courtesy phones at libraries?

[Wendy Hysko]

Hi all-

We have no pay phones in our community and we often have people directed to our library for phone use. We have allowed short calls, but more recently we've had people in distress who need to talk to attorneys, doctors and others that are longer conversations and we don't want our business lines tied up, and these conversations would be best away from our busy desk. We need a durable phone that's tethered and have heard of libraries out West and in some cities offering courtesy phones that use VoIP and old pay phones that are converted for free public use. Do any libraries in New England offer courtesy phones? I'm looking for ideas on how to make this happen. Our current phone system is not VoIP. If you offer something like this, I'm curious if there are regional companies that might offer something like this, or best resources to tap into.

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Wendy Hysko

Director, Brownell Library

President, Green Mountain Library Consortium

6 Lincoln Street

Essex Junction, VT 05452

(802) 878-6955 (Main Desk))

www.brownelllibrary.org

http://www.facebook.com/brownelllibrary

[HBac...@weymouth.ma.us]

We don't have courtesy phones here. On very rare occasions when a patron has been in crisis I've brought them back to my office to use my phone.

This might be overkill for your situation but the Las Vegas library district started a cell phone lending program last year in partnership with area homeless service providers - I thought that was a really interesting idea. LJ Info Docket article: https://www.infodocket.com/2022/04/21/las-vegas-clark-county-library-district-launches-barrier-busting-cell-phone-lending-initiative/

_____________________________________

Heather Backman (she/her) Assistant Director of Library Services Weymouth Public Libraries 46 Broad Street, Weymouth, MA 02188 weymouth.ma.us/library 781-340-5002

Recently I've read Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith for the MA Center for the Book 2023 Reading Challenge

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From: Wendy Hysko <wen...@brownelllibrary.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2023 10:02:34 AM
To: nela-discu...@nelib.org
Subject: [NELA] courtesy phones at libraries?

 

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