New Fines, Trouble With E-Books Helped Complaints Spike In 2012 at Toronto Public Library
From the The Star (Toronto):
Library records obtained by the Star show complaints leapt to 7,627 in 2012, from just 2,191 in 2011, but dropped back to 3,875 in 2013 as patrons adapted to the changes. In each of those years, the library had about 19 million visits.
Circulation complaints, which include issues involving fines, jumped to 2,551 in 2012 from 188 in 2011, an increase of more than 1,200 per cent.
Negative feedback about electronic services soared to 3,327 in 2012, from just 821 in 2011.
“The large majority of those complaints, about both collections and about access to services, (in) particular electronic services, were a result of our inability to provide e-materials to customers in a way that they wanted or that they weren’t able to access them,” said Paul Trumphour, the library’s manager of access and information.
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Filed under: Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.