Most of what is in here is related to improvements to the library's catalog or OPAC. I can't implement these ideas, but I can problem solve and then offer suggestions to my library's ILS for the next upgrade.
I subscribe to the philosophy to make the collection as browsable as possible, thus avoiding the catalog. Many users want to find a book, not learn how to use a computer, so to save time, it is good to learn how to browse and to teach browsing. Intuitive placement, good signage, instruction and routine are key pieces to save the time of the user.
One of my favorite things to do is to pull the exact book the patron needs without either the patron or myself having to use the catalog. It tells the patron that they could find that themselves if they learned the system. Teaching this technique along with providing catalog searching tips also helps. Patrons like to browse, help them do that. When you get stumped, use the catalog.
One thing we did to improve services with the catalog was to purchase a tablet pc to help with inventory and roving reference. This allows you to browse with the patron, then use the catalog without leaving the patron.
Much of the problem of the catalog is a confusion of purpose mixed with the inability to take advantage of technology. The purpose of the catalog is to find books, not information. A classic example is the patron who has come in with an illness diagnosed and is seeking more information. They type in the disease with no results, then they ask for help. We then refer them to Merck or a host of other medical resources that would not come up with the OPAC search. This is the key fault in the OPAC, it cannot give you all the information in every book. You are relying on the subject area. Due to lack of space on the original card catalog, a cataloger had to decide what the major subject of the book was. As a result, you or your patron will have to realize that the information may be housed in a larger book, up the category tree, and unfindable in an OPAC.
Next, catalog file resources.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Implementation Files
I keep a file called library technology plan for ideas regarding libraries in the future. It helps me plan for short range and long range plans and issues my library may face. Most of those resources came from the blogs you can see on my sidebar. I have categorized them this way to help me gather the information in the subject areas. Most of the resources I collect were created by these blogs, or they led me to resources. I will give a list of links to all of those projects and post them here, then provide a list of what I am using each for.
Some posts lead to actions, some posts lead to ideas for the future, and some I delete as unimplementable.
Right now there are five files, Catalog, General, PDF reports (big files), Spanish, Staff, Technology, and Youth.
I will post each project separately and provide one week for issues and my thinking on the topic. Some will just really be a single post.
Think of this as the tiny hair on the edge of the long tail. Or the last of the surf caressing the beach after the mighty wave has already crashed.
This week, Catalog files.
Some posts lead to actions, some posts lead to ideas for the future, and some I delete as unimplementable.
Right now there are five files, Catalog, General, PDF reports (big files), Spanish, Staff, Technology, and Youth.
I will post each project separately and provide one week for issues and my thinking on the topic. Some will just really be a single post.
Think of this as the tiny hair on the edge of the long tail. Or the last of the surf caressing the beach after the mighty wave has already crashed.
This week, Catalog files.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Successful Saturdays: Moving on UP or The Paperback Book Club
Successful Saturdays: Moving on UP or The Paperback Book Club
Today's installment of Successful Saturdays will focus on how we increased circulation at our library.
My library has a strange configuration. It is a split level building built in 1975. It is three stories tall, without the space. It has 16,000 square footage, but none of that is on one floor. 2,000 is in the downstairs area (which could also be referred to as the dungeon), and 2,000 square foot in the upstairs area (for administration, technical services, and other behind the scenes work), and 12,000 square feet on the main floor. We also have one elevator that connects all three that can often breakdown and mostly results in children playing in it. If you talk to most consultants about library building space, most of them will say that you don't need to consider multiple floors for a library until you reach 30,000 square feet. It is a simple question of access. Having multiple floors results in staff going up and down stairs and elevators to do their job, and requires patrons to do the same to access collections. This is an obvious problem if you choose to put anything downstairs, no one will know it is there.
Paperback books, audio books, music, and videos are typically your highest circulating materials. By rule, you should have these materials easiest to find as they will have the highest demand and the highest circulation. However, all of these collections were on the bottom floor out of site, which resulted in lower than average circulation for the entire collection. Money spent on these collections was also spent sporadically which is no way to promote your collection. If your materials are old, dusty, and in the basement with nothing new added month after month, your patrons will stop checking. I still remember a patron complaining that we did not have the Bible on audio book and asking what kind of library were we not to have that.
