Tom,
I think that's more of an "issue" with public libraries, where
self-service has led to (been seen as a means to?) redeployment (e.g.
meeting and greeting) and natural wastage (rather than redundancy). At Keele
we have enough problems with self-service "check-outs" to contemplate
"check-ins" as well!
Malcolm
---------------------------
Malcolm Taggart
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Poston" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: self-checkin / self-return machines - problems? ( don't want to
sound
Without sounding like a bit of a Ludite, doesn't the automation of return
services abstract ( no pun intended) some of the human element of
interaction within the library - thus further distancing Librarians from the
end users ( and further establish the mistaken stereotype of librarian
guarding the books from the users )
Does it not also mean that job 'revalidation' and cuts are more likely if
significant proportions of the service function can be re-assigned to
machines.
Just a thought.
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