When I came back to Livingston, I had some adjustments to make. The Livingston library -- having just finished extensive renovations to dramatically increase the volume of books it could hold -- is still in a state of disarray. My unabashed joy at borrowing books becomes a ticking clock of racing back and forth. Some changes which I hope will be instituted post haste (and probably won't be):
1) The Online Request System - Livingston needs to vastly update its system. The search function is unwieldy and difficult to even find from the home page. The advanced search features are nothing more than "which library would you like to find this from?" The system should allow for "holds on your holds". That is to say, in Sacramento, I could request a book, but if I was still in the middle of reading one, I could put a check mark next to the one I'd be getting in the future which told the library I wasn't ready to actually have them ship it to the right library yet. As the system currently stands, there is no way to request further materials unless you actually chat up a dusty old librarian. And the ones in Livingston put up with a lot of crap, so they're not really interested in talking to anyone. Lastly, there is NO system in place for altering your requests. I'm sorry, did you put in 2 requests for the same book by mistake? Too bad. There's no way to take the request off. None. Did you decide you no longer needed the book? Too bad.
2) The Inter-library Loan - Livingston is part of BCCLS ("Buckles"), which allows patrons to borrow books from any library in the system. Just place a request for it on the online request system. The library will call you when the book is ready for pick-up. Unfortunately, in the BCCLS system, theft must be such a problem, that the sending libraries check out the book to you on the day they ship it. This means that, should you request a 14-day book from a sister library, and it takes 5 days to get to your patron library, you've only got 8 days to read and return. Some of you are probably wondering what happened to that last day...
3) Organization - Let's say you DID do the unthinkable and put a book on hold. Good lord, what hath you wrought! The day your patron library receives your book, they are supposed to send you an email. Lately, they've been calling my phone instead, which is just plain annoying. They should stick to the emails. In any case, the call was just to let you know your patron library has only received the book. They haven't actually shelved it in the Hold section yet. It won't actually be shelved until the day after they call/message you. So you lose a day. God forbid you go in on the day they call you. They will NOT be able to find your book to save their lives. Your 9 days of reading just got shrunk to 8. They need to revert to a system where the borrower's time does not start until they acquire their book.
4) Funds - The library tried to charge me a dollar to renew my library card, just because I've had it since I was a teen. Apparently, in Livingston, your library card now expires every 3 years. What's up with that?
5) Patronage - Livingston library is very lucky. It's a town of 30,000 people. The town's only high school is about 100 yards away which means increased patronage in the afternoons when school lets out. In 2003, the town voted to give an extraordinary amount of the collected taxes to the library to increase its girth to ease the cramping it had experienced for the past 5 years. Patronage due to these expansions has shot through the roof, and the number of people I see there each time I enter is quite high. Although the library has 6 check-out desks, only 1, 2, or 3 of them are ever used at a time, leading to long lines full of busy students, mothers with young children, old folks, and people like me.
* A self-checkout kiosk or counter for books (not cds, dvds, or other media) would not be beyond the pale. Though I know these systems cost a lot, the number of patrons shuffling through the building each day would be well served by a system where you didn't have to wait for a librarian to notice you. It would certainly relieve some of the strain. read more