My college library, the continuing adventures

[killing_rose]

Because the library stairs are steep, I've noticed that I have more of a tendency to nearly fall while using them than I do on other stairs on campus.  I've had a number of increasingly close calls in the past several weeks, primarily because my balance has been more shot than normal. I can live with the pain that using stairs creates for me; however, I figured that it wasn't really bright to keep risking my life for books.

As previously detailed, back in October or some such, the librarians don't allow students use the elevator. My hope was that they would be willing to let people use the elevator anyway, if they (I) actually needed to.

Today, I finally braved talking to the librarian. (Mostly because it was one who hasn't screamed at me in the past.)

And she said, "Well, we can check out an elevator key to you. But well, not today." 

"Oh?"

"The elevator's broken. We're not letting anyone use it, though we have been sending books back and forth."

This makes sense to me, so I nod in agreement--I can stay on the first floor for a while. Or go up and down carefully.

Apparently, I can check out the key on Monday, probably.

This, however, is not the fail. I'm counting it as a accessibility win, albeit with caveats.

The fail is that, to talk to the nice woman at the desk, I had to walk up a flight of stairs to reach the first floor at all.

Oh, humans.

Comments

[exor674]

This may be the cynical side of me talking, and I guess it could be just getting stuck occasionally, and they don't want a *person* stuck inside it -- but "The elevator's broken. We're not letting anyone use it, though we have been sending books back and forth." sounds like a brushoff to me. "Broken" generally means a state of non-workingness, sending books back and fourth generally implies that it is actually functioning.

[killing_rose]

I heard it from both Circ and Reference, at such points that they couldn't have actually *discussed* the issue. (That, and I have friends who work there who attest that no, this is actually how they function when the elevator is on its deathbed for the eighth or ninth time this year. The thing's almost as old as the building, which enters its 5th decade this year.)

I'm still skeptical, but I'm going to go in on Monday when the director's there and talk to her. And if that doesn't work...my dean loves me.