I wondered if you would find the following link of interest:

Title: All Info About English Culture
URL: http://englishculture.allinfoabout.com
E-Mail: englishculture@allinfoabout.com
Description: Your key to the fads, foibles and eccentricities of cultural England. Your Correspondent covers high culture and low life with a British accent.

NB
The content of this site formerly appeared in the Cultures section of About.com (until the entire Cultures’ channel was dropped in September 2001). We are now working independently maintaining and creating new content on the same topic.

Many thanks for your time.

Paula

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thank you for your suggestion. We do include some non-subscription sites, based on their usefulness, accuracy, reliability (i.e., can we depend on the data, the authors and longevity?), etc. We will evaluate “All Info About English Culture” to see if it meets our user needs and our criteria.

Hello,

I am not affiliated with Duke. I am just using this form to suggest a data site to be included in your online resources page.

Globastat
http://www.globastat.com

I think your visitors would find it interesting to see how different countries compare to each other on more than 140 data categories.

Regards,
Azer Ibadov

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thank you for your suggestion. We do include some non-subscription sites, based on their usefulness, accuracy, reliability (i.e., can we depend on the data, the authors and longevity?), etc. We will evaluate Globastat to see if it meets our user needs and our criteria.

would it be possible to deisgnate certain computers and printers for those patrons who are simply doing book searches. I have spent hours in the libraray today waiting for book searches to print while the printers have been completely monopolozed by people printing entire articles — which seem to print on these machines exceedingly slowly.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person can well remember the simpler days, when you went to the card catalog to write down call numbers, and copied articles on a Xerox–I mean, photocopying–machine. Now, we multitask in so many ways. The same people who are printing out articles may have also, minutes before or minutes after, checked the online catalog for books and their call numbers; it is possible they got to those articles by beginning with a search of the online catalog. They may also be checking other Internet sites, and communicating via e-mail, as many activities interact in the research process.

The library staff has long been painfully aware of the demands placed on the public computer stations in the library, and have pursued a variety of solutions. These include:

* We have separate stations, with dedicated printers, set up for services which require Adobe Acrobat, as well as for online reserves. We recently added Adobe to the public machines by Reference, but that decision is under review.

* We tried, for a while, to restrict e-mail from the main public access machines, but that was not successful. Nor, as it turned out, very smart. The ability to e-mail information retrieved through the library’s resources, including the online catalog, is a necessary feature of the electronic research environment.

* We have kept productivity(!) software (e.g., Microsoft Word) off the machines, so that they would not be tied up with students and others writing papers, crunching numbers, etc.

* We have considered, at various times, charging for printing (as they do at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State), which would reduce some of the load on those stations (as well as the staff and materials costs involved), but you can imagine how far that idea went.

* The possibility of adding printers, so there is one for each workstation, has also been considered. In addition to the obvious cost involved, there is also the matter of the space that would be need for the added machines.

Having said all that, we are still looking into the issue of demands of public workstations; this is an important factor in the current renovation planning for Perkins Library. Answer Person will relay your concerns to the appropriate planning committees.

I think that it would be good if the library purchased additional copies of books that are on reserve for classes. For example, I am trying to locate a copy of Michael Hardt’s “Empire” (I have it requested and on interlibrary loan), because there is only one copy and it is on reserve for a class.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Gee, isn’t that why we have reserves, so that one person won’t monopolize use of a book needed by a whole class? It also means that the library spends less money on duplicate copies, and thus is able to buy more books. Well, that’s nice, but if you need it and there are thirty other students trying to use the same book, then . . . Perkins we have a problem.

The Reserves Department is able to obtain additional copies, usually operating on the guidelines of one copy for each twenty students, with a maximum of three copies per class. What you need to do is talk to your professor, who can make the request to the Reserves staff. Bear in mind, however, that this late in the semester, it may not come in in time to help. On the other hand, it might . . . and think of how much you will have helped future generations of students in that class.

