Dear Library Staff,
I have noticed that the computers on the first floor of the
Regenstein library are in high demand and some inconsiderate patrons
have a habit of staking out their spot by leaving their bags and coats
on a chair and then wandering off to go and have coffee, chat with
friends, etc. When they return, they expect that other patrons should
just cede them the place them vacated. I would encourage the library to
adopt a policy to prevent or at least discourage this selfish hogging
of communal and scarce resources.
Today I approached a woman who seemed to be leaving the computer
terminal she had been using. She was standing up to leave. "Are you
leaving?" I asked. "No," she said, blatantly walking away. "Well, there
are a lot of people who want to use these computers," I said, gesturing
to all room in which as far as I could discern every station was
occupied. "Well, you'll have to wait. I'm going to get some lunch," she
said. I do not know who this person was, but her tone of address was
extremely rude and entitled. She seemed to feel that she had the right
to prevent others from using the computer, even when she herself was
not using it. She continued, "if you want to use a computer, there are
plenty of other computers on campus that you can use." And with that,
she was off.
One suggestion of how the library might prevent this abuse of
common resources comes by analogy from the Ratner gym. In the cardio
rotunda there is a sign which stipulates that users of treadmills and
other equipment will be granted a 5 minute grace period. In other
words, even if you have reserved a piece of equipment during a certain
time-slot, if five minutes go by and you are not on it, you must
relinquish your right to use it and let other gym patrons use the
equipment. I have found that the signs posted by the scanners on the
first floor are very effective: when other patrons have not been using
a scanner and I have needed to use one, they have always very
graciously allowed me to do so. But for people to walk away from shared
computers in order to go eat lunch perhaps for half an hour at a time,
and for them to presume that they can return to the computers and
repossess them at their pleasure is highly antisocial. I hope the
library will take measures to discourage this antisocial behavior.
The first floor computers (indeed, all the Library-owned workstations) have a 15 minute timeout set - after 15 minutes of inactivity, the computer restarts.
We chose 15 minutes to allow people time to step away briefly to visit the restroom, take a quick call, and so on. Implicit is the understanding that if a user walks away for more than 15 minutes, they're probably done with the computer.
So what of those computers that have passed the 15 minute limit, but have books and coats strewn about? We don't have an official policy, and staff are reluctant to collect personal items. But I note that nothing prevents you from removing the items to a nearby table, and using the vacated computer.
