You wrote:
Monday… 18:45 pm. Computer number W-246, desk was a complete mess, someone had been eating there and had left their food wrappers as well as pencil shavings all over the desk. Furthermore the monitor was locked to the hard drive in a manner which made it inconvenient to use. Another computer became available so I took that one as there was no one available to help me. Computer W-261, keyboard is filthy, has not been cleaned in awhile. Why aren’t the computers being cleaned regularly and why isn’t there more vigilance being done to ensure that students are not leaving the computer stations a mess. Also, there is a rule about eating in the library which clearly isn’t being enforced.
Thank you for writing to us. I’m sorry to hear about your combination of unpleasant experiences while using the library workstations. I forwarded your comment about the monitor to our computer technicians, and it has now been adjusted.
We do have the workstation keyboards cleaned on a weekly basis, and we do ask students to leave the library with food when caught in the act. With round the clock opening hours, however, and average entranceway traffic (or ‘turnstile statistics’) of 250 per hour in busy months like these, it would be nearly impossible for us to monitor students’ activities and workstation/keyboard status on a continual basis. We need help from all of you as well. Hopefully this post can serve as a reminder to everyone that any messes created, and most especially left behind, have a significant impact on the experience of all library users.
