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18 votes Vote

Cross-campus paging of materials

- We need to provide this service for more than just AV materials, and should also expand the scanning service so it is for article outside of LSF as well. To staff a service like this, which would definitely raise our worth on campus and is something many libraries already do, we should look at cutting services that are less valued by our users and use the savings we gain there to fund this service. It would mean we would have to stop doing some things we’ve traditionally done but we should be ready to make hard decisions about stopping something less valuable to the user to provide something more valuable. (Idea submitted via Strategic Planning Comment Card)

Hopper_Moderator, 08.12.2010, 17:40
Response from the site administrator
Hopper_Moderator, 18.06.2012
Forwarded to the Strategic Planning Task Force for review.

Please note, there is a comment to this posting under the name "hopper-moderator," it has not been posted by the moderator of the site, Hopper Moderator.
Idea status: under consideration

Comments

hopper-moderator, 10.12.2010, 18:41
I don't understand why we can't charge for "luxury" services like this? The private sector would certainly charge a nice fee for paging materials - why can't we?

The downside is we will be setting up an economically biased service model. It will provide better services to those willing to pay for them, but it shouldn't be done for a nominal fee but rather a SUBSTANTIAL one (e.g labor costs should be estimated at at least $25 an hour rather than whatever we actually make). Believe it or not the idea of paying more will appeal to a certain group of users.
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vegan, 11.12.2010, 13:40
or, in times of duress such as this, perhaps we should discontinue this add-on service? People will understand the necessity of cost-containment. The administration has protected the materials budget, no concentrate on open hours for our students
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whodat, 15.12.2010, 00:23
i think it should be suspended until the university knows what resources it has to operate. It's convenience, not core.
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wayfarer, 15.12.2010, 02:31
yes this is a nice thing to do, but we can start it back up if the budget ever gets better. suspend for now.
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whodat, 16.12.2010, 00:42
i agree with vegan. people like delivery I am sure, but there is a cost for a nice service that is really not core. wait til times improve.
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lookslikeuptome, 16.12.2010, 20:31
i agree. let's do it again when we can afford it. let people walk between libraries while budgets are so tight.
we can use the freed up labor to bolt down the tables someone wants to keep the students from moving.
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DennisHopper, 25.04.2011, 19:12
I agree with everyone, let's wait, we have enough to do already. Besides charging for a service will only alienate students with less money.
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