Students Goof Off on Library Computers, Imagine That!

Students misuse library - Lifestyles

The story linked above comes via Florida A&M. Students that goof off on campus computers annoy peers who actually have work to do. Imagine that. This definitely had to be a slow news day if it made it the campus newspaper. Like, really? Here, on my campus, we regularly see a blend of students who seem to be doing academic work and those who are cruising MySpace and Facebook, the Yahoo! games, and a couple of "recreational sites." And at this time of the year, our small computer lab does fill up, and we have people waiting. That's life. If the lab is full, you get to wait your turn. Here is something about this article that no one seems to be asking:

• How many of the people claiming annoyance over their peers goofing off are simply annoyed because they themselves can't get on a computer fast enough to goof off? Let's be honest, would they fess up if asked, "why do you want to get on a computer?" to admitting "I just want to check my Facebook?"

For the moment, we pretty much do not police the computer lab or kick people out. Personally, I figure that the students pay their tuition, they can do what they want (as long as it is not illegal). They want to waste a little time on the computer, go for it. And since a good number of the people waiting are likely just waiting to do the same, I am not bound to be terribly sympathetic.

Anyhow, this qualifies as a "Department of the Obvious" selection.

Found via The Kept-Up Librarian here.

P.S. The newspaper had a link for sharing that included Blogger, so I tried it out. Thus the layout of the link at the opening of the article. I am having mixed feelings on how efficient using those little tools work for Blogger (they work ok for Facebook it seems), but for now, I willing to give it a fair shake.