|
|
Mystery of the Walking Headphones
10:26 AM EDT 4/4/07
Please pardon the cute subject...
My library system has been going through an increasing number of headphones at public access PCs. Six months into this fiscal year, we've already had to order 3,400. They seem to just to walk away.
I've been tasked with asking a sampling of public libraries questions along these lines:
--Do you offer headphones at your public access PCs? For free, or do you sell them?
--Are they at each machine, or do patrons need to ask for them?
--Has theft been a problem? What strategies have you developed to cut down on it?
--About how many per year do you need to replace? (Cost per year, if readily available.)
So... Do your library's headphones walk?
--Chip Halvorsen
Applications Software Specialist
Alachua County Library District
Gainesville, FL
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Mystery of the Walking Headphones
10:45 AM EDT 4/4/07
as a reply to Chip Halvorsen.
We did not have a problem with them walking until about 3 or 4 months ago, then they started flying out of here. We finally decided to end the practice of providing headphones, and told people they had to provide their own.
We had some grumbling, but for the most part, people have adjusted. We do offer some, but they are around $10, and are pretty large. I'm trying to convince the powers that be to buy the airline headphones, but I'm getting resistance there.
I did have one patron complain to me about not providing them anymore and he started spouting this line of his taxes paying for them, etc. I finally looked at him and told him that after the amount of taxes he pays is divided among all the taxing entities and departments, his share of a headphone is probably around 10 cents and that I would gladly refund it to him. He shut up.
He hit me on a bad day, and I normally don't do that, but it sure felt good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Mystery of the Walking Headphones
4:13 PM EDT 4/4/07
as a reply to Chip Halvorsen.
Last time I replied to a post about headphones, we were considering them a disposable item, and kept rebuying the cheapest ones we could find at Demco.
However, theft kept increasing all the time, and we had one child who was intentionally snapping them in two each time he got on a computer. That seemed to be the last straw for our director and board...
Now we are selling the remaining brand new ones for $9, and less desirable used ones at a discount. Patrons are welcomed to bring their own. Nobody has complained yet.
The only problem we've had is people leaving the volume control turned up when they leave, and then having to mute the computers for people not using headphones. If you have Gates computers, you need to install a little program called soundperm to allow volume control access in "All". You can download it here:
http://pacomputing.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=8340
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Mystery of the Walking Headphones
3:04 PM EDT 4/6/07
as a reply to Erica Cathers.
Your headphone snapper is pretty bad. We occasionally have found a golf pencil or scrap paper in the CD drives. And then there's the guy who tried to sign up for a PC session by inserting his library card into the floppy drive...
We actually disable the external speakers, so our patrons rely on the headphones. Thanks for the tip on soundperm, though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Mystery of the Walking Headphones
10:43 AM EDT 4/20/07
as a reply to Chip Halvorsen.
Thanks for your responses. I heard back from six public libraries of the 10 that I contacted by phone, and I see three responses here. Here's what I learned from my little unscientific sampling:
--Nearly all libraries contacted tried at some time to provide headphones for free to public access PC users, either at the PCs or by request or checkout.
--Less than a fourth of libraries still provide them for free at the PCs. Some others have either gone to a checkout system or now sell headphones, and a few have told patrons to bring their own. High loss rates became common at places that provided them for free at the PCs.
--Three libraries mentioned that the loss rates seem to have been worse recently than in the more distant past.
--One library tried to reduce loss by buying "big, boxy, dorky" headphones, and they still disappeared.
--The library that seemed most successful at preventing loss is the Orange County, Fla., system in Orlando area, which checks them out at the Circ Desk and charges $1 a day fine if not returned on the same day.
I'm not sure what the higher-ups at my library system will do with this information, but it seems like something's gotta give.
|
|
|
|
