once we have a waiting list, boot folks off in the
order they signed into the lab.  Staff, volunteers, and patrons have
complained about our waiting list "rules".  Right now, patrons who
have been on all day, then sign-out, then sign in 2 minutes later have
their clock restarted.  Many view this as unfair.  For example, Patron
A signs in at 9am, then leaves at 2pm, then returns at 2:10pm.  We
immediately get busy and the lab fills up.  The "earliest" sign-in is
from 1pm, so Patron B (the 1pm) gets kicked off, while Patron A, who
has used the Lab for over 5 hours gets a free pass.  We currently have
no limit to the amount of times a patron can come into the lab.

So, my questions are these:
1.  Do you have mins/maxs on computer usage? If so, why and what are
they; if not, why not?
2.  How do you handle waiting lists?
3.  Do you enforce once or twice a day usage policies (i.e. a patron
is allowed one 1-hour session per day, etc)?  If so, how does this
model work for you?  If not, why not?

Anything else you can offer would be so very helpful.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
~michele~

--
**************)0(**************
Mrs. C. Michele Haytko
Montgomery County-
      Norristown Public Library
MC-NPL Computer Lab
1001 Powell Street
Norristown, PA 19401
610-278-5100 Ext. 141

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Gandhi