TODAY I again attended Torpoint Library to return read
books and to take out new ones sufficient to last me the
next two weeks or so and again it was no surprise to find
that the (relatively) newly-installed, fully-automated
receipt and issue machine was out of order.
This machine has been wholly unreliable since the day
that it was installed and goodness knows what it cost.
To pay for this piece of electronic scrap I understand that
18 man (woman) hours per week have been deducted
from the Torpoint Library service budget. May I point out
that this machine not only frequently doesn't work but it
doesn't smile, doesn't bid you good morning, doesn't say
please, thank you or goodbye and is of absolutely no help
when one has a query.
It can't do good works such as organising exhibitions, big
breakfasts and the many other functions with charitable
aims. It causes endless frustration, particularly (but not
wholly) among the elderly who, I am convinced, believe
that it is their inadequacies and frailties that are the cause
of their problems. This machine has to go, the Torpoint
service should be given back its 18 hours per week and
the staff left (nay, positively encouraged) to resume their
'business as usual' routine with their customary cheerful,
helpful, professional and reliable service.
But I don't suppose for one moment that this plea will
attract any attention whatsoever.
JAMES BELL
Millbrook