It was not that the collection development budget was inadequate, it was just that it was not properly spent. Before my employment at my library, the librarians were configured different so that only one librarian ordered all of the materials for the collections and none of the funds were spent consistently. It was a little here a little there. Money needs to be spent consistently on all collections with strengths in the highest circulating collections. You should not spend entirely based on circulation statistics, because then you will just be a bookstore, but circulation should be a major factor in how you spend money. When I became the Manager, we devised a formula that added up the number of volumes for the year and the number of circulation then divided each collection by the whole of the circulation. This allowed us to get a percentage of the circulation for the entire collection, we then multiplied the percentage for each collection by the total allocation of funds for the fiscal year. We then got a ball park figure as to how much to spend for each collection based on popularity. Another good resource is Collection Development Training for Arizona Public Libraries. This is a fantastic resource and if you are ever thrown into collection development with little or no formal training, this will make you look like you know what you are doing.
Even after spending funds consistently, we still had the problem with collections downstairs. It became an access issue since when the elevators were broken, those who needed it could not get the paperbacks and videos they needed. We decided to move the collections upstairs.
Now the library does not have an infinite amount of space and this project would involve the library closing for two days, they help of our City's Parks Crew, and the ingenuity and sweat of library staff. We got rid of our seating that was by our magazine section. (I touched on this in another post where we got rid of our resident transients by getting rid of this seating.) We placed all of our video collection by the magazine rack so when patrons walked in, they did not see a row of transients, but a row of videos, audio books, and music. Some people did not even know we had this collection. As a result, circulation jumped dramatically going from 16,000 circulations last year, to over 32,000 circulations this year and a turnover ratio of only six circulations per item to over 15 circulations per item per year. A great success, but the other collection, the paperbacks, is where we ran into trouble.
The paperback collection always had low circulation, to the point where we were not sure we were going to keep it at all. After discussion, we found that some of the collections did have high circulation, and after a heavy weeding to make space downstairs for our former upstairs seating, we received a lot of flak from patrons. We reduced the collection from almost 10,000 items to just under 8,000 in two months. Patrons were furious, “We can't find anything to read.”. I still remember a patron coming up to one of our librarians with book bag with only one paperback book in it, “This is all I could find today.” she said in an angry tone. We were playing with fire now.
Initially, we intended to move all the collections at once, but there was not the time or the space. Early the following year, we were able to use impact fees to buy tall shelving for an area in our Adult Fiction Collection (that was upstairs) to house our paperbacks. (Just another note, you should always put similar collections together so that patrons can find everything they are looking for.) We broke down the old half shelving and installed the new full shelving (the vendor provided the labor, thank goodness). Then we moved the paperbacks upstairs.
We still had to weed the collection even further to get the collection to fit in the upstairs section. We received additional flak as we reduced the collection from 8,000 items to 4,000 items. I thought the patrons were going to riot, but we never ended up weeding anything that was actually used. The turnover rate was less than 2 on average, whereas most libraries have double that rate for their paperback collections. Once we moved the collection upstairs, we discovered something, people began to find the paperbacks who had never used them before. “Where did these paperback collections come from!” Circulation ended up going through the roof going higher than it was even with almost 10,000 items and we ended up with a turnover rate of almost 5 circulations per item. Looking back, we discovered that our patrons wanted the paperbacks downstairs because they developed their own little paperback club. No one else knew about the collections so it was like their own personal library, which is great for the individual, but bad for the community. It is better that the majority of people could find the books, and discover new books, rather than a few people have their own personal library.
As a result of our moves, we increased circulation throughout the collection, but particularly in the collections involved in the move. We provided additional space for more computers, going from 11 computers to 30.
Today's installment of Successful Saturdays will focus on how we increased circulation at our library.
My library has a strange configuration. It is a split level building built in 1975. It is three stories tall, without the space. It has 16,000 square footage, but none of that is on one floor. 2,000 is in the downstairs area (which could also be referred to as the dungeon), and 2,000 square foot in the upstairs area (for administration, technical services, and other behind the scenes work), and 12,000 square feet on the main floor. We also have one elevator that connects all three that can often breakdown and mostly results in children playing in it. If you talk to most consultants about library building space, most of them will say that you don't need to consider multiple floors for a library until you reach 30,000 square feet. It is a simple question of access. Having multiple floors results in staff going up and down stairs and elevators to do their job, and requires patrons to do the same to access collections. This is an obvious problem if you choose to put anything downstairs, no one will know it is there.
