Library ~ Suggestions & Responses

Reply: Thanks for your suggestion - please clarify a bit more, if you have the time to follow up. Did you need bigger paper to write a suggestion? Note that there is an online suggestion box with more space to write (See the suggestion link at the top right of the library home page.) As far as more organized; again, please follow up to let us know what is lacking. We post suggestions in the order of the date they were received, so the “organization” is mainly determined by what is submitted. You can read older replies (by date) on the online suggestion page. We also have a well-organized library policies page under the Policies & Forms link, also at the top of our home page.

Reply: Done, tissues and Clorox wipes have been added to the computer lab. Hand sanitizer is also stocked.

Reply: There are trash (and recycling) bins right outside the computer lab door.

Reply: We would love to, but we do not have sufficient staff at this time. We have requested an additional staff position in next years’ budget proposal, and we will be able to have longer hours (M – TH) if we are successful.

Reply: Thanks for your suggestion, but this is (mostly) not in our control. Substantial additions to the library would need to come through state funding of a remodeling process. What might be better/more helpful right now is to let us know what you are NOT able to find or do in the current library. We are shifting several areas of the library (most notably the periodicals room) to accommodate other uses. Let us know some specific examples of what you’d like to see!

Reply: The group study rooms are heavily used at times during the semester. As there are only four rooms available, we try to allow as many people who want to use them, a chance to use them. It doesn’t seem fair to allow one group use of a study room for a lengthy part of the day, when other students are waiting for them.

However, if no one else is waiting for the room, YOU MAY check it out for an additional 3 hours (so, as long as another group is not waiting, you could have use of the study room for a total of six hours.) Ask at the circulation desk if you are interested.

Other reminders about the group study rooms:

A minimum of 3 students must be present at all times

Each person using the room must have a pass, checked out with a valid MCTC student ID

Reply: Please re-submit your suggestion with more of an explanation, it’s just not enough for us to be able to respond.

Thank you for your request. At this time, due to campus policy, we do not offer open computer access to those not affiliated with the college. This is in part an issue of greatly increased student demand for existing computers, in part a system-wide security concern, and in part the current availability of computers at the public library (less than 1 mile away, at the other end of Hennepin Ave.) Nonstudents may use kiosks in the library to view the library book catalog – please ask for help with this if you need it.

Regarding copiers, there is still one copy machine in the library copy room that operates on a cash (coin) basis – again, please ask if you need directions.

Thanks for bringing the state of the study tables to our attention. They did get special cleaning last Saturday, and we have added them to our cleaning jobs rotation. Hope you do notice an improvement!

Thank you for taking the time to comment. We take our commitment to providing courteous, fair, and effective library service VERY seriously, and also take comments about negative experiences with our staff very seriously.

However, an anonymous comment in this suggestion box will only be helpful if you just want to vent. When you have a complaint, especially about a specific interaction with a library staff member, please ask to speak with the circulation desk supervisor, the reference librarian on duty, or the library operations coordinator. We cannot begin the process of addressing problems without knowing the specific circumstances of the interaction.

We do promise to listen to your concerns and to continue to work to improve the quality of our service.

Reply: We do order new headphones periodically, usually when several of the ones we own are not working anymore. Sounds like it may be time, they should go on order soon.

Reply: Thank you! We have been trying to get this message out for the past decade. For starters, INFS 1000 is a graduation requirement for the Liberal Arts degree, and a number of technical/career programs. It will help you immensely in ENGL 1110/1111, and any college course requiring academic research. We have over 100 databases, plus a catalog with both print and online books (oh, yeah, and there’s the Internet!) Want a hand in starting to understand where to begin your next research assignment? We offer face-to-face and online sections of INFS 1000 every term...

Reply: Did you know we have over 900 fiction books on the second floor of the library? A quick way to see a list is to simply search in the MnPALS Plus Library Catalog (on the library home page) for “fiction”. Please keep in mind that the main focus of our collection is to support the MCTC curriculum. So, unlike a public library, we do not have all the current best-sellers on the shelves. Please do speak to the reference librarian if you are having a hard time finding a particular title or author.

Reply: In order for the library to add a book or books, we try to determine how it relates to courses offered at MCTC, and whether it is likely to be used by more than one person. We generally ask that the requestor contact the library directly to explain why the books should be added.

However, even if we don’t add the books to our collection, you can request them through Interlibrary Loan. Both of these titles are available in the MnSCU system, and requests for books are usually filled in about a week or so. Please see the ILL link: http://library.minneapolis.edu/pages/ill.htm for directions, or speak to one of the reference librarians about setting up your request.

Reply: For this request, it is hard to tell if this is a title or a topic. We do not own any books with this exact title, but we do have books on this topic.

