Now that I have ample amount of ‘time’ on hand..
I am being sarcastic here. When you are a ‘mom’, your concept of ‘time’ is mixed up. You steal time – in between her sleep, in between her playtime, and when she is in the pram. I have set myself to explore the Bankstown library.
Hats off, the library is outstanding. I have never seen a library this grand!
Much needs to be said about the collection though. I was hard pressed to locate children classics like ‘little house on prairies’, or ‘Rip Van winkel’.. I have asked the library stuff for the books and haven’t heard from them yet.
I have relocated to Bankstown only an year ago from Canterbury council where I have used the Lakemba and Campsie library extensively. The Canterbury council has a system where a borrower is emailed of the upcoming due date for book return, which is really handy to allow borrowers to return the books on time.
Once I started using the Bankstown library, I received similar notice, but only by post. I thought that is the standard procedure, but when I went to return my last set of borrowed books, I discovered it is not the case. I didn’t receive any postal mail and unaware of the deadline, I am charged $30 for fine, for the first time in my life. It is very disheartening for a reader and not encouraging at all. Also, compared to other councils, this is a very high late fine for a public library. With the kiosk and the web portal I was expecting the Bankstown Library to at least have a reminder service via email.
It would be great to receive an email, a week in advance, to remind the borrowers of the books that are due next week. It doesn’t cost as much as the snail mail and a cron-job at the back of the server is sufficient to send this email out. Being a parent of four month old at that time, returning books didn’t come up as priority. But being a defaulter goes against everything I stand for. So I wrote to them and gave them the idea, even volunteered up my help. Two weeks later, they got back to me, with lots of promises and nothing substantial for the moment.
Also the fact that Canterbury council already has a system why not re-use it?
Why do they have to build it again? As a tax payer it does seem like a waste of money..
Dear ..,
Thank you for taking the time to send an email to Bankstown Council on 6 August 2014. We strive to learn and improve our standard of customer services and all feedback helps us in that endeavour.
We appreciate your comments for improvements to our Library Management System which generates patron notifications only by post at present.
We are currently testing patron notices by SMS, with a view to commence testing patron email messaging shortly. As part of conditions of library membership, it is the responsibility of all library members to arrange for borrowed items to be returned or renewed before the date the items are due back to the Library Service. Library items can be renewed twice for three weeks either in person, over the phone, or online on or before the date they are due for return at any of the Bankstown libraries.
If you would like to update your contact notification method, you can do so online through Member Login, or in person at any of Council libraries to receive notices by post at this time.
We value your feedback and hope that you will continue to enjoy the variety of services that our Library Service offers.
If you would like more information or we can be of further assistance please contact Debra Duan, Team Leader Library Member Services at Bankstown Library & Knowledge Centre on 9707 9708.
Yours sincerely
...
Needless to say, I coughed up the dough and got my dignity back.
I am currently traveling with Kunta Kinte in Roots by Alex Haley, beautiful book, very difficult to put down. What have you been reading lately?
Nisshobdo Rati 