What you have told us
Here you can search through numerous patron comments and the corresponding AADL replies. Search by the type of comment, in general by what the comment is regarding, or by a particular issue.
We care about what you have to say, and do our best to address each and every concern.
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Filter Patron Comments
Type: other
Regarding: other
Patron Comment: Hello, Do you accept book and DVD donations? Thanks!
AADL Reply: Yes, donations may be brought to the back of the Downtown Library during library business hours. Enter the Staff Parking lot off William Street, ring intercom buzzer at door and tell receptionist that you have books to donate. Donation bins are directly inside the door. The Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library will then process your donation. For more information visit http://www.faadl.org/ and follow the "How to Donate" link. Thank you.
Date Received: 2008-03-15
Type: catalog problem
Regarding: - NONE SELECTED -
Patron Comment: Something is wrong with the author's name entry in http://www.aadl.org/cat/seek/record=1299893
AADL Reply: Hello, Mark, how are you? Thanks for passing this on. The author's name is right in the title, so it looks like one of our scripts is choking on some unicode. We're not going to patch it at the moment as it's a very helpful test case as the character shows up correctly other places on the page. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention, and take it easy! -eli
Date Received: 2008-03-15
Type: web site feedback
Regarding: other
Patron Comment: Hello. I'm an MLIS student, and am looking over your site in connection with my Information Technology class. Question: What blogging software do you use? Obviously, whatever you use seems to be hosted on your own servers--at least on your own URL. Is this software functionality that already came with your library management software, and that you've customized? Or is it something that you've licensed separately, like WordPress or something else? I appreciate your taking the time to respond. Thank you.
AADL Reply: Thanks for your interest! Our website is powered by Drupal (http://drupal.org), an open-source content management system, and it's just awesome. We do run it on our own server and we've developed several drupal modules that integrate the public site with behind-the-scenes databases, such as our events engine and our library automation system. I hope that's helpful information; please let me know if you have any other questions or if you'd like to schedule a call to talk about this further. Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library
Date Received: 2008-03-13
Type: complaint
Regarding: computers
Patron Comment: A lot of problems with computers. Think it would be worth while to have Tech Support come in and check them out. I have been coming here for year and a half and never encountered problems in the past.
AADL Reply: Thanks for contacting us. We are having some trouble with the networking equipment at West that has been causing some bad performance intermittently over the past few weeks. We will be running diagnostics on the network this week and will be ordering new equipment if the problem is not resolved. In the meantime, thanks for your patience, and you could always try the pittsfield branch if you'd like. Thanks again for your feedback, and please let us know if you have any further questions or trouble. Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library
Date Received: 2008-03-13
Type: general suggestion
Regarding: - NONE SELECTED -
Patron Comment: Would you please consider offering a class on the new Adobe "Lightroom" software for digital camera users? I have it but don't know how to use it. Soon, okay? Thanks.
AADL Reply: Thank you for your suggestion to offer Adobe Lightroom. We will take this into consideration when scheduling the next session of computer classes. Sincerely, Terry Soave
Date Received: 2008-03-12
Type: web site feedback
Regarding: inquiry from other institution
Patron Comment: Hello! I love the catalog search tag cloud at http://www.aadl.org/searchcloud/. Are you willing to share how you created this function? thank you!
AADL Reply: Hello, thanks for your interest! The tag cloud is a part of the SOPAC (social opac) module we developed for Drupal, the open-source content management system that powers our site. The tags are contributed by users and go into a database outside the automation system, and the SOPAC module pulls together output from the library catalog and functionality from Drupal to offer this kind of feature. I hope that starts to answer your questions; if you'd like to discuss it further, we could schedule a call. Thanks again for your interest, and let me know if you have any other questions! Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library
Date Received: 2008-03-12
Type: web site feedback
Regarding: inquiry from other institution
Patron Comment: My library is in the process of migrating to the III Millennium ILS. I have been looking at websites of other libraries that use Millennium to see how they are customizing the OPAC. I love how you've integrated the OPAC into your website. Is there someone on your staff I can talk to about how that was done? I haven't seen any other libraries that have managed anything close. Thanks, Web Services Librarian Newport Beach Public Library
AADL Reply: Hello, thanks for your interest! I'd be happy to talk to you about how our catalog works, but be forewarned that there is much geekiness and hacking ahead. =) I've got some time later this week, and late next week. Thanks again for contacting us, and I look forward to talking to you! Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library
Date Received: 2008-03-12
Type: other
Regarding: other
Patron Comment: I have a collection of old phonograph records, some classic and some so-so. Do you know anyone or any organization that is interested in going through them to save those worth saving (before I discard them)? Thank you, in advance, for your advice.
AADL Reply: The Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library will accept records (no 78's unless they are jazz, rock or blues). Donations may be brought to the back of the Downtown Library during library business hours. Enter the Staff Parking lot off William Street, ring intercom buzzer at door and tell receptionist that you have books to donate. Donation bins are directly inside the door. The Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library will then process your donation. For more information visit http://www.faadl.org/ and follow the "How to Donate" link. Thank you.
Date Received: 2008-03-12
Type: other
Regarding: email notification
Patron Comment: Ummm... how do u stop the library from sending me mail that tells me when i have requested stuff ready???
AADL Reply: Hello, thanks for contacting us. We can deactivate email notices on your account, but this will also deactivate date due reminders, overdue notices, and such in addition to request ready notices. We can still do that if you'd like; just let me know and we'll set you up to receive no notices. It's an unfortunate limitation of the inventory system in that it does not believe that some people would want some notices but not others. Thanks for your patience, we hope to offer better control over your email reminders in the future, but in the meantime, cold turkey is all we have to offer. Thanks for your patience, and please let us know if you have any further questions or trouble. Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library
Date Received: 2008-03-11
Type: web site feedback
Regarding: other
Patron Comment: In the Home | MyAccount | Items Checked-out area, would it be possible to display any items already overdue in another color? I am always renewing online when I get an email notice that something is coming up for renew, then I'm surprised when I get a fine. If it were another color, it would be easy to see that it is already overdue.
AADL Reply: Thanks for contacting us with your suggestion. It's a very good one and it fits in with some other improvements we're hoping to make. We've added it to the list, so watch for it sometime in the future! Thanks again for your feedback, and thanks for using the library! Eli Neiburger Associate Director, IT and Product Development Ann Arbor District Library