Michael. It’s all part of negotiating what privacy means these days. I still don’t know what it means. I suspect my tolerence for being “out there” is rather higher than other people – so I usually think about what I’d be comfy with and take it back to a more conservative position.

Thanks for your comment too. There is a lot of thought provoking stuff going on here that doesn’t always surface until, well, until it surfaces. That’s actually part of why I did a screen shot of the respondents instead of quoting them as you (very thoughtfully did) above.

I agree with everyone who is pro leisure reading collections in academic libraries. I think one of the aspects that makes many academic libraries seem austere and unwelcoming to patrons is the absence of material ‘just for fun’.

I particularly agree with whoever mentioned the international students in their library. They are a large proportion of our student base, and especially our library user base. Many of them virtually ‘live’ in our 24hr library computer lab, and I don’t think it’s healthy for them to spend all their time studying or sitting on the Web. I would love them to feel they could borrow leisure books from the library and sit outside in the sun for a while.

Anyone who thinks that leisure doesn’t have a place in the (academic) library needs to have another look at what it means to be a librarian in the 21st century. If the users want it, we should stock it.