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| Our Fearless Leader, Deanne H. |
The EPL has been part of
the new IL Heartland Library System since last year (for more info, visit our previous post). The next step for the
consortium is adopting a new library automation system called Polaris at the beginning
of April (for important dates, see our website).
The EPL staff have been
busy training and preparing for the upcoming changes. Last week, I sat down with our Director,
Deanne H., and we discussed what patrons needed to know and her
thoughts on the new system. Originally,
I thought I would post the highlights to the blog, but the conversation was so
interesting, discussing adoption of new technologies at the EPL, that I
decided to post it in its entirety.
Alana: In a few weeks
patrons are going to temporarily lose their holds (book requests) as we upload
information to the new automation system.
It seems so easy to go online, or call us, and request an item – a few
days later, a patron has the item in hand.
We’re going to have a week or so when that system doesn’t work. But it wasn’t always so quick and easy. When you started at the EPL (1980), how did
people put holds on books?
Deanne: There were two
ways. If the EPL owned something we (the
staff) went to the card catalog, found the location on the shelf; if the book
wasn’t there, we knew it wasn’t in. The
staff member then had to look for the book card. Back in the day, there was a pocket in every
book and there was a card that listed title, author, fiction or non-fiction
. When the book was checked out, the
card was inter-filed in this giant drawer as big as my desk, maybe a bit
smaller. It was filed by author for
fiction, or Dewey # for non-fiction. If
a patron requested a book that was checked out, you had this little metal clippy
thing that held the patron’s name and phone number. When the book came in, you
would pull the card out of the drawer and you would see a patron had a hold on
it. Then you called them, as we do now.
Interlibrary loans back in
the golden oldies was basically the same as what we use now. Back then, you filled out a piece of paper. Sometimes we requested specific titles, but
we did a lot of subject requests. In
those days the EPL was a much smaller library.
Maybe we had 40,000 items then; we have over 100,000 items now. So, if somebody came in and they needed five
sources about tornados, we might not have everything. For interlibrary loan requests, we would fill
out a paper with as much detail as possible what a patron needed. The patron needs this, but maybe not this,
and they need it by this date. We would
send that to the Lewis & Clark System headquarters. They had a HUGE card catalog for every book
in the system and they would fill the requests.
Alana: So that means, when we cataloged a book we
would have to make two cards for every book…
Deanne: Yes. And somebody
had to file them. What that meant is
that the System had lots of employees and a collection of their own. You could order directly from them, or they
could find who owned a book and request it.
A very quick turnaround for interlibrary loan would be about two
weeks. Expectations were different and
patrons had to be prepared. Obviously
even back then, kids doing assignments would not be prepared. They would say, “What, you don’t have
anything?” And we would try really hard
to find something. We would bypass the System
and call libraries and ask, “Do you have this?
Do you have such and such on your shelf?” In some cases, a staff member would drive
places and get items for patrons.
Alana: You’ve just
described the old-fashioned method of requesting items, but we did become
automated and gradually adopted new methods.
What are your memories of that process?
Deanne: We automated in
1986 here. We weren’t the first
library. I think East Alton went first
and we were third. It was a HUGE process
to envision this online thing and not everybody did it at the same time. It was a massive cooperative effort and we’re
still doing that.
First, we had to barcode
and enter all that information (about each book) into the computer. We did that with the assistance of System staff,
and in many cases, staff from other libraries.
Everyone would go to help get all those items entered, and then it would
be someone else’s turn. When we went
online that first day, East Alton staff came here and helped us because they
had been online several months. So when
the next library went online, we sent staff members. It was planned that way.
There were some libraries
that waited – everybody didn’t leap in right away. There were libraries who didn’t automate for
years because their boards thought that the decision didn’t best serve their
taxpayers. It was frightening and it was
expensive. In 1986 our population was a
bit over 13,000; we were still a small community. Automation was a significant portion of our
budget.
Alana: Did it make a
difference right away?
Deanne: It made a difference in the speed of getting
patrons the things that they wanted. The
biggest selling point was seeing what everybody (other libraries) had. There was so much there. This wasn’t the internet (not until 1995),
but it was new and exciting! People were
really nervous in some ways. For quite
some time we had computers, but we were still keeping our card catalog.
