[Publib] RE: PAGES

[Insley, Diane]

Yes, we have pages and clerks performing this work.  We have 6 pages and
they work between 12 and 15 hours per week - working at least 3 days per
weekday.  Evenings and weekends, we have clerks that will also shelve
and search for materials, but they focus on the high turnover materials
like DVDs, new books, and whatever else they have time for.  We also
have many volunteer pages that work a total of 20 hours per week - with
our teen volunteers working summer only shelving in the children's area
working a lot of hours during the summer reading program.

I would not want a full-time page.  After 3 or 4 hours of shelving, I
think that the quality and quantity shelved goes down.  For this same
reason, we don't have any pages working more than 3 or 4 hours per day.
Also, if you use all of your page hours in one person, what do you do
when they are on vacation? Since they are working so few hours, when I
need someone to work extra they are usually quite willing.  While the
pages primarily shelve materials, we also have them set up tables and
chairs, shift collections, help with end of year periodical maintenance,
take out recycling, check shelves for materials claimed return, and when
necessary check in materials.  

While they are not eligible for health insurance or retirement, they do
get paid sick leave, vacation leave and paid holidays.  

Another benefit to our library is that they learn so much as pages that
when I have a clerk or library assistant opening, I will often hire one
of them.  

We are a public library with 141,000 items and circulation of just over
30,000 items.  

Diane Insley
San Marcos (TX) Public Library


From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Rob Liste
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 2:12 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] PAGES

Just wondering, do many libraries out there still use pages to retrieve
materials for hold lists and re-shelve materials?  Do you have full time
pages, part time pages, or volunteer pages?  Or, do your circulation
clerks perform this kind of work now?  If you reply, please give me an
idea of the size of your library.
Thanks


Rob Liste
Circulation Manager
Warren-Trumbull County Public Library
444 Mahoning Ave NW
Warren, OH  44483
(330) 399-8807 ext. 102