One of my past email communications addressing to the Yorkwoods Library Service Manager at the time:
''Ms. MacFayden,
...I still want to comment on my original email dated July 29/14
My points are:
1. Yes, I agree some of us bring our own head/ear phones to use in libraries. But to bring one that exactly the same model with same size & color is very difficult to avoid not being mistaken for stealing. The one pair I saw being taken in a sneeky way by someone even had the original orange tag attached, as with most of the library's headphones of this model.
2. Even with a physical heasdpohone count as claimed, it does not gurantee that it was not being stolen before or PC #522 happened to have 2 sets in that evening, which is not uncommon in this library.
3. The most important point is, from my years of regular use of this library, I feel that most staff are incompentent & very much evasive, if not relunctant, in receiving & acting on complaints/reports of concerns from patrons. In this case, the 2 staff involved did not even show adequate knowledge of the georgraphy of the place where they work. None of them was seen going anywhere close to the location which I gave regarding the whereabout of the alleged thief. One simply told me she could not find him, etc. As I was witnessing, they were not even tried. Of couse, like I mentioned already, they were not aware that I was watching how the handled this report to begin with. To me, they simply avoided encountering the thief for whatever reasons.
Looking forward to your response.''
I received a seemingly an admit nothing wrong, PR type email response from Gail MacFayden:
''Hi (private)
Thank you for taking the time to make these comments. We appreciate you taking your concerns directly to library staff and allowing us to work through these issues.
Toronto Public Library works to create a safe and welcoming space for all our customers. We balance the needs for monitoring resources with the rights of customers to work independently, without intrusion from library staff.
It seems that all the headphones are accounted for. Library staff have checked to make sure that all the headphones have been secured to the computers.
We want everyone to have a positive experience at the library and hope your next visit is a great one.
Thanks.''
No reply from G. MacFayden for my follow-up emal
''Ms. MacFayden,
This time I went to 2 staff telling them that the thief was leaving after they failed to locate & act, if you have reviewed my email with care.
I have also reported to Yorkwood staff about 10 times in the past 3-4 years about some people watching porns on library PCs. My last report of this nature was to the Senior Branch Head, Nicole, on or around Aug 14, 2014. Half the time I did not witness any action from staff. 2 times, the person was spoken to by staff. Yet all these people were allowed to remain & they keep returning to this library & continue their pron fun on library PCs.
The first report I made was after a child had departed from a PC on 2/F which was showing explicit adult porns. There were traces of suspected semen, perhaps the male child had very much enjoyed what he was watching & got too excited. I asked the staff if she could find out the library card number & do something about this. She simply turned off this PC & said they could not find out the library card information.
Moreover, I spoke to staff concerning excessive & continued noises coming from teens & children playing PC games on 2/F at this library. 8 out of 10 times I needed to go back to staff as the noises were continuing. I feel that libraries are supposed to be safe, fair & QUIET for all users. However, Yorkwood staff appear to be discriminatory against non-children in this kind of noise complaints. Their tolerance towards children noises is extremely high, or in children's favour because they are children & "they can talk".
Yorkwood already has a fair large designated children play & PC area on ground floor. I wonder why children are given almost unlimited & unrestricted PC access on the 2/F adult PC area & allowed to be fairly free to make excessive, on-going noises in an area where people are studying, researching, working, & prefer watching their favourite videos quietly.
Many staff I spoke to do not seem eager or appreciative that I complained. Some gave me unwelcome look, some said rude things back to me as if I was against these children, etc.
I already exercise lots of self control not to complain, e.g. noises, when I start complaining, noises must have been bad for 1-2 hours minimum, & no one else bothered to complain, & no staff says or does anything because the "cannot hear that".''
Contrary to what I was told all along, staff often are rude to me even when I was merely giving them items that other people forgot, not to say when I complaint or need help...
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