Paperback books, audio books, music, and videos are typically your highest circulating materials. By rule, you should have these materials easiest to find as they will have the highest demand and the highest circulation. However, all of these collections were on the bottom floor out of site, which resulted in lower than average circulation for the entire collection. Money spent on these collections was also spent sporadically which is no way to promote your collection. If your materials are old, dusty, and in the basement with nothing new added month after month, your patrons will stop checking. I still remember a patron complaining that we did not have the Bible on audio book and asking what kind of library were we not to have that.
It was not that the collection development budget was inadequate, it was just that it was not properly spent. Before my employment at my library, the librarians were configured different so that only one librarian ordered all of the materials for the collections and none of the funds were spent consistently. It was a little here a little there. Money needs to be spent consistently on all collections with strengths in the highest circulating collections. You should not spend entirely based on circulation statistics, because then you will just be a bookstore, but circulation should be a major factor in how you spend money. When I became the Manager, we devised a formula that added up the number of volumes for the year and the number of circulation then divided each collection by the whole of the circulation. This allowed us to get a percentage of the circulation for the entire collection, we then multiplied the percentage for each collection by the total allocation of funds for the fiscal year. We then got a ball park figure as to how much to spend for each collection based on popularity. Another good resource is Collection Development Training for Arizona Public Libraries. This is a fantastic resource and if you are ever thrown into collection development with little or no formal training, this will make you look like you know what you are doing.
Even after spending funds consistently, we still had the problem with collections downstairs. It became an access issue since when the elevators were broken, those who needed it could not get the paperbacks and videos they needed. We decided to move the collections upstairs.
Now the library does not have an infinite amount of space and this project would involve the library closing for two days, they help of our City's Parks Crew, and the ingenuity and sweat of library staff. We got rid of our seating that was by our magazine section. (I touched on this in another post where we got rid of our resident transients by getting rid of this seating.) We placed all of our video collection by the magazine rack so when patrons walked in, they did not see a row of transients, but a row of videos, audio books, and music. Some people did not even know we had this collection. As a result, circulation jumped dramatically going from 16,000 circulations last year, to over 32,000 circulations this year and a turnover ratio of only six circulations per item to over 15 circulations per item per year. A great success, but the other collection, the paperbacks, is where we ran into trouble.
The paperback collection always had low circulation, to the point where we were not sure we were going to keep it at all. After discussion, we found that some of the collections did have high circulation, and after a heavy weeding to make space downstairs for our former upstairs seating, we received a lot of flak from patrons. We reduced the collection from almost 10,000 items to just under 8,000 in two months. Patrons were furious, “We can't find anything to read.”. I still remember a patron coming up to one of our librarians with book bag with only one paperback book in it, “This is all I could find today.” she said in an angry tone. We were playing with fire now.
Initially, we intended to move all the collections at once, but there was not the time or the space. Early the following year, we were able to use impact fees to buy tall shelving for an area in our Adult Fiction Collection (that was upstairs) to house our paperbacks. (Just another note, you should always put similar collections together so that patrons can find everything they are looking for.) We broke down the old half shelving and installed the new full shelving (the vendor provided the labor, thank goodness). Then we moved the paperbacks upstairs.
We still had to weed the collection even further to get the collection to fit in the upstairs section. We received additional flak as we reduced the collection from 8,000 items to 4,000 items. I thought the patrons were going to riot, but we never ended up weeding anything that was actually used. The turnover rate was less than 2 on average, whereas most libraries have double that rate for their paperback collections. Once we moved the collection upstairs, we discovered something, people began to find the paperbacks who had never used them before. “Where did these paperback collections come from!” Circulation ended up going through the roof going higher than it was even with almost 10,000 items and we ended up with a turnover rate of almost 5 circulations per item. Looking back, we discovered that our patrons wanted the paperbacks downstairs because they developed their own little paperback club. No one else knew about the collections so it was like their own personal library, which is great for the individual, but bad for the community. It is better that the majority of people could find the books, and discover new books, rather than a few people have their own personal library.
