Working at the library and the inevitability of laptop problems

Throughout the semester laptops are a hot commodity at the library – students can check them out for four hours and write papers etc while they’re in the library and the laptops are a part of the I-Print system. During exam time, however, people are under more stress and the laptops are in higher demand.

There are several problems with the laptops. The first problem with laptops is that we only have so many of them -- twenty-nine, that is if all of them are working. Secondly, if you need a laptop and we have none available at that moment: there is no list to go on and no written protocol for whom should get a laptop.

The first problem is one that is just a fact of life. We can only really circulate so many, and often we have more than we need. Not to mention that laptops are not the only computers in the library available for student use.

The second set of issues does not sound all that complicated. People can wait for a laptop to come back if it’s that important, and you give the laptop to the first person in line. Right? Usually this works just fine. Sometimes though things get more complicated. Sometimes Person A will be waiting near the circulation for the next laptop to come back, and Person B else will follow Person C, who is turning in a laptop, up to the desk having “claimed” that laptop. Who do you give the laptop to then? The person “gypped” of the laptop is not happy.

Just recently I had just come in for a long shift in the middle of the night. A girl was on her cell phone jabbering away, but standing as if waiting for someone to help her at the desk.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Sorry” she says, except I have no idea to whom she’s speaking.

“Can I help you?” I ask again. This time I’m sure she’s speaking to me when she “mouths” the words,

“I just have a question.” She doesn’t however immediately ask the question, she continues on the phone a little longer. Never actually hanging up, she tells the person on the other line that she’s in the library and needs a laptop. She asks me when the next laptop will be in and tell her there’s really no way of knowing as some people bring them back early and others bring them late. As I’m speaking, someone comes to turn in their laptop.

I plan to give her the laptop, but then a guy who has been sitting near the circ desk at least since I had been there came over, also intending to check out the laptop. I don’t want to tell either of them that they aren’t getting a laptop, but there is no way I felt I could not give it to the guy who'd been sitting there longer.

I give the laptop to the guy, the girl huffs, obviously angry with me but then she never does get off the phone. No more than fifteen minutes later she got a laptop.

Here’s the deal: we’re doing our best. No one is trying to cheat you out of a laptop, and if you’re that desperate for a computer there are generally alternatives to the laptops: use them. Give the library staff a break – we're working all night and all day and we still can’t keep up with all the stuff that needs to be done.