Comments on: Staffless “library” opens up in King County

By: Ya Novels » We Don’t Need No Stinking Library

Ya Novels » We Don’t Need No Stinking Library — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:57:51 +0000

[...] Librarian in Black and The M Word – Marketing Libraries are talking about a “staffless” library has opened in Kings County. There is interesting talk, pro and con, at those two blogs, so click on through to add to the discussion. The story the blog posts are based on is at Library Journal. [...]

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:42:56 +0000

I actually live near this kiosk. I love the service. King County Library is a large regional library that shares books between its branches. I rarely go to the library and browse. Instead, I use their online service to search for books and place holds. The kiosk doesn’t replace the (busy, well staffed, well equipped) Redmond library branch, it just augments it. The kiosk doesn’t take away service, it adds it.

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:40:03 +0000

Dreadful. It’s a crying shame that that is what the community appears to want. They have probably been schooled by generations of ‘don’t ask me, look for yourself’ librarians in their area to expect nothing much more than a pickup service. Sigh… one reaps what one sows.

By: Brenda McIlroy

Brenda McIlroy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:38:01 +0000

My local library 30 years ago was unstaffed and unsecured. The room was in the town hall and operated on an honor system. You came in, made yourself a little pocket, chose your book, put in the tag in the pocket, and it was yours for as long as you wanted, or until someone tracked you down because they wanted it. The books were replenished every few months from the district library 3 hrs drive away. Worn out or inappropriate material was removed, the shelves would be organized, and the catalog (card, of course) updated. Sometimes there were more books than they started with because people would leave books they had picked up elsewhere. Even though some were never returned, they lost very little, certainly not enough to make it worth installing any security. Sometimes if people knew they would not be returning they would leave some money. The town’s Country Women’s Association kept it tidy, made extra book tags etc. I guess it was little more than a bookroom or swop-shop, but there was no way that community could have afforded anything else, and we called it a LIBRARY.

By: catherine biltcliffe

catherine biltcliffe — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:46:02 +0000

Hello, Although this may not be a library it connects to the main library and if this is what works for this community and more people are reading then that is great!!! We have a very small library in our town with a small budget so hours are not the best for all our residents to have a place to pick-up books would be helpful and we could get more people to use services and isn’t that what we want??I love our staff and feel that a set-up like this would help their job by reaching more people. thanks for listening. Cat

By: Kaylin

Kaylin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:53:53 +0000

Aside from the questionable cost-effectiveness, as a patron I would find it very creepy to walk into a deserted library and go up to the self-check out till like at Giant Eagle! I love my friendly librarians

By: Hyvää joulua! – Kirjastosuunnittelijan muistiinpanoja

Hyvää joulua! – Kirjastosuunnittelijan muistiinpanoja — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:32:41 +0000

[...] kautta. Viiden vuoden sisällä suurin osa e-kirjoista saattavat olla kurssikirjoja, King County on avannut kirjaston ilman henkilökuntaa (tällaisia on kyllä muuallakin, esim. Tanskassa ja Saksassa), ja LIBER on julkaissut [...]

By: What Makes a Library a Library? | Librarian by Day

What Makes a Library a Library? | Librarian by Day — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:38:13 +0000

[...] week Sarah Houghton-Jan posted about a staffless library in Washington and asked the question “What makes a library [...]

By: sue

sue — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:18:27 +0000

Maybe this unstaffed library is a good idea, maybe not. Over time the staff at the main library will be able to determine this through the number of holds placed and actually picked up. However, this type of library is very specific and it is doubtful to be replicated to any extent. The website for the community shows that it is exclusive, for the upper-middle to upper income folks. It is probably true that this community contributes financially to their express library – even providing the building. So for types of communities that can provide funding, and are quite a distance from a mainstream library, it might work. But in general, most people live close enough to a library to get there (and there are shut-in services and bookmobiles) most people don’t put holds on books . . . Also, the form of security – survelliance cameras, and requiring a library card – is laughable. In the urban area I lived in, with such security, within one week the computers would be trashed, the books stolen, the building vandalized. Our library had 2 full time security guards to keep the peace. Again, what this type of library is for is to serve a very particular type of patron, not the general public.

By: Mark Pond

Mark Pond — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:15:06 +0000

I’m torn on this one… it’s a situation that required a lot of adding and subtracting before the needle on my good-vs-evil-o-meter settled on the “Good” side of the scale. Just barely.

I’m hoping KCLS has plans to get the face of a human associated with the building pronto.