[Publib] Re: OPAC - requesting books from home

[Andy Barnett]

We are part of a shared automation system and could not live without 
allowing people to request books from home. Holds are overhelmingly placed 
remotely. Books on hold consitute almost 25% of our total circulation, 
running about 90,000 items this year. Some system libraries do much more. 
Thank goodness for self service hold shelves!

We run the pick list three times a day and it consumes hours every day. 
Most of our holds come in from other libraries and processing them takes 
hours every day. If we hadn't moved to self-checkout, the load would have 
overwhelmed us. Our staff hand checks less than 15% of our circ. Online 
self renewal makes up 5% of our circ. Patrons do almost 80% self service.

If your staff is spending time checking out materials and is too busy to 
actually put the materials into people's hands, it is time to reorganize 
your library.

Andy Barnett, Asst. Director				www.mcmillanlibrary.org
McMillan Memorial Library
490 East Grand Ave.						715-422-5144 (phone)
Wisconsin Rapids, WI  54494				715-423-2665 (fax)
	
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
      -  Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929 - 1968