As a result of our moves, we increased circulation throughout the collection, but particularly in the collections involved in the move. We provided additional space for more computers, going from 11 computers to 30.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Fix-it Fridays: A DVD in the Hand or I can't do it myself
This installment of Fix-it Fridays will focus on our problems regarding our self-check machine and our DVD collection.
As I have stated before, we are a small semi-rural library serving an ever growing population. This population has relied on agriculture for most of its existence and has only recently begun to get manufacturing jobs, retail, and other amenities that you would find in a larger community in the Phoenix area. As a result, we have to be careful in what types of technology we push on them.
I mentioned in last week's post about the dangers of putting everything on line without providing access to those materials. In a semi-rural community, the knowledge and availability of technology is very scarce. When we first purchased DVDs, we went very slowly since we figured they would not handle the technology or have access to it. Instead, we went to our local video stores and found that they had ditched almost all of their videotapes overnight and went almost entirely with DVDs. DVD players for sale popped up everywhere, some as cheap as $50. The technology, knowledge, and materials were all present. So here we were a library full of videocassettes in a world that was DVDs. After that, we made an assumption that the public would acquire the technology and knowledge they needed with our technology.
However, we encountered a problem during our Master Plan process. Some community members thought we were going to fast with technology particularly with our materials. We had purchased some on line databases in lieu of additional expensive reference resources. We eventually did get heavy use on the databases, but we took a lot of flak for getting rid of some of the materials. I remember when one of our pages was pulling an encyclopedia set getting grilled as to why we were getting rid of these materials. New technology and change is not always welcome. It becomes imperative that a library knows how to implement change and train patrons on how to use it. At this point, it was hard to tell at what technologies our patrons would learn, and which ones they would resist. So when the Friends of the Library proposed purchasing a $20,000 self-check machine, I was very happy to get the extra help, but I was concerned this system cause more problems than it solved.
After examining all problems that could exist with the self-check machine we took action. All of our books have the barcode in different places so we would have to re-barcode all of the books so that the patrons could find it in the same place (as well as speed up check-out for circulation). When we first rolled out the self-check, no one knew how to check out the book. Most people tried doing it on the ISBN since they could not find the library's barcode. We did provide instruction on how to use it, and the computer screen shows exactly how to do each step, but we do have a population that has trouble reading signs. This is evident by the amount of people who still walk out of the library where the emergency exit is. Even though the sign is big and red and at eye level, they still don't see. Needless to say, we ended up spending a lot of time educating users how to use the machine.
This summer, we held a big promotion and giveaways along with staff available to assist with the machine. Usage picked up; however, we discovered a new problem with our system. When we began purchasing DVDs we put security on the discs. We found that the security did not prevent patrons from walking out with DVDs, did not prevent them from jimmying open cases, or set off the security alarms. As a result, we took all the DVDs out of the cases and placed them in boxes with a corresponding number behind the desk. So a patron would pick up the empty case, bring it to the desk, and get the disk upon check-out. A great system and it was foolproof. A patron could not possibly steal a disc. Then when we received our self-check and ran our big promotion, we had a problem; we could not check-out DVDs.
This summer, we had a huge increase in circulation, more people than ever were using the self-check; we had an automated time management system for our public access computers and were handling the load of 20% more customers. However, we quickly found out that people stopped using the self-check because they could not check-out DVDs because it required a staff member to get it for them and desensitize it. We just have a primitive old block at our front desks and can’t afford a check-out or desensitizing machine, so all AV have to be handed around the other side of the desk, much like you would see in a video store. DVD circulation went through the roof with twice as much check-out as the same time last year. This ended up being a bad thing because they could not use the self-check. So we have all these systems to assist with the lack of staff, a self-check machine, automated telephony to notify patrons of holds and overdue items, a time management machine for our public access computers, but patrons can’t check out the most popular items in the collection themselves. In order to get the DVD problem solved we have to either implement a fool-proof security system, which may end up being RFID to the tune of $60,000, pay for new machines that can desensitize AV at the circulation desk to the tune of $24,000, or continue to have staff check out the DVDs and push the patron over to the self check for their other items.
I will say, the lesson that was learned about technology is that if it is candy, patrons will learn, if it is something they have to learn to get what they want, it will be proportionate to the difficulty in getting it to the desire of wanting it. If you have something they really want, they will learn the technology (like with our time management, quick learners to get on a computer), if you have something you want them to learn to make it easier for staff and not the patron, then they won’t want to use it.