The Suggestion Box is not the place to ask for search help, however – please use the “Ask-A-Librarian” link on the library home page (http://library.minneapolis.edu/pages/form.cfm) or speak to one of the reference librarians about finding information on this topic.

Reply: We would love to locate all our missing books!! It is frustrating to everyone when the catalog indicates a book is on the shelf, but it is not to be found.

If you look for a book and do not find it, please speak to a staff member at one of the library desks. Sometimes we have more information about the location, and can find it.

We do check all the shelves on an ongoing basis and reshelve any books that are not in the right location. If a book is determined to be LOST, we will evaluate whether to replace it. It helps in that process to know that students would like to have the book available.

Reply: Assuming this is a request... In general, it is best to speak to one of the librarians if you have a request to add resources to the library. Keep in mind that one of the main considerations for buying or subscribing to new material is that it supports the MCTC curriculum. In this case, we don’t subscribe to Rosetta Stone because:

It is expensive;

MCTC has resources in the language labs to support language classes taught on campus;

There are more and more good quality free resources for language learning (try LiveMocha, for example, & there are others: http://www.livemocha.com).

View the full suggestion and our response.
Due to the length of both the suggestion and our response, we have chosen to address this submission on a separate page.

At this time, there is not a library rule about long or time-intensive printouts (some image prints can take a longer time than multiple pages.) At this time, all we can do is ask for consideration from other students - please save your long or time-intensive print jobs for a less busy time.

Also, due to limits installed by IT Services, jobs over 30 pages will not print; you will need to divide the job into several smaller jobs.

Great idea! We do already suggest this frequently to students looking for textbooks, and to instructors. We will add a post to our Facebook feed to publicize this to more students at the beginning of each semester. Any more ideas? - Let us know!

As far as donating textbooks, yes, we do take donations of books currently in use in MCTC classes. Stop by the front desk at the end of the semester and ask to speak with a supervisor. If your instructor has moved on to a new edition, we regret we will not be able to add the book.

Thanks to everyone for their input! We thought it would be instructive to reply to all three of at the same time. The first comment was one of the last ones we received last year, while the other 2 are from the beginning of this year.

We try very hard to provide fast, courteous and helpful service every single day. However, the start of each semester is a very busy time, and we ask for your patience while we help those in line in front of you. We wish we could hire more staff, both library professionals and work study workers. The college has experienced several years of large increases in enrollment without any ability for us to increase our staffing. Our front desk personnel deal with many library and technology related issues, and at times the lines may get long. The library is typically busiest from 10:30 to 2:30, so one option might be to return at a less busy time if your question or problem can wait. Also, if you are looking for help with library research, it is best to take your question to the Reference Desk (along the counter past the printer.)

We ask for your patience while we handle all the start of the year problems, & we can promise improvement in service as the semester settles down.

Thanks, & have a great semester!
~ Your Library

Thank you for your timely comment. Keeping at least one quiet area for study on campus has been a priority for us in the library. We have designated the 2nd floor study area as quiet (meaning NO talking) space, while the 1st floor is available for low level conversations. (So the entire library is not expected to be silent.) We also have group study rooms that can be checked out for groups of 3 or more students to use.

We are collecting student input on how important it is to keep a silent study area. Please complete the 3-question poll (either using the paper form or online) and let us know!

Library staff do enforce the no talking policy. However, we can't guarantee that we will have staff up there for every incident, and quite honestly, we can't maintain a silent study area without student help. If you have some ideas for how to best gain the cooperation of your fellow students to maintain the silent space, we'd love to hear them.

Finally, to anyone particularly bothered by a group of talkers, please do let us know. Either come to the main 1st floor desk, or if a student worker is stationed at the help desk near the 2nd floor elevator, ask them for assistance. Thanks!

What can we say to that? Another timely comment, after all the politics of the past few weeks...

Thanks!

Reply: Thank you for the suggestion. We wish we had a more convenient way for students to pay for the self-service copiers. Unfortunately, at this time you need to bring change (coins) with you (copies are $0.10/page). The nearest change machine is outside the library on the 2nd floor lobby, near the vending machines.

The discussion of adding copy services to your campus cards will be part of an upcoming campus improvements initiative, and we will let you know if there are any changes to the system.

Reply: We are aware that some students do not return reserve items within the 2-hour checkout period. Student workers checking material out will be reminding students of the checkout time limit. Students who repeatedly keep materials past the time limit will now get a warning, and if they continue to do so, will have their library privileges suspended. Please do let staff at the circulation desk know when you are prevented from using materials because others are abusing the system.

Reply: Sorry about that, we know "noise bleed" can be distracting. However, the library does check out headphones, as there are many reasonable uses of audio. The bottom line is that anything an individual is listening to should not be interfering with anyone else's ability to work or study. We do ask people with noticeably loud audio to turn it down, and we ask that everyone with headphones or earbuds be aware of volume levels. Please speak to someone at the desk if you are having problems. We also offer ear plugs, as a study aid, for anyone especially sensitive to noise - just ask at the front desk.

