[LIBRARYDIR] unaffiliated patron access to technology

[Luce, Monica]

Highline's answers below.

Monica

From: LIBRARYDIR [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Matz, Chris
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2016 3:34 PM
To: librarydir at lists.ctc.edu
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] unaffiliated patron access to technology


Hello, everyone.  Our library is concluding a major phase of construction this quarter, and one of the decisions we made to keep operations less chaotic was to change up our computer access to patrons who are neither enrolled at or employed by the college.  At Shoreline, this is about a dozen "regulars" who have been trespassed or otherwise inconvenienced by restrictions placed upon them at the local public library venues.  Prior to this September, at least five of our 25 desktop computers were set aside for these patrons.  We closed the building outright this summer and opened for Fall 2016 in partial readiness, and many of those patrons have not (yet) returned.  Those that have are shall we say demonstrative in their outrage.  Yes, of course, change is hard and all of us are uncomfortable with painting tarps and torn-up carpeting, but I was weary of enrolled students being turned away from the computers their technology fees pay for, as our IT department is to date unwilling to put any time restrictions on guest log-ins.  The students have expressed gratitude many times that more computers are open to them more of the time, amid the cacophony of the work sites.



These are my problems and mine alone.  My questions, however, are for the group:

  1.  How does your library manage computer use by unaffiliated patrons?  We don't actively manage it. We have ~80 computers in our Information Commons and none of them require login. We do have signs that say that Highline and Central students have priority for the computers.
  2.  Roughly what percentage of computers on-site are open for unaffiliated use?  100% of the computers in the library Info Commons
  3.  Do you offer guest access to wi-fi?  Yes.
  4.  Understanding that Shoreline has purchased some resources via consortium conditions and has some duty to provide unaffiliated access to keep the discount, does guest wi-fi count toward that standard? If the "guests" can access your resources through the open wi-fi, I would guess it does. But I would say it depends on the wording of our licenses or purchase agreement.
Thanks for your consideration.

It's not all gloom and doom, for the record.  Fewer unaffiliated patrons in the building means I haven't had to break up a fight between their dogs in almost six months.


Chris Matz
Library Director
Shoreline Community College
206.546.4558
cmatz at shoreline.edu<mailto:cmatz at shoreline.edu>
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