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Thanks Tracey. That’s a great idea! I would definitely be interested in watching the other Star Wars movies in the lead up to the new one 🙂
Thanks Ruth. I also think it’s healthy to have a discussion about this kind of thing. You raise some concerning points around trashy magazines and I think just saying “it’s not our place to judge what people read” is too simplistic. No library is going to be able to collect everything so the materials we do collect should be chosen with care.
Interesting post, Luke. Teenagers seem to be avid readers yet libraries are still having trouble engaging them. You have already raised some good points about why this might be the case. Treating them with respect and a friendly attitude is really important because I think teenagers often don’t get treated with the respect the deserve (not necessarily by librarians but by society in general). Librarians are often in the older age demographic so the generation gap might also play a role but like you said this is not insurmountable.
The “kids should be quiet in the library” debate seems quite polarising. I can see how people who have traditional views of what a library should be would be very unhappy about the noise levels and I can understand this. But I think it’s also really important to get kids interested in the library from a young age and kids are going to be noisy. I can’t think of a way to make kids quiet so that’s why I reckon having separate sections is the best solution.
Thanks Ruth. I agree that Young Adults sections should be separate to kids sections. If they are right next to each other then the noise might also be distracting for Young Adults. Older teenagers probably don’t want to be seen as kids any more so having more physical distance between the spaces might also help them differentiate themselves from kids.
That’s an interesting point Jenny – it’s not only kids who make noise but groups as well. That is related to my idea of having different rules about noise at different hours of the day. Although it seems like your point is that people can self-manage this without needing rules ie if you know there are going to be group classes or kids around then you avoid going to the library at those times.
I can only imagine how stressful it must be for parents to try and keep their kids quiet in a library. Kids are not meant to be quiet! That’s why I think having a separate section for kids is better for everyone, including reducing the stress levels of parents.
Thanks Luke. You raise a great point about whether a library has the funding or space to provide separate sections. Understandably this might not be possible in smaller libraries so they would have to find another solution.
I think it is really important to consider the users’ needs when making big purchases and the library needs to have a rationale behind why they would purchase them. But I think the librarians could still have ideas about potential uses for 3d printers even before users start requesting them. People don’t always know what they want 🙂
Hey Rae. Yeah I can see it quickly becoming overwhelming to try and know about the research of everything. I guess maybe I need to back pedal the degree of expertise that librarians would need to know. Since there are so many specialisations even within each faculty it would be impossible for a librarian to know as much as each researcher in their particular field. Yet maybe they would have a bit more knowledge about the current research in the faculty they are assigned to as opposed to a generalist academic librarian or a librarian assigned to another faculty.
Thanks Saurav and Debbie. I suppose I didn’t really give my opinion on the Postgrads vs Undergrads debate. I agree that librarians  should be providing support to everyone and undergrads should not feel excluded. In some ways though I can understand how more time would be spent on Postgrads eg Postgrads pay more money and would likely have more complex research questions so I can see how proportionally librarians might spend more time with them.
Great post, Chris. It brought to my mind a couple of thoughts. Firstly, I agree with Robynne that I don’t think libraries and books can or should ever go fully digital. Virtual spaces are great in many ways but they don’t replace the feeling you get while holding a book or perusing a bookshelf. Secondly, your point about teleconferencing made me think – why aren’t more libraries offering teleconferencing services? Libraries typically have internet connections and there are plenty of free video conferencing services these days like Skype. Teleconferencing is like a happy middle ground between web chat and face to face -it’s convenient because you don’t have to travel and you can still use the non-verbal aspects of speech to get your point across.
I enjoyed your post and counter-argument, Kate. 3D printers are expensive and certainly it seems wasteful to buy them if no one is going to use them. But, on the other hand, like you and others have pointed out, sometimes people don’t know what they want and can’t ask for things that they don’t know exist. An example of a big new expensive technological purchase being worth it for me is an iphone. I never had a smartphone before this year and didn’t think I needed one. Obviously I knew what they were but didn’t think it was worth the cost. After using it for only a few days I knew how wrong I was and I will never go back to a dumb phone. I think it would be interesting to examine the experiences of libraries and users who have bought and used 3D printers. Have they found it a useful purchase? Why or why not? The answers to these questions could inform other libraries’ decisions on whether to buy a 3d printer.
