Do they Count?
April 3, 2006 at 9:05 am Janie Hermann 17 comments
A quick follow up to my post yesterday about libraries and Sundays.
I did a seat count again at 3 pm and got very similar numbers to what I reported in my original post even with the sunny weather ( which actually sort of surprised me). But here is what I am left wondering:
Can I count the 9 people who were sitting outside the library on the public plaza using their laptops from our wireless connection?
We usually have anywhere from 10-30 people inside our library taking advantage of our wireless network. Late last fall the Borough of Princeton installed park benches and lovely tables on a newly built plaza that is right next to our library. Our signal reaches just far enough for those sitting in the plaza to log on. I guess with the sunny weather, our laptop users preferred to do their surfing in the sunshine.
So, can I count them?
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Library Garden 
1.
Peter Bromberg | April 3, 2006 at 9:40 am
Hi Janie,
Great post about Sunday hours. I think you really nailed it. It’s about offering services in a way that most benefit the customer (who after has paid for the library, either through tax, tuition or as a ‘paid member’.)
James B. Casey, Director of Oak Lawn (IL) Public Library has been a strong advocate for Sunday hours. I’ve saved one of his posts to PUBLIB from 1998 (does that define “library geek?”) which you can see: here. He’s posted more recently here: here.
If you search the PUBLIB archive you’ll turn up a lot more of the same: Libraries consistenly find that Sunday is the busiest day of the week.
-pb
2.
Peter Bromberg | April 3, 2006 at 9:40 am
Hi Janie,
Great post about Sunday hours. I think you really nailed it. It’s about offering services in a way that most benefit the customer (who after has paid for the library, either through tax, tuition or as a ‘paid member’.)
James B. Casey, Director of Oak Lawn (IL) Public Library has been a strong advocate for Sunday hours. I’ve saved one of his posts to PUBLIB from 1998 (does that define “library geek?”) which you can see: here. He’s posted more recently here: here.
If you search the PUBLIB archive you’ll turn up a lot more of the same: Libraries consistenly find that Sunday is the busiest day of the week.
-pb
3.
Peter Bromberg | April 3, 2006 at 9:47 am
PS, Yes you should count the people surfing on your wireless network. You are clearly providing service to them, and convenient service at that 🙂
-pete
4.
Peter Bromberg | April 3, 2006 at 9:47 am
PS, Yes you should count the people surfing on your wireless network. You are clearly providing service to them, and convenient service at that 🙂
-pete
5.
Peter Bromberg | April 3, 2006 at 9:47 am
PS, Yes you should count the people surfing on your wireless network. You are clearly providing service to them, and convenient service at that 🙂
-pete
6.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the links Pete. I knew that there were a lot more advocates for Sunday hours out there.
James B. Casey’s post was great, and I read some of the follow-up responses. I guess one of the points that I was trying to make is that we have moved past the early days of fighting for Sunday hours — where we had to hire special staff with special pay to work this one day of the week. Sunday pay and Sunday staff are what is hindering many libraries from being all that they can be on Sundays.
In days gone by we rarely did any programming on Sundays as it required extra staff at premium pay. Now Sunday is one of our busier programming days. Also, ith full-time reference staff on hand we are better able to serve those doing research.
I do think, however, that James’ comment in regards to punishing the user by taking away Sunday is correct and still stands and that makes me sad.
But you didn’t answer my essential question: Can I count my plaza laptop users in the seatcount? 😉
7.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the links Pete. I knew that there were a lot more advocates for Sunday hours out there.
James B. Casey’s post was great, and I read some of the follow-up responses. I guess one of the points that I was trying to make is that we have moved past the early days of fighting for Sunday hours — where we had to hire special staff with special pay to work this one day of the week. Sunday pay and Sunday staff are what is hindering many libraries from being all that they can be on Sundays.
In days gone by we rarely did any programming on Sundays as it required extra staff at premium pay. Now Sunday is one of our busier programming days. Also, ith full-time reference staff on hand we are better able to serve those doing research.
I do think, however, that James’ comment in regards to punishing the user by taking away Sunday is correct and still stands and that makes me sad.
But you didn’t answer my essential question: Can I count my plaza laptop users in the seatcount? 😉
8.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the links Pete. I knew that there were a lot more advocates for Sunday hours out there.
James B. Casey’s post was great, and I read some of the follow-up responses. I guess one of the points that I was trying to make is that we have moved past the early days of fighting for Sunday hours — where we had to hire special staff with special pay to work this one day of the week. Sunday pay and Sunday staff are what is hindering many libraries from being all that they can be on Sundays.
In days gone by we rarely did any programming on Sundays as it required extra staff at premium pay. Now Sunday is one of our busier programming days. Also, ith full-time reference staff on hand we are better able to serve those doing research.
I do think, however, that James’ comment in regards to punishing the user by taking away Sunday is correct and still stands and that makes me sad.
But you didn’t answer my essential question: Can I count my plaza laptop users in the seatcount? 😉
9.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:58 am
OOOPs! We cross-posted … thanks for the answer!
I actually thought it was cool to see everyone surfing in the sunshine!
One question, how do we edit comments? I made several typos in my previous comment. Must slow down…
10.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:58 am
OOOPs! We cross-posted … thanks for the answer!
I actually thought it was cool to see everyone surfing in the sunshine!
One question, how do we edit comments? I made several typos in my previous comment. Must slow down…
11.
Janie L. Hermann | April 3, 2006 at 9:58 am
OOOPs! We cross-posted … thanks for the answer!
I actually thought it was cool to see everyone surfing in the sunshine!
One question, how do we edit comments? I made several typos in my previous comment. Must slow down…
12.
Anonymous | April 4, 2006 at 6:03 am
Count them!
13.
Anonymous | April 4, 2006 at 6:03 am
Count them!
14.
Anonymous | April 4, 2006 at 6:03 am
Count them!
15.
Canadian Lib Genie | April 6, 2006 at 3:03 pm
We’ve recently added wireless access to our Central Branch and are finding that we’re ending up with more patrons spending full days at the library in addition to our regulars who use our internet workstations. Any service, even if folks take advantage of it just outside your physical walls, should be counted!
16.
Canadian Lib Genie | April 6, 2006 at 3:03 pm
We’ve recently added wireless access to our Central Branch and are finding that we’re ending up with more patrons spending full days at the library in addition to our regulars who use our internet workstations. Any service, even if folks take advantage of it just outside your physical walls, should be counted!
17.
Canadian Lib Genie | April 6, 2006 at 3:03 pm
We’ve recently added wireless access to our Central Branch and are finding that we’re ending up with more patrons spending full days at the library in addition to our regulars who use our internet workstations. Any service, even if folks take advantage of it just outside your physical walls, should be counted!