Heard a rumor that circulation has been down this year. Hmmm. I guess I'll have had to work longer at my ("my!" That's funny) library in order to have a more accurate idea concerning numbers and so forth, because right now....are we collecting the data properly? Interpreting it correctly? Because it doesn't seem logical that the volume of work isn't adding up to pretty decent numbers. ILLs, too, have just exploded: the amount of material that ships in and out ...yow. I don't get it. Hmmm.
Here are a few comments I'm hearing repeatedly:
1) "Where are all your new books? There's nothing back there."
2) "Do you have a list of all your DVDs?"
3) "Do you have a copy of the 'One Book, One Community' book?" (Yes! This has been a pleasure to answer, as we generally do have a copy, and people seem to be taking a big interest in the program.)
It was book report time again this last week or so: countries, this time. The last one was famous people, and as those returns were pouring in (many very overdue) the country books were going out. What else....F. Scott Fitzgerald. We've had a run on "Gatsby."
2 comments:
Actually, I've been trying to think of a way that we could provide a WPL-only list of DVDs, using one of the Web 2.0 applications I learned about at my Kent workshop. I keep thinking that there must be some way to connect the ordering function to a list-creating function. We could then put the list online for folks to reference and/or print out.
Lists like this are something we used to do; obviously our customers still want them. We stopped because they were a pain to keep updated. Unfortunately, the catalog isn't as easy to browse as a simple list. I'll have to keep thinking about this -- there's got to be some way to make it happen.
I generally explain that we have new DVDs coming in every day and that the list is impossible to keep updated, then send the customer back to reference if he/she wants an item in particular. The "new" DVD display is confusing as well: many of those DVDs aren't new releases but are merely "new" to our collection.
I wonder...if we did provide a list, would it imply that we have those DVDs in stock? It might cause more confusion, as some would be checked out, in repair, missing, or whatever. Hmmm. Maybe the catalog- now I'm really stretching; computer-literate I'm not- could pop up with a list of all DVDs AND an icon next to each telling whether it was on the shelf or not. Maybe on our what-do-you-call-it: webpage? That way all you'd do is call up the page, there's be the list of DVDs (updated regularly with the 2.0 application thingy) and the ability to tell immediately if it was checked out. Hmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
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