Recently I requested a book from DOSS which I hadn’t noticed in the
catalog was already checked out.

24 hours later the answer came back: “it is already checked out.”

Then I had to fill out a different web form to recall the book, and
wait another day.

Couldn’t this be set up so that a requested book would be automatically
recalled if it was checked out?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Not everyone would want the book automatically recalled, realizing that it would still take a few days, or perhaps they didn’t want it that badly, or there may be other problems for the user. Nevertheless, we agree that it would be nice to have a simpler process for initiating a recall or hold in these instances, and are looking into the possibilities.

Why does the online version of the suggestion book suck so much more than the printed version?
The printed version was more entertaining before. What happened, Dukies too serious now?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Oh, well, Answer Person can’t please everyone. Perhaps if Answer Person were only as perceptive, articulate and clever as you AP would be able to maintain a more entertaining text.

As to some differences you refer to, remember that the online version tends to get comments and questions from all over the world, while the lobby book is limited to people who actually come into the library. As to Duke students being more serious, Answer Person has a hard time seeing a more serious trend in the comments and questions in the lobby book. Maybe all the funny questions have already been asked (don’t think so!).

instead of Communist Party congress descriptions, Works of Stalin etc, buy books that students really need.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: And Answer Person thought Senator Joe was long gone, and that the Cold War was over. Obviously we have some perspective problems here. Like what is the purpose of a major research library at a major research university? To hide information relative to the study of history, politics, economics and sociology? Perhaps the writer thinks we achieve strength through ignorance? Just what are the books “that students really need,” in his/her opinion? Answer Person did a quick review of our holdings, and out of about 5,000,000 volumes, we have a little over 200 books by Stalin, and around 1600 on the “communist party”–far fewer if you limit to “Communist Party congress descriptions.” I guess that means we’ll have to struggle to cover the books “that students really need” with around 4,998,000 titles.

Will local residents and visiting researchers not affiliated with Duke be allowed to ride the Duke-UNC intercampus bus if they hold a Library Card issued by either institution?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The new service (see http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/Ulife/bus2.htm) is sponsored by the Robertson Scholars Program, and is not linked to the library. At this point they have no idea of how much demand there will be for seats on the bus, so they are limiting it to students, faculty and staff with valid university ID cards. Unfortunately, library borrowing cards issued to outside users do not fit into this category. It may be that they will be able to relax this restriction in the future, but until they have some experience with usage they have to ensure they serve the primary clientele. Answer Person feels your pain; maybe more Duke people taking the bus will mean more available parking spaces in Chapel Hill!

I noticed that you have begun placing bar codes on the outside back covers of books instead of the inside cover. I can understand why you might want to make this change–it probably reduces wear and tear on books–but it does cause some problems with the Automatic Checkout Machine. When you check out a book with a bar code on the inside cover, the spine of the book rests against the back of the machine, and the anti-theft mechanism is desensitized properly. When you check out a book with a bar code on the outside, however, the spine of the book faces outwards; the anti-theft mechanism is not desensitized properly, and one must go to the circulation desk, thereby defeating the purpose of the automatic checkout machine.

If you want the machine to be useful, you should place the bar codes on the inside cover (or upside-down on the bottom of the outside cover).

Thanks,

Dan
danfrog@hotmail.com

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Actually, the placement of the barcode on the outside cover does work, at least in Answer Person’s experience. Answer Person has been able to check out books, and the anti-theft mechanism works fine. The trick is–just like with your barcode-in-the-book approach–to place the spine of the book against the back of the machine. Your comments have been passed on to the Head of Access Services, who also recommends that you let the staff at the Circulation Desk know when you are experiencing problems with the system.

I would like to see a copy of Prentice Alvin, a novel by Orson Scoot Card, on the shelves. It is reported as missing.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person will pass on your request. It always helps to make the request in person. Just stop by the Circulation Desk (or call them at 660-5870) to let them know what you need, and how to contact you when the book arrives.