Reply: Well, actually. It's a little more of a grey area. According to MnSCU policy: Use of campus computers for gambling, harassment, conducting private business, pornography, spamming, (and generally any illegal activity), are all specifically prohibited.

The main purpose of computers on campus is to support educational, research, service, student and campus life activities. In between? We see a lot of different activities. It is library policy that first priority for use of the reference area computers is for students working on course-related work. If you are not able to find an available computer, you can speak to someone at the reference or circulation desk. In addition, the library has laptops available for in-library checkout.

Reply: Sorry about that, they do get a lot of use! We have placed a facilities request to have them cleaned on a regular basis. We also have disinfecting wipes, usually located at the reference desk, that everyone is welcome to use if your work area seems to need a bit more cleaning.

Reply: Thank you! We wish we had a more convenient way for students to pay for the self-service copiers. Unfortunately, at this time you need to bring change (coins) with you (copies are $0.10/page). The nearest change machine is outside the library on the 2nd floor lobby, near the vending machines. There has been discussion of adding copy services to your campus cards, but we are not aware of an active date for that.

Reply: We agree, and the laptops are on the replacement cycle with Information Technology Services. Please realize that this may not happen immediately - ITS has been replacing failing laptops, and we are looking into a transition date for the rest of them.

Reply: We realize this is an ongoing irritation for many students. We do enforce this rule every hour of every day, but we cannot be everywhere at once. We need help from all of you, to minimize background noise. Guidelines for everyone: Realize that your phone call is indeed irritating to your fellow students. Turn your ringer off or to vibrate when you are in the library. Texting is fine, but please take all talking phone calls out to the exterior lobby.

Reply: Thanks! We are glad to know it is being used (and appreciated)! For those of you who haven't found the zines yet, they are in the file drawers along the wall near the 1st floor periodical room. There is also a Zine Catalog in the upper right corner of the library webpage that lists the zines in our collection, and can be searched by keyword, author, title or subject. Zines must be used in the library. If you are the author of a zine, we would love to add your zine to our collection.

Reply: We could not agree more! The librarian at the reference desk or the circulation desk supervisor will speak to students in the computer areas (or elsewhere, but the PCs seem to be the main source of music) if their volume is high enough to be heard by others, or if "chatting" is getting too loud.

Guidelines for everyone: Quiet conversation on the 1st floor (including at the computers) is fine, but please respect your fellow students who may really be stressing over that final project! If you are listening to music or viewing media with sound, you must use headphones, and have the volume low enough that those around you cannot hear it.

Reply: Regarding your suggestion that we add another computer lab to the library ~ we would love to increase the number of computers available to students, but it is unlikely to happen this academic year.

Just so everyone knows about all our computers, we have 26 PCs in the reference area, all require a student ID login, and all will print to the library front desk. In the lab (L1300) we have more PCs (40+), several Macs, and two scanners. The L1300 lab has its own printer. All computers require a student ID login. We also have 30 wireless laptops available for checkout with a student ID. Unfortunately, there is no printing from the wireless network.

Reply: We have had some frustration ourselves with the library printer this year. For some reason, large PowerPoint jobs have been slowing the system down to the extent that it can seem smaller jobs are not printing. Often students then print a second copy, only to find both jobs printing a few minutes later. Also, jobs of more than 50 pages will not print (you must print them in smaller chunks.) Our suggestions:

If a lot of people are printing, please realize that it may take a while for your job to print. The computer lab printer (behind you) may be quicker.

If you have waited a few minutes and your job has not appeared, please check the printer status on your computer before sending a second job. You may see that your job is still waiting to print. OR, ask the student worker behind the desk for help.

If possible, please use handout format (4 - 6 slides per page for PowerPoint slides.)

And, we will renew our efforts to sort jobs carefully as they come off the printer! Thanks!

Reply: We appreciate your concern, and we do consistently reinforce the no talking policy on the library's 2nd floor. We can't guarantee that we will have staff up there for every incident, and often the "talkers" quiet down when they know a library staff member is making the rounds. We strongly encourage you to speak to a staff member if a group is bothering you, rather than try to enforce the rules yourself. Please come to the main 1st floor desk, or if a student worker is stationed at the help desk near the 2nd floor elevator, ask them for assistance. It does take the cooperation of all students using the quiet study area to help maintain it.

Reply: Thanks! And we try very hard to enforce the "no talking on the cell phone" policy. We have added tabletop signs, and we tell people on a daily basis that cell phone conversations must be taken out in the lobby (outside the library exit.) However, as with so many things, we rely on the cooperation of all students to maintain a quiet and focused study space. Everyone, please turn off your ringers while in the library - we all thank you!!