To provide access to all the people of Cambridge and to insure that we manage our resources well, Library 21 is gathering information from as many groups as possible about what the people want.
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Periodicals: I go to the Main Library primarily for
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Books on tape: that I am legally blind I use the Main Library for
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Assistive technology.
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Disk recorders which play magazines which are recorded and then there could be discussion groups on these topics
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Service to access specific materials to help the blind and those who can’t see well, or who can’t read for some reason.
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Easy reading books which have
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Easy reading: topics at a level for teenagers to read and which also
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Easy reading: look like teenage books and not children’s books so that teenagers with a easy reading level can carry around books which make them look like other teenagers
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Books on tapes definitely need expansion. Blind people need them and now lots of people are using them for commuting as well so they are very popular.
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Books on tape are very expensive so they take a large amount of the small amount we have to spend on books.
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Books on tape are useless if one tape breaks or becomes missing, and there is no inexpensive way to replace them.
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A Cantabrigian, Bud Sorenson, is an owner of a book on tape company. Maybe he could help influence a change in that policy.
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Books on tapes need criticism. Some readers are good; some are not.
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Books in large print have only a limited selection- mostly romance. There is almost no non-fiction
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Furniture to allow people to work on resumes on computers
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My son thought that libraries only had old-fashioned books on old-fashioned topics. He didn’t know he could get the books from the library and not have to buy books from the book store all the time
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Computers to write resumes
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More contemporary poets
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Cambridge has already purchased and distributed some computers.
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Computers in the library are important for equal access in our society.
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It is a quiet place and it is easier to focus and no one disturbs me
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I use primarily the Main Library, also the main libraries in Arlington, Lexington, and Newton. My favorite is the Main library in Cambridge because it is I quiet and I can find places to set. C. Main seems more user-friendly.
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Space
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Furnishings are antiquated.
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City budget this year includes roof, wall and floor repair.
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We have a handicap lift in the back, but there is
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no bathroom on this main floor and
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no running water. There is
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no public phone or
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No drinking fountain.
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If we were open longer hours we absolutely would have to have more staff.
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Cambridge residents would never have enough hours. People in their twenties sometimes just get started working at 10 p.m.
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There are no weekend hours and that would require more than one person because of union issues that one person couldn’t be on all the time on weekends.
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Why couldn’t Collins library move into the Haggerty School if more space became available there? We are concerned about people who have
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School phobia and would like to have a separate location. The library can be a haven from the public school.
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My teenage son didn’t realize that he could d get the books out of the library that he can find in the bookstore.
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Are there really no young adult librarians in the system? There are no young adult librarians but there are special book groups and this summer there was a separate reading program for young adults.
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Young adult librarian: Cambridge needs a
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Young adult library space
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Teenagers don’t like going into the children’s library.
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Haggerty School’s librarian was this branch’s librarian and we work closely together and she is in my book club.
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Access to the main library is not good by public transportation.
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Money must be allocated for increased staff and hours and equipment and less money to only brick and mortar.
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We need more staff and evening hours at Collins
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No one disagrees that repairs to the heating, a-c and water damage need to be done.