Response: The Library Suggestion Box appreciates your inconvenience and perhaps frustration, and so hopes to persuade you that the inconvenience is outweighed by other concerns. There are two exit doors coming out of the library into the area by the cafe on Level 2 and not being sure which one you are thinking about, let me clarify. The one on the right is a typical emergency exit out, with no handle for going in from the outside. The one on the left is the entrance to the Library Technical Services staff work area and offices. Since having folks walk by your desk or have access to your work area 24 hours a day is easy to understand as a justification for limiting egress, I assume you must mean the other door. (As the work on finishing the renovation continues, you will see some construction contractors using this entrance.)

You likely have experienced the "one entrance" structure in almost all libraries. It is standard practice among research libraries to use a single entrance in order to increase the safety of people in the building and ensure the security of the valuable collections. This is particularly important with a 24 hour operation. There are at least two emergency exit doors on each floor of the library and I am sure that several of them would be convenient for some part of our community to enter the library and so begins the slippery slope. If level 2, why not level 4? In this particular Level 2 location, the temptation to buy lunch and bring it immediately into the library would be hard to resist as well. It seems to me it would be a shame to risk the safety of our community, or put our spectacular new library space at risk for food hungry rodents and bugs and damage to the furnishings, for the convenience of multiple entries.

We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and hope that somehow the additional exercise can be viewed as an added benefit instead of inconvenience.

9/18/08

Response: Circulation policies can be confusing and do vary among the Duke libraries as well. For law books, our policy on loans is posted for your reference:

In sum, this is how it works:

• You are always guaranteed to have a book for two weeks.
• The loan period is generally 4 weeks for law books that circulate, and you can renew books if no one else has requested it.
• Recalling a book that is checked out is open to everyone, not any special class of patron. It is a way to share limited items among many who all want the same thing without making value judgments. This benefits you in the long run as well, since if someone has checked out a book you want, you can recall it too.
• We protect our patrons privacy and thus do not reveal to others what items you check out. (Incidentally this is required by North Carolina law too)

I hope this helps you better understand our circulation policies and if you have any further questions please ask the circulation staff at the help desk. 9/3/08

Response: View the video response for answers to these burning questions.

Response: Providing convenient access to power in a building designed long before the era of laptop computers is challenging. Several years ago, the Library was rewired to bring power to the table tops in the reading room and at the Level 1 carrels in response to this need. As you might surmise, the Level 1 carrels were originally designed in 1994 for desk top computers. We agree that refitting them for power at the desk top for laptops was long overdue. View the video response to witness the development of this project.

Response: The library staff is very flattered that you want to spend more time with us over coffee. Coffee may be just the simple hook that lets everyone know we welcome informal conversation and inquiries even outside the library. As soon as we can come up with weird things and an alliterative name, your suggestion will indeed be implemented. Watch for announcements soon.

If anyone has an alliterative name (but please not weird things) please send it to the Library Suggestion Box.