Question re: patron privacy within the library building - no results
Last week I posted a question to Michlib, asking how libraries respond to callers who want to know if a certain person is in the building. I received many requests to share the results of my post from librarians who had the same question! I received just one response, from a university library, whose librarians tell the caller that the library does not provide a messaging or paging service. I didn't hear from any libraries who had inserted language governing the privacy of patrons who are using the facility into their patron privacy policy. -- Teresa Stannard, Library Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 Library Hours: M-Th 10-8; F 10-6; Sat 10-4 Teresa Stannard, Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 www.parchmentlibrary.org
Teresa - Sorry not to reply. Our procedure is to tell the caller that we cannot page unless the situation is critical enough that our campus police are willing to come walk the building to look for the person. We refer the caller to our campus police. Sadly, the police usually call us back without any understanding and ask us to do the page. At this point, my staffer calls me at home and I call the police to explain again that we will only do that IF the police will come walk the building (10 floors in two wings) to look for the person. Once I am convinced that the campus police understand our policy and if they then ask us to do a PA announcement, we will. So I am telling you that our policy is virtually never understood by our campus police (in spite of many many meetings), so I need to get involved every time. Thanks for bringing up the privacy concern. I am ASTONISHED that in all these years, I had never thought about that!! I will ponder that aspect now. -- Kriss --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kriss Ostrom, Head, Circulation Services (23) Michigan State University Libraries 366 W. Circle Dr East Lansing, MI 48824 517.884.1943 FAX 517.355.5005 kriss@mail.lib.msu.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: michlib-l-bounces@mcls.org [mailto:michlib-l-bounces@mcls.org] On Behalf Of Teresa Stannard Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 4:05 PM To: michlib-l@mcls.org Subject: [Michlib-l] Question re: patron privacy within the library building - no results Last week I posted a question to Michlib, asking how libraries respond to callers who want to know if a certain person is in the building. I received many requests to share the results of my post from librarians who had the same question! I received just one response, from a university library, whose librarians tell the caller that the library does not provide a messaging or paging service. I didn't hear from any libraries who had inserted language governing the privacy of patrons who are using the facility into their patron privacy policy. -- Teresa Stannard, Library Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 Library Hours: M-Th 10-8; F 10-6; Sat 10-4 Teresa Stannard, Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 www.parchmentlibrary.org _______________________________________________ Michlib-l mailing list Michlib-l@mcls.org http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
Most of our calls have to do with parents calling to tell their kids to go home. We do not hand the phone over to the patron; we relay a message from the caller. We don't have a policy on the issue. Mimi Herrington, Director Bad Axe Area District Library 200 S. Hanselman Street Bad Axe, MI 48413 989.269.8538 (Phone) 989.269.2411 (Fax) www.badaxelibrary.org -----Original Message----- From: Teresa Stannard Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 4:05 PM To: michlib-l@mcls.org Subject: [Michlib-l] Question re: patron privacy within the library building- no results Last week I posted a question to Michlib, asking how libraries respond to callers who want to know if a certain person is in the building. I received many requests to share the results of my post from librarians who had the same question! I received just one response, from a university library, whose librarians tell the caller that the library does not provide a messaging or paging service. I didn't hear from any libraries who had inserted language governing the privacy of patrons who are using the facility into their patron privacy policy. -- Teresa Stannard, Library Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 Library Hours: M-Th 10-8; F 10-6; Sat 10-4 Teresa Stannard, Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 www.parchmentlibrary.org _______________________________________________ Michlib-l mailing list Michlib-l@mcls.org http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
We have a privacy policy that we can not tell a caller if someone in particular are in the library even if a child. Joann Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 23, 2015, at 12:49 PM, "Mimi Herrington" <mherring@badaxelibrary.org> wrote:
Most of our calls have to do with parents calling to tell their kids to go home. We do not hand the phone over to the patron; we relay a message from the caller. We don't have a policy on the issue.
Mimi Herrington, Director Bad Axe Area District Library 200 S. Hanselman Street Bad Axe, MI 48413 989.269.8538 (Phone) 989.269.2411 (Fax) www.badaxelibrary.org -----Original Message----- From: Teresa Stannard Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 4:05 PM To: michlib-l@mcls.org Subject: [Michlib-l] Question re: patron privacy within the library building- no results
Last week I posted a question to Michlib, asking how libraries respond to callers who want to know if a certain person is in the building. I received many requests to share the results of my post from librarians who had the same question! I received just one response, from a university library, whose librarians tell the caller that the library does not provide a messaging or paging service. I didn't hear from any libraries who had inserted language governing the privacy of patrons who are using the facility into their patron privacy policy.
-- Teresa Stannard, Library Director
Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004
Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749
Library Hours: M-Th 10-8; F 10-6; Sat 10-4
Teresa Stannard, Director Parchment Community Library 401 S Riverview Dr. Parchment, MI 49004 Ph. 269.343.7747 x203 Fax 269.343.7749 www.parchmentlibrary.org
_______________________________________________ Michlib-l mailing list Michlib-l@mcls.org http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
_______________________________________________ Michlib-l mailing list Michlib-l@mcls.org http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
participants (4)
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Joann -
Mimi Herrington -
Ostrom, Kriss -
Teresa Stannard