As I have stated before, we are a small semi-rural library serving an ever growing population. This population has relied on agriculture for most of its existence and has only recently begun to get manufacturing jobs, retail, and other amenities that you would find in a larger community in the Phoenix area. As a result, we have to be careful in what types of technology we push on them.
I mentioned in last week's post about the dangers of putting everything on line without providing access to those materials. In a semi-rural community, the knowledge and availability of technology is very scarce. When we first purchased DVDs, we went very slowly since we figured they would not handle the technology or have access to it. Instead, we went to our local video stores and found that they had ditched almost all of their videotapes overnight and went almost entirely with DVDs. DVD players for sale popped up everywhere, some as cheap as $50. The technology, knowledge, and materials were all present. So here we were a library full of videocassettes in a world that was DVDs. After that, we made an assumption that the public would acquire the technology and knowledge they needed with our technology.
However, we encountered a problem during our Master Plan process. Some community members thought we were going to fast with technology particularly with our materials. We had purchased some on line databases in lieu of additional expensive reference resources. We eventually did get heavy use on the databases, but we took a lot of flak for getting rid of some of the materials. I remember when one of our pages was pulling an encyclopedia set getting grilled as to why we were getting rid of these materials. New technology and change is not always welcome. It becomes imperative that a library knows how to implement change and train patrons on how to use it. At this point, it was hard to tell at what technologies our patrons would learn, and which ones they would resist. So when the Friends of the Library proposed purchasing a $20,000 self-check machine, I was very happy to get the extra help, but I was concerned this system cause more problems than it solved.
After examining all problems that could exist with the self-check machine we took action. All of our books have the barcode in different places so we would have to re-barcode all of the books so that the patrons could find it in the same place (as well as speed up check-out for circulation). When we first rolled out the self-check, no one knew how to check out the book. Most people tried doing it on the ISBN since they could not find the library's barcode. We did provide instruction on how to use it, and the computer screen shows exactly how to do each step, but we do have a population that has trouble reading signs. This is evident by the amount of people who still walk out of the library where the emergency exit is. Even though the sign is big and red and at eye level, they still don't see. Needless to say, we ended up spending a lot of time educating users how to use the machine.
This summer, we held a big promotion and giveaways along with staff available to assist with the machine. Usage picked up; however, we discovered a new problem with our system. When we began purchasing DVDs we put security on the discs. We found that the security did not prevent patrons from walking out with DVDs, did not prevent them from jimmying open cases, or set off the security alarms. As a result, we took all the DVDs out of the cases and placed them in boxes with a corresponding number behind the desk. So a patron would pick up the empty case, bring it to the desk, and get the disk upon check-out. A great system and it was foolproof. A patron could not possibly steal a disc. Then when we received our self-check and ran our big promotion, we had a problem; we could not check-out DVDs.
This summer, we had a huge increase in circulation, more people than ever were using the self-check; we had an automated time management system for our public access computers and were handling the load of 20% more customers. However, we quickly found out that people stopped using the self-check because they could not check-out DVDs because it required a staff member to get it for them and desensitize it. We just have a primitive old block at our front desks and can’t afford a check-out or desensitizing machine, so all AV have to be handed around the other side of the desk, much like you would see in a video store. DVD circulation went through the roof with twice as much check-out as the same time last year. This ended up being a bad thing because they could not use the self-check. So we have all these systems to assist with the lack of staff, a self-check machine, automated telephony to notify patrons of holds and overdue items, a time management machine for our public access computers, but patrons can’t check out the most popular items in the collection themselves. In order to get the DVD problem solved we have to either implement a fool-proof security system, which may end up being RFID to the tune of $60,000, pay for new machines that can desensitize AV at the circulation desk to the tune of $24,000, or continue to have staff check out the DVDs and push the patron over to the self check for their other items.
I will say, the lesson that was learned about technology is that if it is candy, patrons will learn, if it is something they have to learn to get what they want, it will be proportionate to the difficulty in getting it to the desire of wanting it. If you have something they really want, they will learn the technology (like with our time management, quick learners to get on a computer), if you have something you want them to learn to make it easier for staff and not the patron, then they won’t want to use it.
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