12:43 pm Library board approves new fax service for patrons
By Ashley Rader
The Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library will soon offer fax service to its patrons after the Elizabethton Library Board voted unanimously to approve the fax service policy during their meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Photo by Danny Davis - The Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library has a new and improved drop box in a new location. The box has been moved to the opposite side of the street from the library for easier drop-offs from drivers. It also has a separate slot for DVDs and audio books to protect them from the larger traditional books. Library employee Monica Calhoun and Library Director Mel Goff prepare to take the books from the drop-off box.
The library did not have a fax service for the library patrons and had been sending the patrons who needed to fax items to local businesses. Library Director Mel Goff explained she thought that the added fax service for the library patrons would be a chance to bring in more revenue for the city.
The library already had a fax line but it was reserved for library business only. The fax had been located in the director’s office but Goff said that caused some problems as well if any faxes came in while she was away and the office was locked. The fax line will be moved to the circulation desk where it is more accessible to the employees and where the employees can now send faxes for the patrons once the line is moved.
The fax service policy sets the price, number of pages and the procedures allowed during the faxing process. The library will charge $1 per page for faxes. This also includes the cover page if a cover page is included in the fax. Goff noted that some of the area businesses that the patrons had been going to charge as much as $5 for the first page of the fax with lower prices for the additional pages.
Faxes will be limited to five pages per day for each patron. Goff said this limit was set to limit the amount of time the library employees would have to spend on faxes. Also, if a fax fails to go through, there is a limit of three retries. It is the person’s responsibility sending the fax to make sure the fax number is correct and to have all the pages ready and in the correct order.
After the fax is sent, the patron will be given a confirmation sheet. The library is not responsible for the fax after it has been sent and it is the patron’s responsibility to maintain the confirmation for the fax.
At this time, the library will not be a location that receives faxes for the public. Goff explained there were several concerns that went into this decision. One is that there is often personal information that comes through on a fax and the library staff could not be responsible for protecting that information. Also, there is not a secure place in the library to store the faxes after they come in. Unless someone came in there would be no way to get the fax to them and the library could not be responsible for keeping faxes until someone came to claim them.
The board also approved the revised computer use and Internet safety policy. The policy was revised to include the use of wireless Internet access and to change the age from 18 to 17 years old for the age limit that people can request for the filtering software to be turned off from the computer.
The policy was changed to include the wireless access because the library now has wireless Internet. The patrons can bring in their own devices to use the Internet but the same rules apply as if the library’s computers are used.
Another change was that patrons are now limited to a one hour maximum per day of Internet access at the library because of the high demand. The library staff can choose to extend this on a case-by-case basis for non-recreational needs. Also, patrons can download on the computers but only to a CD or a USB drive of their own. They can use headphones but it must be their own headphones if the jack is easily accessible. The computers cannot be moved to access headphone jacks.
The library also approve a new vision statement and a new mission statement. Goff said the change was to shorten the current mission statement so that it could be printed on more library materials.
The new library mission statement is, “The Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library provides a full range of library services to residents and guests of all ages, aiding and supporting their civic, cultural, educational, intellectual and recreational endeavors.”
The new vision statement says, “The Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library: Quality library services where ideas flow free like the rivers and strong as the mountains.”
Goff provided an update to the board on the status of two grants the library has applied for. She said all of the equipment has arrived from the USBA laptop grant. The library received a grant that gave them laptops and the necessary equipment to have a mobile laptop lab to use for computer education classes. Goff said the library plans to host their first class in February.
The library also applied for the Library Services and Technology Act grant. Goff requested $4,200 from the grant which is the same amount that they apply for every year. However, because of increased requests this year they will only be receiving $1,800.
The library will also be receiving a new part-time employee who will split time between the library and City Hall. The new employee will be an archivist that will work at the library most days and will being improving the archival system so that information is easier to find and will allow the library to accept more local history items. When at City Hall, the employee will be working on improving the city’s records.
Goff also gave the board the statistics of the library for the first six months of the fiscal year. The library had 60,197 checkouts, 60,691 check-ins, 12,502 renewals and 1,471 holds placed for items.
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