Just as there are
discussions now (about digitization), there were big discussions in the 80's and
early 90's about what we were losing as we let our card catalogs go. And it is the case that we lost a lot. Technologies and libraries change, and
overall, these are positive changes.
However, an online
catalog will not, has not, and in my opinion, will never really reflect our
local collection. With a card catalog
you can catalog for your community.
With MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) records, and particularly with a
big consortium, we all have to use the same format. Everyone has to be trained the same, enter
the data the same way, use the same format.
With a card catalog, foof on that!
You could do what you wanted, and we did. Take Sara Coventry as an example, nobody
knows her outside of Edwardsville (she was Director of the EPL from 1891-1937
and is occasionally sighted in the building).
We could have a subject heading, Coventry comma Sara. We could make up our own subject headings, and
often we did. We would hear from patrons
that they were looking for x instead of y.
We could use both, and all kinds of ‘see also’ cards. We had a huge
catalog that reflected how people were searching in Edwardsville, and they loved
that. There was a lot of info in a card
catalog and that was wonderful.
Alana: When I was in
college, even grad school, I still used card catalogs. I had a friend that, when we were given
assignments, would go to the library and pull all the cards on the topic (to
prevent others from using the sources).
He was horrible. But, you can’t
do that anymore!
Deanne: Oh my gosh! Yes, access is 100 million times better –
absolutely. Have we lost something? Sure. We
kept the card catalog for several years, but we weren’t deleting or adding to
it. We reached a point where we just
didn’t have the staff or resources to do it.
Alana: In a way that’s similar to what is happening
now. Technology, financial issues and
expectations are affecting how libraries work.
Deanne: Absolutely.
At one time there were, 13 library systems in IL. Librarians could easily come together and
discuss issues that reflected their geographic area. Then there were 10, then
eight for a long time, then six, and now there are three. That is absolutely money driven . And we just
don’t have a choice. Numbers of
employees keeps dwindling, dwindling, dwindling. We now have a consortium encompassing two thirds of the state and we
can’t all sit together. We’ve elected
people to make decisions for us. People
in the SHARE group (Sharing Heartland's Available Resources Equally) are doing the absolute best job they can do in the spirit of
what works best for the group as a whole.
Does that mean it is always the perfect fit for the EPL? No it doesn’t. But we have to make a choice.
Has money become a driver in technology
change? Money has always been important
in the public library world. There just
isn’t money for supporting multiple systems. There is this absolute expectation (from
library patrons) that you can get the information or item you need you need
very, very quickly. If not, why
not? How can that be? In order to give good service to our
patrons, we have to belong to a consortium and we have to have a good
automation product.
Alana: How was the new
software chosen?
Deane: The SHARE group looked for a company that
really had a track record and a demonstrated ability to manage a consortium
this large. This is potentially, or is
currently, the largest consortium of multi-type libraries (public, school,
academic & special) under one automation system in the country! Cost was also an issue. Vendors had the
opportunity to give presentations, show all the bells and whistles. People voted and Polaris got the vote.
Alana: So, when we go
through the whole change at the end of March, it’s not going to be just us
(libraries close by) uploading information, it’s other systems, too.
Deanne: I’ve
heard the 10 million mark stated. I
think within Gatenet (our previous system) it was 4 million items, so it will be almost 3
times as much. My understanding is that everyday, all day, they are loading all kinds of things. Millions of patron records and millions and
millions of bibliographic records. And
also making sure that it’s all there and working. There may be some hiccups. In many ways it could be a bigger undertaking
than automation in 1986. Well, I shouldn’t say that. It seemed like such a monumental undertaking
back then, when you go from
nothing... There were no computers in
the building when I started!
Alana: Overall though, except for the period of the
switchover, things aren't going to change too much for patrons.
Deanne: The system will
be larger, but the process will be the same.
Request and delivery-wise there will be three concentric circles. If something is available in Carbondale and
Glen Carbon, obviously we want it to come from Glen Carbon. In the beginning, there will be some bumps in
the road, a few delays.
The online catalog that
patrons see at home is going to change.
It will be similar to what they have now, but it will look more like
what they see when shopping on the internet.
There will be images of books and more information about the books.
It’s exciting!
People will have to be very patient with us. We're all experiencing the learning
curve. Our patrons have a high service
expectation and we’ll be trying our utmost.
We'll be okay, we have the greatest staff and the greatest patrons. But we may need a lot of chocolate…
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